In Paris, in 1844, Marx formed an immediate and lifelong association with Friedrich Engels (1820-95). The son of a wealthy German textile manufacturer, Engels lived a double life by associating with capitalists while devoting himself to socialism. In Brussels, the two collaborated to produce The Communist Manifesto, which became the program of the Communist League, a loose organization of discontented workers who desired fundamental political and economic changes. The League eventually died and was replaced by the International Workingmen's Association, which underwent several phases of reorganization as its members tried to reach a consensus.
Wherever he went, Marx, a quarrelsome and intolerant activist, organized workers' movements and edited communist papers. Eventually, he fled to England to spend the remainder of his life in London. There, he and his family and a faithful servant spent a miserable existence of abject poverty and near-starvation. Jenny and two of their five children died, and to add to his misery, Marx suffered from chronic boils.
Despite everything, Marx remained devoted to his family. His only steady income was derived from his reports on European political affairs to the New York Tribune, but, at times, Marx couldn't send his reports to New York because he lacked money for postage. After selling the family silver and valuables, he pawned his shoes and overcoat to survive. What kept his family going was Engels' generous financial aid; later, Marx came into a small inheritance from an old friend. Undoubtedly, these years of extreme poverty account for much of Marx's bitterness.
