Karl Marx; his life and work
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| Karl Marx; |
From preface:
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.
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 bi- 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 circumstance. 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 writers, such as Franz Mehring or Eduard Bernstein, will someday 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 ex- tended 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.
Table of contents:
Preface ii
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
XII. The International Working Men's Association
(Continued) 286
XIII. The Last Phase 304
XIV. His Achievements 322
Index 355
The book contains illustrations
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