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Rh der Arbeitenden Klasse in England" ("The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844").

During his short stay in Paris, Marx also familiarized himself with the various systems and sects of the French Socialists. Particularly in these years of revolutionary unrest, their teachings enjoyed quite some popularity in Paris, especially amongst the workers and the small bourgeois. To Marx, as a student of all social manifestations, these Socialist tendencies were intensely interesting. He had received but meagre and incomplete news of these activities in Germany, and as a conscientious investigator and student, he was averse to forming an opinion or reaching a conclusion until the actual facts were at his disposal and had been examined. His stay in Paris enabled him to receive first hand information, and to study the theoretical and practical aspects of these movements at their original sources. The first product of this diligent work was his sharp criticism of Proudhon's book "La Philosophie de la MisereMisère [sic]" ("The Philosophy of Poverty"), published in 1846. This critical work appeared in Brussels in 1847, under the significant title "La MisereMisère [sic] de la Philosophie" ("The Poverty of Philosophy"). Aside from the important fact, that this book completely shattered an obsession with which even up to this late day some Socialists and particularly Anarchists are still taken up, namely that abject poverty is the generator of and a prerequisite to revolutionary vitality, it also contained the first comprehensive exposition of Historical Materialism. Here in his quest for knowledge, Marx for the first time came in close contact with Socialist and revolutionary workingmen—an intercourse which was to be of far-reaching importance to his future work.

Driven out of Paris in 1845, Marx turns his steps towards Brussels. Completely disregarding his really precarious material conditions, and in the face of dire poverty, harassed by the police, Marx continues his activities as a serious student and indefatigable fighter. With an enthusiasm that recognized no bounds, he