The Leader

Episode Overview

Starts depicting Karl Marx's funeral, then flashbacks to Trier High School, where Marx is giving his graduation speech. As Jenny von Westphalen hears his words, she remembers their together. After the discourse, Jenny invites Marx to a ball, where they dance together and Marx reveals he intends to go to the University of Bonn. Later, Jenny's brother, Ferdinand, who dislikes Marx's peasant background, expels Marx from the party when she is absent. They secretly meet each other and Marx promises he will marry her. Marx is disillusioned when Jenny arrives later at his departure and he cannot see her. At Bonn, Marx becomes fascinated by Immanuel Kant's philosophy, but gets involved in bar fights and spends a lot of money. This makes his father, Heinrich, force Marx to transfer to the more serious and academic University of Berlin to study law. There, Marx befriends Bruno Bauer and abandons Kantian philosophy in favor of G.W.F. Hegel's one.