ABSTRACT
There were seven hundred students at Bonn, but several thousand in Berlin. Bonn, in spite of spies and informers, was a pleasant, patriarchal provincial town, in which it was not easy to get away from the usual students' round, with its taverns and duels. The University of Berlin, compared to the other universities in Germany, was a 'workhouse' compared to a 'tavern', to quote Ludwig Feuerbach. In Marx's first term he attended only three courses of lectures - by Steffens, the philosopher, on anthropology, Savigny on jurisprudence and Gans on criminal law. Marx met Rutenberg first, and it was probably Rutenberg who introduced him to the 'Doktorklub'. In November, 1837, he was calling him his most intimate friend. Rutenberg was a former 'Burschenschafter' and had served long sentences in Prussian prisons. He took an active part in the formation of the first workers' organisations in Berlin in 1848 and 1849.
