Karl Marx; His Life and Work

KARL MARX: His Life and Work

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BOOKS BY JOHN SPARGO

SOCIALIST THEORY

The Socialists, Who They Are and What They Stand For Socialism, A Summary and Interpretation of Socialist Principles Capitalist and Laborer The Common Sense of Socialism The Spiritual Significance of Modern Socialism

Socialist Readings for Children (illustrated) The Substance of Socialism

SOCIAL QUESTIONS

The Bitter Cry of the Children (illustrated) The Common Sense of the Milk Question (illustrated)

BIOGRAPHICAL STUDIES

The Socialism of William Morris (illustrated) The Marx He Knew (illustrated)

Karl Marx: His Life and Work (illustrated)

Karl Marx

KARL MARX:

HIS LIFE AND WORK

BY JOHN SPARGO •*»

NEW AND REVISED EDITION

NEW YORK B. W. HUEBSCH 1912

First Printing, May, 1910. Second Printing, September. 1912.

PRINTED IN U. S. A.

MARY ROBINSON SANFORD

A GREETING FROM "NESTLEDOWN” TO “ TUCKED-AWAY ”

CONTENTS

CHAPTERPAGE

Preface...... 11

I.His Parents...... 17

II.Boyhood and Youth...... 28

III.The Young Hegelians...... 51

IV.Journalism — Politics — Socialism...... 65

V.The Birth-cry of Modern Socialism...... 84

VI.The “ Communist Manifesto ”...... 107

VII.Crowing of the Gallican Cock...... 130

VIII.The Mother of Exiles...... 168

IX.Domestic and Political Struggles...... 193

X.“ Das Kapital ”...... 209

XI.The International Working Men’s Association . 255

XII.The International Working Men’s Association

(Continued)...... 286

XIII.The Last Phase...... 304

XIV.His Achievements...... 322

Index...... 355

ILLUSTRATIONS

Karl Marx...... Frontispiece

OPPOSITE PAGE

Karl Marx’s Birthplace...... 20

Jenny von Westphalen...... 40

Facsimile Title page, “ Buch der Liebe ”...... 50

Karl Marx’s Diploma as Doctor of Philosophy...... 60

Georg Herwegh...... 66

Claude Henri Saint-Simon...... 70

Fran50is Marie Charles Fourier...... 70

Ludwig Feuerbach...... 76

HeinrichHeine...... 82

WilhelmWeitling...... 96

WilhelmWolff...... 96

Ferdinand Flocon...... 106

FriedrichEngels...... 120

Ernest Jones...... 130

Albert Brisbane...... 130

Gottfried Kinkel...... 140

Karl Marx’s Passport...... 146

Robert Blum...... 158

Ferdinand Freiligrath...... 166

Wilhelm Liebknecht...... 178

John Frost...... 184

ILLUSTRATIONS

OPPOSITE PAGE

Joseph Weydemeyer...... 19°

Robert Owen...... 194

Karl Marx’s London Residences...... 198

Ferdinand Lassalle...... 206

Karl Marx...... 226

Karl Vogt...... 234

Lothar Bucher...... 234

L. Kugelmann...... 238

Karl Marx...... 248

Guiseppe Mazzini...... 264

Facsimile of Karl Marx’s Manuscript ...... 276

Michael Bakunin...... 284

Pierre Joseph Proudhon ...... 284

E. S. Beesly...... 294

Frederick Lessner...... 306

Karl Marx’s Grave ...... 320

Karl Marx...... 330

PREFACE

Professor Veblen, one of the ablest and most brilliant of our American sociologists, has very well said: “ The Socialism

that inspires hopes and fears to-day is of the school of Marx. No one is seriously apprehensive of any other so-called Socialistic movement, and no one is seriously concerned to criticise or refute the doctrines set forth by any other school of ‘ Socialists.’ ”

It will, I think, be conceded that this is a remarkable tribute to the influence and power of a great thinker. It is not a small thing that an international political movement with many millions of adherents should be dominated so far by the intellect of one man as commonly to be called by his name; for “ Socialism ” and “ Marxism ” have become interchangeable as practically synonymous terms. In the great European countries where Socialism is a power politically, the movement is almost wholly dominated and inspired by the thought and deed of Marx. In the United States, where there is a growing Socialist movement which is generally recognized as being much bigger and stronger than its political manifestation, Socialism and Marxism are synonyms. In China and Japan the works of Marx are eagerly read and studied by those who challenge the existing order and who dream of change. In Australia Marxian shibboleths are inscribed upon the red banners of a discontented proletariat. In Africa there are Karl Marx clubs, from which emanates the spirit of revolution.

In view of these facts, one need not be a Socialist in order to feel an interest in the man whose work and personality have contributed so much to the development of modern political and social thought and history. Whether Socialism proves to be, in the long span of centuries, good or evil, a blessing to men

KARL MARX

or a curse, Karl Marx must always be an object of interest, as one of the great world-figures of immortal memory. In ever-increasing numbers, as the years go by, thoughtful men and women will find the same interest in studying the life and work of Marx that they do in studying the life and work of Cromwell, of Wesley, or of Darwin, to name three immortal world-figures of vastly divergent types.

Singularly little is known of Karl Marx, even by his most ardent followers. They know his work, having studied his Das Kapital with the devotion and earnestness with which an older generation of Christians studied the Bible, but they are very generally unacquainted with the man himself. Outside of the Socialist movement, knowledge even of his work is confined to a relatively small number of professed students of such matters. Even they know little of the man as distinct from the philosopher and the economist. The average man knows nothing very definite concerning either Marx or his theories.

Although more than twenty-six years have elapsed since the death of Marx, there is no adequate biography of him in any language. Most of the histories of Socialism have devoted chapters to his life, and most of the standard encyclopaedias have biographical articles devoted to the man and his work. Speaking for the moment only of those published in England and America, it must be said that these chapters and articles in encyclopaedias are, almost without exception, full of the most astonishing errors. The Germans have done much better.

There is a little volume of Memoirs of Marx by his friend Liebknecht, which has been translated into English and widely circulated in this country and in England. This book of tender and affectionate reminiscences, while true in spirit, is sadly inaccurate in details, and almost trivial when considered as an account of the man and his work. Its value to the student and to the biographer is inestimable, but it is not — and was not intended to be — a biography of Marx.

PREFACE

Nearly thirteen years have passed since first I felt the need of a trustworthy and comprehensive account of the life and work of Karl Marx, and determined to meet that need unless some worthier and more efficient hand should first undertake the task and fulfil it. I began at once to collect materials for a biography, and during the years that have elapsed — years which, owing to my activity in the Socialist movement, have been almost wholly bereft of leisure — that work has been continued with as much persistence and energy as possible under the circumstances.

And now that I have finished what has been for me a labour of love and joy, it is perhaps prudent for me to say that this volume must not be regarded as being the final, authorized biography of Marx. Doubtless some better-equipped German writer, such as Franz Mehring or Eduard Bernstein, will some day give us the adequate and full biography for which the world waits. My own aim has been to furnish the reader with a sympathetic and interpretative account of the life of a man who was not only a profound and brilliant thinker, but a lovable and interesting personality.

Concerning the book itself I venture to add a further word of explanation. Believing that the value of the work to the general reader would be greatly enhanced thereby, I have gone with more or less detail into various matters, an understanding of which seemed to me to be necessary to a comprehension of Marx’s thought and deed. For example: In the chapters on the International Working Men’s Association a rather extended account of the Franco-Prussian war and the Paris Commune seemed to be essential to a correct understanding of the position taken by Marx in formulating the policy of that association, and of the causes of its decline. I have not hesitated, therefore, to sacrifice literary unity to the larger value of practical utility. My aim has been to give an interpretation of Marx’s life and thought, not a mere chronology of events.

KARL MARX

No man in modern times has been more grievously misunderstood and misrepresented than Karl Marx — alike by those who hate, and by those who love his name. For Socialists no less than non-Socialists, therefore, it is very likely that these pages will be found to contain many surprises; that the Marx here revealed will be wholly unlike the Marx they have either loved or hated, according to their point of view. Confident that the portrait of the man here drawn is substantially true, it is my hope that the book will make Marx more real to my Socialist comrades and to students of Socialism generally, as well as to that larger public which finds an intelligent understanding of Socialism to be a necessary part of its mental equipment in these days when there is so much “ Socialism in the air.” If it measurably succeeds in fulfilling that hope, I shall be more than content.

Of course I am largely, indebted to the work of Franz Mehring, the German Socialist historian. Whoever would write of the life of Marx must perforce draw from the rich mines of information contained in Mehring’s Geschichte der Deutschen Sozial-demokratie, and his introduction to and comments upon the literary remains of Marx, Engels and Lassalle — A us deni literarischen Nachlass von Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels und Ferdinand Lassalle. I have drawn freely, also, from the great wealth of information contained in the files of various German, French and English Socialist journals, of which the Neue Zeit must be specially mentioned. From Eduard Bernstein’s admirable little biography of Lassalle I have also drawn some very valuable information.

It is not so easy to make acknowledgment of the vast amount of personal assistance received' during the past ten years, without which this work could never have been written. Some of those to whom I am most indebted, who knew Marx more or less intimately, have passed beyond reach of this expression of my thanks and entered upon their hard-earned rest. I can

PREFACE

Only mention here: W. Harrison Riley, friend of Marx and editor of the International Herald, who died a few years ago at Lunenburg, Massachusetts; the late Herman Jung, a native of Switzerland, for many years the friend and confidant of Marx, who was brutally murdered in London by a man whom, with characteristic generosity, he had befriended; Wilhelm Fritz- sche, one of the first Socialists to be elected to the German Reichstag; and M. Maltman Barrie, a London journalist, who was a member of the International Working Men’s Association and an intimate friend of Marx and Engels through that period of Marx’s life which was most troubled —• the period of the decline of the International. To these men I owe more, perhaps, than to any others of the “ silent host,” but there are in that great host many others to whom my thanks are equally due.

I am also deeply indebted to Madame Laura Lafargue, the only surviving child of Marx, for generous advice and assistance at every stage of my work; to Karl Kautsky, editor of Die Neue Zeit; Frederick Lessner, whose name will be frequently encountered in these pages; Ernest Belfort Bax, the English Socialist writer; Herman Schlueter, of the New Yorker Volkszeitung; Morris Hillquit, author of Socialism in Theory and Practice; L. B. Boudin, author of The Theoretical System of Karl Marx; and W. J. Ghent, of the Rand School of Social Science, for many valuable suggestions and courtesies. To Mr. Simon O. Pollock, author of The Russian Bastile, and Dr. S. A. Ingerman, I am specially indebted for information concerning Russian affairs and the great Russian Anarchist, MF chael Bakunin.

For assistance in translation and research, and in preparing the book for the press, I am indebted to Mrs. Theresa Malkiel, of Yonkers; Miss Bertha Eger, of New York; Mrs. Meta L. Stern, of New York; Mr. Walter Kruesi, of Boston; Mr. Rufus W. Weeks, of New York; Miss Kate Dombronyi, of New

KARL MARX

York; and Miss Rosa Laddon, of the Rand School of Social Science, New York City. Finally, I am deeply indebted to my wife for much devoted and faithful cooperation.

J. S.

“ Nestledown,”

Bennington Center, Vt.,

October, 1909.

NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION

The cordial reception accorded to the earlier edition of this book was very gratifying. I have taken advantage of this edition to correct a number of errors which, as was inevitable from its pioneer character, crept into the book. Most of these were of minor importance, but there was one of very great importance indeed. On page 277 occurs a translation of a letter written by Marx. As printed in the first edition, the letter misrepresents Marx’s thought. It is here correctly translated. The blunder in the first edition was due to my taking it for granted that a “translation” of the letter published in the London Social Democrat was an honest and reliable piece of work.

J. S.

End of July, 1910.

KARL MARX

HIS PARENTS

Treves, or Trier, as it is now called, is a town in the western part of Germany, in the Province of the Rhine. It is perhaps the oldest of all German towns, among the objects of its civic pride being some ancient ruins which remain as monuments of the days when it was a not unimportant centre of Roman civilization. Here, in a dwelling of modest comfort—■ Bruckergasse, 664 — there dwelt, in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, Heinrich Marx and his wife, and here, on Tuesday, May the fifth, 1818, their second child, J Karl Heinrich Marx, the future Socialist philosopher and economist, was born. Of all their many children Karl alone achieved the distinction of fame.

At the time of the birth of this child Trier had been under Prussian rule barely four years, having been taken from France as a result of the crushing defeat of Napoleon I in the long struggle which culminated in his abdication at Fontainebleau and the restoration of Louis XVII. Under the French regime the whole Rhineland had benefited in no slight degree from the generous liberalizing ideas of France. The French Revolution had done much to break down oppressive mediaeval laws and customs. In particular, it had relieved the Jews from a great deal of persecution and oppression. It was due to the liberal spirit of France that in the cities and towns of the prov- a 17

KARL MARX

ince the Jews were enabled to enjoy equal opportunities for education and culture with their Christian neighbours.

With the establishment of Prussian rule a new spirit was bound to arise, a spirit of Prussian patriotism, carefully and cunningly fostered by the Prussian officials. The consummation of the “ Holy Alliance,” devised by Alexander I of Russia, naturally had the effect of intensifying that spirit, for was not the Alliance the creation of a triple, unconquerable power? Had not William III of Prussia entered into an alliance for mutual support and protection with Alexander I of Russia and Francis of Austria — an alliance which secured Prussia against assault? The fierce denunciation of the Holy Alliance in England and upon the Continent was, naturally, as fuel to the fire of the new patriotism.

I , Heinrich Marx was a Jewish lawyer of good social standing I in Trier, a man of great talent and learning. The life of his famous son was dominated by a strong love for his father, long after the latter’s death, and judging by what is known of him, especially by some letters to Karl, the love was well merited. Heinrich Marx, the lawyer who afterward became a justice of the peace, was a man of rare gifts of mind and heart. His mentality presents a curiously complex picture of liberalism and conservatism, of romantic idealism and cold practicality. Upon the one hand, he was a Liberal of the Liberals, a typical intellectual product of eighteenth century | French liberalism. He was a disciple of Voltaire and Leibnitz, ] and knew by heart the writings of Rousseau, Locke and Les- I sing. Upon the other hand, liberal as he was in his philosophy, s Heinrich Marx was conservative — even a reactionary — in politics. A certain prudent regard for his economic interests may have tended to increase his Prussian patriotism somewhat, it certainly grew more ardent after he attained official position. Nevertheless, it is very evident from some remarkable letters to Karl, during the latter’s university days, that his patriotism was real and sincere, and not merely a matter of

HIS PARENTS

prudence and convenience to the practical and thrifty lawyer. Thus we find him writing to Karl, importuning him to think | above all else of the monarchy, and of Prussia’s honor, and | arguing at great length that an absolute monarchy was neces- f sary to the maintenance of the state. In short, the Jewish \ lawyer and official was a loyalist patriot of the type beloved by | the Prussian government. He was greatly distressed when young Karl manifested his radical tendencies and showed him- ,f self to be possessed of the “ demon ” of revolt.

This strange mixture of Voltairean philosopher and Prussian patriot in the Jewish lawyer may help us to understand an event in his career which has been the theme of much discussion and speculation. In 1824, when Karl was six years old, S the disciple of Voltaire embraced Christianity, and, with his | wife and children, was baptized. There is a popular legend to the effect that this acceptance of the Christian religion was purely nominal and compulsory, that it was due to an official edict by the Prussian government compelling all Jews holding official positions or engaged in the learned professions to forego these or formally renounce Judaism and adopt the Christian religion.

The story appears in many works relating to Marx, and in most of the encyclopaedias. Liebknecht, long the intimate associate of Karl Marx, tells it in his charmingly tender, but often inaccurate, Memoirs,1 and is supported by the testimony of Marx’s youngest daughter, Eleanor Marx-Aveling.2 Liebknecht, with the freedom of a true literary artist, adds a romantic touch to the story by making it appear that the boy Karl felt keenly this insult to his race of which he was so proud, that he made reply to it in his youthful pamphlet on the Hebrew question, and that “ his whole life was a reply and was the revenge.” The mental process by which Liebknecht concluded