Marx The Man
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marks the man after a century of myths
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and counter myths of deification and
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demonizing it is hard to realize that
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behind all the portraits and caricatures
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to be seen on printed pages and on
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banners there really was a
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flesh-and-blood human being named Karl
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Marx he was born in the little German
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town of Trier in the Rhineland in 1818
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in a three-story townhouse in a
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fashionable part of town a baron lived
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nearby and his four year old daughter
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was destined to become Karl Marx's wife
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the people who signed his Witnesses on
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Karl Marx's birth certificate were
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prominent citizens the Marx's like their
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neighbors and friends had servants
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property education and local prominence
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unlike most of their neighbors and
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friends however both Heinrich Marx and
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his wife Henriette were descended from a
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long line of rabbis indeed the town's
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chief rabbi was his brother but they
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were brothers estranged from each other
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since Heinrich Marx had abandoned the
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faith of his father's Karl Marx was
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baptized a Lutheran and throughout his
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life he spoke of Jews in the
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third-person and seldom complimentary
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Lee Marx was the third child born in his
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family the second to survive and the
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oldest boy younger brothers and sisters
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were born annually for the next four
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years and then two more at two year
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intervals the father was a prosperous
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lawyer who also owned vineyards as well
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as houses whose rents supplemented his
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income he was a man of wide culture and
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political liberalism his son idolized
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him and in later years spoke of him
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often to his own children though they
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had never seen him his death having
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occurred decades before Marx's mother
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was Dutch and spoke German with a heavy
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Dutch accent she was a devoted housewife
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not a woman of learning and though her
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son loved her in childhood they were
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soon estranged in his early adulthood
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when she died many years later Marx
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expressed not the slightest sorrow
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Youth Karl Marx grew up a brilliant
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spoiled child who bullied his younger
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sisters and taunted his schoolmates with
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sarcastic witticisms in addition to
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entertaining both with imaginative
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stories he had a swarthy complexion that
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in later years earned in the nickname
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the moor a name used far more often in
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his inner circle including his children
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than was his real name his neighbor
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baron von Westphalen took a great
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interest in Marx as a youth and the
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learned Baron would often take long
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walks with him discussing Homer
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Shakespeare Voltaire or other great
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writers in any of a number of languages
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that the Baron spoke as a young man Karl
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Marx attended the University of Vaughan
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for one year there he was an
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enthusiastic student but also an
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enthusiastic drinker and took part in
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rowdiness and at least one duel his
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father transferred him to the University
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of Berlin a larger and more serious
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institution but the self indulgent
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bohemian and spendthrift habits that
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Marx had exhibited at Bonn continued at
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Berlin where he was sued several times
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for non-payment of debts his father's
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letters show growing recriminations
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directed not only at his son's
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prodigious capacity to waste money a
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talent he never lost throughout his life
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but also at a more disturbing personal
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characteristic ego mania one of Marx's
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many poems at this period says then I
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will wander godlike and victorious
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through the ruins of the world and
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giving my words an active force I will
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feel equal to the Creator the themes of
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destruction corruption and savagery run
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through Marx's poems of this era two of
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which were published in a small literary
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magazine of the time under the title
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savage songs
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there was nothing political about these
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writings Marx had not yet turned his
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attention in that direction he was
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simply as one biographer said a man with
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the peculiar faculty for relishing
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disaster a
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contemporary description of Marx as a
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student depicts the same demonic
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personality again not yet in a political
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context but who advances here full of
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impetuosity it is a dark form from Trier
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an Unleashed monster with self-assured
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steppe he hammers the ground with his
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heels and raises his arms in all fury to
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heaven as though he wished to seize the
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celestial vault and lower it to earth in
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rage he continually deals with his
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redoubtable fists as if a Thousand
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Devils were gripping his hair
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in short Marxist angry apocalyptic
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visions existed before he discovered
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capitalism as the focus of such visions
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Marx entered the University of Berlin a
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few years after the death of its most
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famous professor GWF Hegel whose
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posthumous influence was even greater
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than during his lifetime Marx began to
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associate with a group called the young
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Hegelians who were preoccupied with
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philosophy in general and religion in
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particular or rather with atheism for
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they were radical critics of
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Christianity Marx's formal studies
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languished he took only two courses in
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his last three years at the University
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of Berlin Marx became a bohemian student
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who merely regarded the university as
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his camping ground and he was largely
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self-taught the death of his father in
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1838 and his long engagement to Jenny
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von Westphalen eventually made it
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necessary that he prepared to bring his
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studies to a close although he had
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studied at the University of Berlin he
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applied for a doctorate at the
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University of Vienna an easier
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institution noted as a diploma mill his
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doctoral dissertation was on to ancient
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materialist philosophers Democritus and
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Epicurus
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early career searching aimlessly for a
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career marks drifted into journalism and
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became editor of Rheinische Zeitung a
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liberal newspaper reflecting marks his
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own political views at that time as well
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as that of the rhineland middle class in
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general under the Prussian repression of
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that era liberalism was an embattled an
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endangered Creed and Marx made the
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newspaper more controversial and more
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widely read than before his running of
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the paper was characterized by a
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contemporary as a dictatorship of Marx
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as so many groups with which he was
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affiliated would be throughout his
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lifetime another contemporary described
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him as domineering impetuous passionate
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full of boundless self-confidence Marx
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engaged in a running battle of wits with
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the government's censors and ironically
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tried to restrain some of the more
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radical of the newspapers writers among
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these was another young man from an
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affluent background named Moses Hess a
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communist who eventually converted still
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another such offspring of wealth to
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communism Friedrich Engels Marx however
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purged Hess from the newspaper for his
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smuggling into the newspaper of
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communist and socialist dogmas disguised
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as theatrical criticism only after Marx
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finally resigned his editor to spare the
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paper from being banned did he begin the
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studies that would eventually lead him
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to communism
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during the same period in the early
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1840s Marx had a decisive break with his
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family now that his father was dead and
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the estate had to suffice for eight
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people to live on Frau Marx was not
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inclined to continue indefinitely
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sending money to her eldest son now
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fully grown and holding a doctoral
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degree Marx had continued his already
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long-standing practice of running up
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bills that he could not pay and was
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outraged that his mother cut off his
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remaining small allowance as he put it
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in a letter to a friend although they
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are quite rich
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my family has placed difficulties in my
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way which have temporarily placed me in
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an embarrassing situation such temporary
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embarrassments were to become a
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permanent feature of Marx's life over
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the next four decades nevertheless he
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eventually persuaded the aristocratic
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bond best fallens to let him marry their
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daughter now 29 years old who had waited
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faithfully for him for seven years it
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was not a marriage whose prospects were
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viewed with favour by either family
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there was a church wedding in 1843 but
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most of her family and all of his family
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stayed away however the bride's mother
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paid for the honeymoon
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and in addition turned over to the
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couple a small legacy which she had
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received this legacy was held in the
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form of coins in a strongbox which Marx
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and his bride then left open in their
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hotel rooms inviting any visitors to
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take whatever they might need it was
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empty before they returned to her home
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where they lived with her mother for
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several months in October 1843 Marx and
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his wife now pregnant moved to Paris
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where he was hired to contribute to a
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publishing venture a bilingual journal
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for German and French readers only one
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issue ever appeared Marx and the editor
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quarrel dand broke up leaving marks
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without funds in a foreign land a
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collection was hastily taken up by
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friends in Cologne and the couple was
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rescued as they would be again and again
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throughout their lives here in Paris
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Marx began the studies that led him to
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communism
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he also began to meet other radical
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figures at the time including the
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radical poet Heinrich Heine Russian
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anarchist Mikhail Bakunin and the French
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radical writer pierre-joseph Prudhomme
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Heine though at first a great friend of
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the Marxist was eventually alienated by
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Karl Marx's arrogance and dogmatism in
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later years Heine described the Paris
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radicals including Marx as a crowd of
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godless self-appointed gods among these
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radicals was a young German whom Marx
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had met briefly before Friedrich Engels
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collaboration with angles angles two
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years younger than marks came from an
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even wealthier family which owned half
11:00
interest in a factory in Germany and
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half interest in another factory in
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England his father had never been as
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indulgent as Marx's father
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and angles never attended the University
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but he was well-read and by middle age
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could read and write nearly two dozen
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languages angles was sent away at 17 to
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get on-the-job training in the family
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business in Bremen here he was not
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overworked he was after all an owner's
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son and was known to have beer cigars
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poems and correspondence with him and to
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take a leisurely lunch and a nap
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afterwards in a hammock he also found
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time to study Hegel angles eventually
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became a member of the young Hegelians
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and in 1842 had his first brief meeting
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with the editor of the Rheinische
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Zeitung
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Karl Marx their first meeting was cool
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for Marx view dangles at that point as
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just another member of the radical group
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whose literary contributions to the
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paper were causing him trouble with the
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censors from 1842 to 1844 angles lived
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in Manchester England working in the
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family business there and observing the
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conditions of the working people in this
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industrial town observations which led
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to his first book the conditions of the
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working class in England in 1844 when he
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passed through Paris on his way back to
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the Rhineland in 1844 he again met Marx
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and this time many days of discussion
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found them in complete agreement on
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questions of theory as they continued to
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be for the remaining decades of their
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lives at this juncture Engles was not
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only further advanced than marks on the
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road to communism but was also much
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better versed in economics although
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their first joint publication the Holy
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Family appeared a year later there was
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at that point no suggestion of a
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continuing collaboration between them
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the foreword to the Holy Family promised
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future writings from the pair each for
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himself of course
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but in reality later events brought them
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together again in England in a permanent
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alliance in which their ideas and words
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were so intermingled that it would be
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rash to say conclusively a hundred years
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later what was Marx's and what was
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angles even Marx's daughter after his
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death mistakenly published a collection
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of her father's newspaper articles that
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later turned out all to have been
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written by angles the most famous of
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their explicitly collaborative writings
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was of course the Communist Manifesto
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it's Genesis typify the pattern of
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Marxian political intrigue a radical
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organization in London called the League
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of the just was in process of
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reorganization to become the Communist
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League and it involved several people in
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the drawing up of its credo one of these
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submitted his draft to angles
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who confess to Marx that just between
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ourselves I played a hellish trick on
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mosy substituting the Marxian program
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for the draft entrusted to him angles
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realized the enormity of his betrayal
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for he cautioned Marx to utter secrecy
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otherwise we shall be deposed and there
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will be a murderous scandal thus Marx
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and Engels made themselves the voices of
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communism Engles wrote up a document in
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question and answer format but then
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decided that he did not like it he
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turned his work over to Marx to redo in
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some other format and suggested the
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title the Communist Manifesto slowly the
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document evolved written mostly in the
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style of Marx though reproducing some
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ideas from angles earlier draft it was
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published in February 1848 as the
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manifesto of the communist party with no
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authors listed as though it were the
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work of some major organization rather
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than of a relative handful of radical
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refugees the members of the Communist
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League were overwhelmingly intellectuals
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and professionals with very few skilled
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craftsmen their average age was under 30
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it had the same kind of social
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composition that would in later years
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characterise the so-called International
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workingmen's association
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and many other radical groups in which
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the youthful offspring of privilege
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called themselves the proletariat when
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Angles was elected as delegate to the
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Communist League in 1847 in order to
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conceal what was in fact an unopposed
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election in Engles own words a working
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man was proposed for appearances sake
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but those who proposed him voted for me
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ironically the year 1848 was a year of
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revolutions but revolutions which
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differed from that described in the
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communist manifesto the bourgeoisie and
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the proletariat were in revolutionary
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alliance against the autocratic European
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governments on the continent during the
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upheavals that swept across Europe Marx
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and Engels returned to Germany Marx to
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edit a newspaper the NOI Rheinische
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Zeitung in his familiar dictatorial
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style angles worked at first as his
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chief assistant until he had to flee an
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order for his arrest for inciting to
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violence angles made his way through
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France to Switzerland enjoying along the
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way the sweetest grapes and loveliest of
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girls
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this continued angles long lasting
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pattern of womanizing which included the
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wife of a fellow communist whose
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seduction he revealed to another
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communist when in my cups
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he was particularly fond of French women
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reporting to Marx in 1846 some delicious
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encounters with grazetti
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and later observing if I had an income
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of five thousand francs I would do
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nothing but work and amuse myself with
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women until I went to pieces if there
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were no French women life wouldn't be
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worth living in 18-49 Engles returned to
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germany where the revolution was being
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suppressed and took part in armed
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fighting against the government forces
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an expulsion order was issued against
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Marx who had to liquidate the newspaper
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with ruinous financial losses by the
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latter half of 1849 marx and engels had
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separately made their ways to England
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where they were destined to spend the
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rest of their lives
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exiles the dream of returning to the
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continent in triumph after revolutions
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there continued to fascinate marx and
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engels one scholar has countered more
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than 40 anticipations of impending
17:45
revolution in their letters and writings
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over the next 30 years
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none of which materialized but as early
17:52
as 1850 marx and engels had to begin
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making some preparations for a
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livelihood in england marx was then 32
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angles 30 and neither of them had ever
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been self-supporting they had lived off
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allowances and gifts from their families
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including Marx's wife's family off small
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inheritances from relatives the sale of
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belongings borrowings credit defaults
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emergency collections among friends and
18:19
colleagues and a few scattered and
18:21
meager earnings from their writings now
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most of these sources had dried up both
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Marx and Engels were estranged from
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their families who were as disappointed
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at their prolonged dependency as they
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were repelled by their doctrines still
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as late as 18-49 Marx's much despised
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mother advanced him enough money from
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his future inheritance to enable him to
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live comfortably for years though in
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fact it was all gone within one year
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much of it spent to buy arms for
18:52
abortive uprisings and to finance Marx's
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newspaper Engles pious father described
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by the younger angles as bigoted and
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despotic nevertheless supported him
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financially at age 30 angles accepted
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his father's offer to work in the family
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business in Manchester this became the
19:12
source of Angles livelihood and much of
19:14
Marx's the young angles called it forced
19:18
labour a painfully ironic term in view
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of what that phrase was to come to mean
19:23
in 20th century communist societies
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angles complained for example that I've
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now got to be at the office no later
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than 10:00 in the morning
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the firm in which angles father had half
19:36
interest employed about 800 workers
19:39
though angles began on a modest level in
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the management his position and his pay
19:44
rose over the years until he was able to
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retire at age 50 with substantial funds
19:50
for himself and at the same time provide
19:52
a very generous annuity that relieved
19:55
marks a financial worry for the rest of
19:57
his life but before reaching that point
20:00
the financial position of Marx and his
20:02
growing family was often dire and
20:05
occasionally desperate in 1850 the Marx
20:09
family moved into the slums of London
20:11
where they spent most of the next 20
20:13
years during this time it was often
20:16
difficult for Marx to come up with the
20:18
money to pay the rent buy groceries or
20:20
pay his bills the family often dodged
20:23
creditors were evicted for non-payment
20:25
of rent on some occasions had to live on
20:28
bread and potatoes frequently pawned
20:31
their meager belongings and had three
20:33
children died amid the squalor including
20:36
one for whom there was no money for a
20:38
burial until a gift was received for
20:40
that purpose yet despite the very real
20:44
and very painful poverty in which Marx
20:46
often found himself his known sources of
20:49
income were sufficient for a lower
20:51
middle-class family standard of living
20:53
at that time and was about three times
20:55
the income of an unskilled worker a
20:58
contemporary German exile but the
21:00
similar income to Marx's boasted of
21:02
eating luscious beefsteak regularly
21:06
Marx's only regular earnings were as a
21:09
foreign correspondent for the New York
21:11
Tribune but angles supplemented this
21:13
even in the early years before his own
21:16
finances were solid and other gifts and
21:18
inheritances added materially to Marx's
21:21
resources the problem was Marx's chronic
21:24
inability to manage money and especially
21:27
his and his wife's tendency to splurge
21:29
when large sums came in
21:32
moreover Marx spent at least 100 pounds
21:35
on a futile lawsuit against an obscure
21:38
slanderer named forked enough to support
21:41
a family for months in those times and
21:43
wasted still more money in time on a
21:45
long-forgotten book of rebuttal
21:48
called hair forked for which he was sued
21:50
in court to collect the unpaid costs of
21:53
publication in 1864 Marx received a
21:57
number of inheritances that added up to
21:59
ten times what he had been living on
22:01
annually and yet he was still debt
22:04
ridden in 1868 when angles came to his
22:07
rescue by paying off Marx's debts and
22:09
then giving him an annuity ironically
22:13
marks his most important research and
22:16
writing were done during these years of
22:18
travail and heartbreak and he produced
22:20
little during the last dozen or so years
22:23
of his life when he led a prosperous
22:25
bourgeois existence during the 1850s he
22:28
buried himself in the reading room of
22:31
the British Museum during the day
22:32
studying economics until late at night
22:36
and into the wee hours of the morning he
22:38
scribbled the voluminous manuscripts
22:40
that represented several abortive
22:42
attempts to write the book that
22:44
eventually emerged as capital angles
22:47
wrote little during this period when he
22:49
was working as a capitalist in
22:51
Manchester and underwriting Marx's
22:53
efforts in the Communist cause of
22:55
overthrowing capitalism physical ills
22:59
dogged Marx increasingly with the
23:01
passing years his irregular sleeping
23:03
habits alcohol consumption and lack of
23:06
personal cleanliness or exercise may
23:09
well have contributed to these as his
23:11
improvidence made his family prey to
23:13
hunger disease and the deaths of three
23:16
children in infancy and early childhood
23:18
but he blamed these tragedies like most
23:21
of his troubles on other people the
23:24
death of his infant son he blamed on
23:26
bourgeois misery which he apparently
23:29
considered also the cause of the boils
23:31
that covered his body for he promised to
23:34
make the bourgeoisie pay for them via
23:36
his revolutionary writings Marx
23:39
repeatedly denounced creditors who
23:41
insisted on collecting what he owed them
23:43
he even lost his temper at his wife for
23:46
her bouts of tears in the midst of
23:48
mounting tragedies even during the long
23:51
years of poverty the Marx household had
23:53
a maid Helene DeMuth better known by her
23:57
nickname of lantian she had been a
23:59
servant of the elder Baroness
24:01
westfalen who in 1845 sent her as a
24:05
present to her daughter who was
24:06
unprepared to take care of children nor
24:08
a household though the Marx's were
24:11
seldom in a position to pay her dear
24:13
faithful engine remained in their
24:15
service to their dying days and then
24:18
went to work for angles in her youth she
24:21
passed up suitors and other
24:22
opportunities for jobs to stay and serve
24:25
the marxist in 1851 during the most
24:29
desperate period of the Marx family when
24:31
Marx's wife was pregnant
24:33
luncheon soon became pregnant too only a
24:36
few friends knew of the child's birth he
24:39
was sent away to be raised by a
24:40
working-class family and there was no
24:43
father's name on the birth certificate
24:45
marks his wife was told that angles a
24:48
bachelor was the father but long after
24:51
the deaths of Marx and his wife it came
24:53
out that in fact the father was Karl
24:56
Marx angles confirmed it on his deathbed
24:59
- Marx's tearful daughter in his life he
25:02
had taken the blame for Marx in order to
25:05
save his friend's marriage but in death
25:07
angles was apparently not prepared to
25:10
take the blame forever the child himself
25:13
Freddie DeMuth grew up with no
25:15
relationship with Marx and never visited
25:18
his mother as long as the Marx's were
25:20
alive only after their deaths
25:22
when Helen DeMuth became Angles
25:24
housekeeper did the boy begin visiting
25:26
his mother entering and leaving by the
25:28
back door he was sacrificed first to
25:32
Marx's convenience then to Marx his
25:35
image his mother apparently loved him
25:38
when she died she left everything to him
25:42
Marx's human relationships in general
25:44
were self-centered if not exploitative
25:47
when his wife gave birth to a child who
25:50
died immediately Marx briefly mentioned
25:53
his own reactions in the letter to
25:54
angles so totally ignoring the effect on
25:57
his wife that angles reply reminded him
26:00
that you don't say how she is in 1851 at
26:05
the age of 33 Marx wrote to my mother
26:08
threatening to draw bills on her and in
26:11
the event of non-payment going to
26:13
Prussia and
26:15
myself be locked up when his mother
26:18
refused to be blackmailed this way marks
26:20
complained of her insolent reply after
26:23
his mother later died in 1863 Marx's
26:27
letter to angles was a model of brevity
26:30
wasting no sentiment on the old woman
26:32
and focusing entirely on getting his
26:35
inheritance immediately nor was this the
26:38
only occasion when death in the family
26:40
was seen in purely economic terms
26:42
earlier in 1852 he referred to some good
26:47
news the illness of my wife's
26:50
indestructible uncle and added if that
26:53
dog dies now I'll be out of trouble
26:55
financially because Marx wanted German
26:59
socialist Ferdinand Lassalle to find me
27:03
some literary business in Germany to
27:05
supplant my diminished income and
27:07
increased expenditure he cultivated him
27:10
with flattery to his face and contempt
27:13
behind his back Marx referred to
27:15
LaSalle's book on Hegel as an exhibition
27:18
of enormous erudition when writing to
27:21
LaSalle and as a silly concoction when
27:25
writing to Engles Marx added that
27:28
LaSalle was a Jewish [ ] based on
27:31
Marx's analysis of his appearance it is
27:34
now perfectly clear to me that has
27:37
testified also by his cranial formation
27:39
and hair growth he is descended from the
27:41
Negroes who joined Moses exodus from
27:44
egypt unless his paternal mother or
27:47
grandmother was crossed with a [ ]
27:48
well this combination of jewish and
27:51
germanic stock with the negroid basic
27:54
substance is bound to yield a strange
27:56
product the fellows in portunity is also
28:00
[ ] like Engles likewise seized upon
28:04
LaSalle's ancestry called him a true Jew
28:07
and from first to laughte
28:10
the stupid kid
28:13
crude and repulsive as Marxist and
28:16
angles racial remarks to each other
28:18
often were there is no need to make them
28:20
still worse by putting them in the same
28:22
category as 20th century racism that is
28:25
justified genocide Marx is much
28:28
criticized essay on the Jewish Question
28:30
for example contains clear statements of
28:33
his distaste for what he considered to
28:35
be Jewish cultural or social traits but
28:38
in the end it was a defense of Jews
28:40
right to full political equality written
28:43
as a reply to a contemporary who had
28:45
claimed that Jews should be required to
28:47
give up their religion before receiving
28:50
equal civil status Marx hoped that the
28:53
characteristics he disliked in Jews
28:55
would fade away with the disappearance
28:57
of capitalism thus leading to abolishing
29:01
the essence of Jewry but hardly in the
29:04
sense of Hitler and the Nazis similarly
29:06
despite his anti-negro stereotypes
29:09
during the American Civil War he
29:11
conducted propaganda for the north and
29:14
for the emancipation of slaves perhaps
29:17
more indicative he agreed to the
29:19
marriage of his eldest daughter to a man
29:21
known to have some Negro ancestry after
29:24
discouraging other suitors
29:26
likewise angles in 1851 expressed to a
29:30
friend his hope that the present
29:32
persecution of Jews in Germany will
29:34
spread no further Marx and Engels were
29:37
in short inconsistent and privately
29:40
crude but hardly racial fanatics
29:45
the first international along with the
29:50
Communist Manifesto and capital the
29:53
other milestone in Marx's career was his
29:55
leadership of the first international
29:57
the International workingmen's
29:59
association Marx's legendary fame today
30:03
makes it difficult to realize that he
30:05
was an obscure figure with no
30:07
substantial following in the early 1860s
30:09
that his writings were largely ignored
30:12
and that even a man as knowledgeable as
30:15
John Stuart Mill could live for 20 years
30:17
in the same city writing on the same
30:20
topics in utter ignorance that someone
30:22
named Karl Marx even existed the
30:25
International workingmen's association
30:27
rescued him from that obscurity as in
30:31
the earlier case of the Communist League
30:33
Marx appeared on the scene just as an
30:35
existing organization was in process of
30:38
reorganizing and seized the opportunity
30:41
to maneuver his way to control initially
30:44
Marx was only one of a number of people
30:46
on a committee charged with drafting a
30:49
statement of purpose for the
30:50
International in 1864 he had taken no
30:54
active part in the organization before
30:56
was only belatedly brought into the
30:58
discussions and was mentioned last on
31:01
the list of participants yet Marx was
31:04
able to get the group bogged down in
31:06
interminable discussions as a prelude to
31:09
his coup as he described it in a letter
31:12
to angles in order to gain time I
31:14
proposed that before we edited the
31:17
preamble we should discuss the rules
31:19
this was done it was an hour after
31:22
midnight before the first of the 40
31:25
rules were agreed to creamer said and
31:28
this was what I was aiming for we have
31:30
nothing to show the committee which
31:32
meets on October 25th we must postpone
31:35
the meeting to November first
31:37
but the subcommittee can get together on
31:40
October 27th and attempt to reach a
31:43
definite conclusion this was agreed to
31:46
and the documents were sent back for my
31:49
opinion from here on it was Marx's show
31:54
on a pretext Marx's own word I altered
31:58
the whole Priya
31:59
throughout the declaración the principai
32:02
and finally replaced the 40 rules with
32:05
10 he then maneuvered some Marxists into
32:09
key positions in the new organization
32:11
and by 1867 was writing to angles of
32:14
this powerful machinery in our hands and
32:18
of his own influence from behind the
32:21
scenes the membership of the
32:23
International was however never
32:26
predominantly Marxist and conflicting
32:28
currents were always at work angles only
32:31
hoped that the next international would
32:34
become communist and openly proclaim our
32:37
principles eventually the commanding
32:40
figure of the Russian revolutionary
32:42
anarchist Mikhail Bakunin rose to
32:44
challenge Marx for control of the
32:46
International their struggle for control
32:49
ultimately destroyed the organization
32:51
Marx managed to get bakunin expelled and
32:55
had the headquarters of the
32:56
International transferred to the United
32:58
States where it would be safe from other
33:00
european revolutionary challenges even
33:03
though he knew that would also mean its
33:05
demise as well it was a rule or ruin
33:08
tactic that would appear again and again
33:11
in later communist infiltration of non
33:13
communist organizations
33:17
twilight years in the decade that
33:22
remained of his life after the
33:24
destruction of the International marks
33:26
published little his financial worries
33:28
were largely behind him but illnesses
33:31
plagued him and his wife the completion
33:34
of capital was delayed not only by
33:36
illness but also by Marx's side
33:38
excursions into other subjects notably
33:41
the history of Russia which required him
33:44
to learn the Russian language even
33:46
Engles did not know that Marx had left
33:49
the manuscripts of volumes two and three
33:51
of capital sit untouched for years while
33:54
he dallied with other matters when
33:56
Engles discovered this after Marx's
33:58
death he said that if I had been aware
34:01
of this I would not have let him rest
34:04
day or night until everything had been
34:06
finished and printed Engles had been
34:09
vainly urging Marx since 1845 to finish
34:12
the projected book on economics as it
34:15
was much of the last two decades of
34:17
Engles life were taken up trying to
34:20
decipher and assemble the manuscripts
34:22
for the remaining two volumes of capital
34:25
realizing the monumental task that this
34:27
involved and his own advancing age
34:30
Engels initiated the young Karl Kautsky
34:33
into the mysteries of Marx's handwriting
34:35
enabling Kowski to eventually assemble
34:38
the remaining manuscripts into theories
34:41
of surplus-value a separate three volume
34:44
work originally intended by Marx as the
34:47
final volume of capital thus a work
34:50
begun in the middle of the nineteenth
34:52
century was not completely published
34:54
until the end of the first decade of the
34:56
20th century Marx once observed that all
35:01
his earnings from capital would not pay
35:03
for the cigars he smoked while writing
35:05
it it took four years to sell one
35:08
thousand copies and though translations
35:11
began to appear with the passing years
35:13
Marx remained in his lifetime a
35:15
little-known figure outside the ranks of
35:17
revolutionaries his greatest notoriety
35:20
came as a defender of the bloody
35:22
activities of the Paris Commune of 1871
35:25
his book on the subject the civil war in
35:29
France sold far more copy
35:31
than the Communist Manifesto Marx
35:34
relished this public notoriety though it
35:36
also included death threats the Marx
35:40
family even after being relieved from
35:42
dire poverty had many rocky roads to
35:45
travel marks his wife a beauty in her
35:49
youth found herself with a pockmarked
35:51
face as a result of illness in her words
35:54
looking more like a kind of rhinoceros
35:56
which is escaped from a zoo than a
35:59
member of the Caucasian race she
36:02
remained a nervous wreck and irritable
36:04
with her children as a result of decades
36:06
of strain for which her pampered
36:08
upbringing had not prepared her while
36:11
her mother's servant
36:12
Helene DeMuth had been a godsend to a
36:14
young wife unable to take care of
36:16
children money or a household luncheons
36:19
handling of these responsibilities may
36:22
also have [ ] or prevented Jenny
36:24
Marx from maturing her immaturity was
36:27
still evident long after she ceased to
36:29
be young at age 50 she realized a
36:32
lifetime ambition by giving a ball
36:34
complete with uniformed servants and
36:37
hired musicians even as a middle-aged
36:40
woman and the wife of a revolutionary
36:42
she had visiting cards printed up
36:45
identifying herself as baroness von
36:47
Westphalen nor were these the only
36:50
vanities in which she and Marx indulged
36:52
they continued to give their daughters
36:54
piano lessons music and dancing lessons
36:57
even when this sometimes meant not
36:59
paying the rent
37:01
keeping up appearances was a major item
37:04
in the Marx's budget throughout their
37:06
lives during his worst years of
37:08
financial desperation Marx strove
37:11
mightily and with pained embarrassment
37:13
to prevent visitors from discovering his
37:15
poverty though angles pointed out how
37:18
futile and pointless this was even when
37:21
this required his wife to take
37:23
everything that was not actually screwed
37:25
down to the pawnshop to pay for
37:27
entertaining them during one of his
37:30
worst financial crises Marx contemplated
37:33
the most extreme reduction of
37:35
expenditure which might include
37:37
requiring him to move into purely
37:40
proletarian accommodation and get rid of
37:43
the maids the three Marx daughters all
37:47
became involved with men unable to
37:49
support them too through marriage and
37:51
one in a common-law relationship all
37:54
received money at one time or other from
37:56
angles the eldest to pay overdue rent
37:59
the middle daughter repeatedly for a
38:01
variety of reasons and the youngest in a
38:04
large inheritance which she did not live
38:06
long to enjoy Marx's relationships with
38:10
his children and grandchildren however
38:12
show his most happy and human side he
38:16
was a gentle and indulgent father who
38:18
amused his children with his own
38:20
original fairy tales and picnicked and
38:22
played with them with great relish the
38:25
deaths of those who perished in
38:26
childhood severely affected him for
38:28
years afterwards Marx wrote in a letter
38:32
bacon says that really important men
38:34
have so many contacts with nature in the
38:37
world and have so much to interest them
38:39
that they easily get over their loss I
38:42
am NOT one of these important men my
38:45
child's death has shattered my heart and
38:48
brain and I feel the loss as keenly as
38:51
on the first day
38:55
dismiss marks with his children was a
38:59
very different man from the marks
39:01
described by his adult contemporaries
39:04
when his father questioned whether his
39:06
heart was as good as his head he raised
39:08
a question that many others would
39:10
continue to raise about marks throughout
39:12
his life
39:13
a fellow revolutionary said of Marx if
39:16
his heart had matched his intellect and
39:18
if he possessed as much love as hate I
39:21
would have gone through fire for him but
39:24
a most dangerous personal ambition has
39:28
eaten away all the good in him still
39:31
another radical contemporary Pradhan
39:33
wrote to Marx for God's sake after we
39:37
have abolished all the dogmatism Zay
39:39
priori let us not of all things attempt
39:42
in our turn to instill another kind of
39:44
dogma into the people he said let us
39:48
have decent and sincere polemics
39:51
let us give the world an example of
39:53
learnin and farsighted tolerance but
39:56
simply because we are at the head of the
39:58
movement let us not make ourselves the
40:00
leader of a new intolerance let us not
40:03
pose as the apostle of a new religion
40:06
even though this religion be the
40:08
religion of logic the religion of reason
40:11
Karl shirts while still a youthful
40:14
revolutionary in Germany before his
40:16
later fame as a liberal in the United
40:18
States met Marx and formed an opinion of
40:21
him that accords with the impressions of
40:23
many others I have never seen a man
40:26
whose bearing was so provoking and
40:28
intolerable to no opinion which differed
40:31
from his he accorded the honor of even a
40:34
condescending consideration
40:36
everyone who contradicted him he treated
40:38
with abject contempt every argument that
40:42
he did not like he answered either with
40:44
biting scorn at the unfathomable
40:46
ignorance that had prompted it or with
40:48
appropriate suspicions upon the motives
40:51
of him who had advanced it Marx liked to
40:55
glare at anyone who challenged his
40:57
conclusions and say I will annihilate
40:59
you the radicals and revolutionaries who
41:03
mark successively alienated over a
41:05
period of 40 years reads like a who's
41:08
who of the
41:09
19th century political left even the
41:12
patient and long-suffering angles came
41:14
close to a break with Marx who's Curt
41:16
and clumsy remarks on the death of
41:18
angles common-law wife in 1863 wounded
41:22
his friend angles wrote all my friends
41:26
including Philistine acquaintances have
41:28
shown me more sympathy and friendship on
41:30
this occasion which inevitably affected
41:33
me quite closely than I had a right to
41:35
expect you found the moment suitable for
41:38
a demonstration of the superiority of
41:40
your cool manner of thinking so be it
41:45
Marx's apology brought forgiveness and
41:48
the historic partnership continued the
41:51
younger Marx of the 1840s presented a
41:54
more humane vision in his writings and
41:56
has become something of a refuge for
41:59
modern radicals disillusioned with the
42:00
more blatantly severe later Marx who
42:03
seemed to presage Lenin and Stalin
42:05
light-hearted humor also brightened some
42:08
of these earlier writings in a way
42:10
seldom seen again in the later works of
42:12
Marx and Engels yet it would be a
42:15
mistake to ignore the authoritarian and
42:18
terroristic elements that were as
42:19
present in these earlier writings as in
42:22
the later ones and in angles as well as
42:25
Marx angles first draft for the
42:28
communist manifesto included compulsory
42:30
labor a deliberate undermining of the
42:33
family by ending the dependence of the
42:36
wife upon the husband and of the
42:38
children upon the parents and the
42:40
erection of common dwellings for
42:43
communities of citizens to replace
42:45
family homes Marx is no Rheinische
42:48
Zeitung declared on its last day of
42:51
publication when our turn comes we shall
42:54
not disguise our terrorism
42:58
a current vogue aptly characterized as
43:01
Ingles baiting makes it especially
43:03
important to assess angles role in
43:05
Marxism angles was much more than
43:08
Marxist friend and benefactor he was one
43:11
of the very few people with whom Marx
43:13
had intellectual interchange and by far
43:15
the most important for most of his life
43:18
Marx has an obscure autodidact was
43:21
utterly cut off from participation in
43:24
the world of universities learn at
43:26
journals scholarly conferences and other
43:29
institutionalized intellectual exchange
43:31
nor did he have any intellectual
43:34
interaction by correspondence or in
43:36
person with the leading minds of his
43:38
time Mill Darwin Tolstoy Menger or
43:42
Dostoyevsky for example marks his
43:45
relationship with contemporary radical
43:47
intellectuals was one of tutelage or
43:49
hostility his correspondence consisted
43:53
overwhelmingly of gossip intrigue and
43:55
passing remarks on current events and
43:57
contemporary personalities only with
44:01
angles were serious intellectual matters
44:03
discussed with even occasional
44:05
regularity angles early economic writing
44:09
provided the basic conception that Marx
44:11
systematized and elaborated in the
44:14
massive volumes of capital finally
44:18
angles piecing together an editing of
44:20
the many manuscripts for the posthumous
44:22
volumes of Marx's magnum opus was a
44:25
monumental work of dedication and
44:27
self-sacrifice stretching over more than
44:29
a decade Engels was not only a far
44:33
clearer writer than Marx but often more
44:36
subtly and accurately conveyed Marx's
44:38
theories especially of history for he
44:41
did not so readily indulge in Marx's
44:43
penchant for epigrams at the expense of
44:46
accuracy
44:47
Bengals letters on the Marxian theory of
44:49
history are a major contribution to
44:52
understanding what Marx actually did in
44:54
his historical writings as distinguished
44:57
from how Marx tried to encapsulate his
44:59
practice in cliches that continued to
45:02
obscure more than they reveal
45:05
there is no way to know what angles
45:07
would have accomplished in the decades
45:08
he devoted first to earning a living for
45:11
both himself and Marx and then to
45:14
completing Marx's unfinished work but
45:16
what he actually accomplished was both
45:19
impressive and indicative his socialism
45:22
utopian and scientific remains the best
45:25
summary of the system of thought that
45:27
bears the name of Marx how much of
45:30
Marxism originated in fact with angles
45:32
is a question that may never be answered
45:35
angles was clearly a precursor of
45:37
Marxian crisis theory in economics as
45:40
Marx himself indicated angles letters to
45:43
marks also presage the content and title
45:46
of Marx's eighteenth Brumaire but the
45:49
collaborative writings of Marx and
45:51
angles and their unrecorded
45:52
conversations over a period of 40 years
45:55
preclude any definitive disentangling of
45:58
their respective contributions to
46:00
Marxism in 1883 at the graveside of Marx
46:05
angles painted an idealized picture that
46:09
provided the stuff of which legends are
46:11
made
46:11
he began on the 14th day of March at a
46:15
quarter to three in the afternoon the
46:18
greatest living thinker ceased to think
46:21
according to angles Marx discovered the
46:25
law of development of human history and
46:27
also the special law of motion governing
46:31
the present day capitalist mode of
46:33
production innumerable slanders Marx
46:37
brushed aside as though it were cobweb
46:40
and though he may have had many
46:42
opponents he had hardly one personal
46:45
enemy this was at best a highly
46:48
sanitized picture of a man who
46:50
personalized every quarrel and whose
46:52
letters to angles were full of spiteful
46:54
gossip and petty intrigues finally
46:58
angles funeral oration ended with these
47:00
words his name will endure through the
47:03
ages and so also will his work Marx's
47:08
name has indeed become infinitely better
47:11
known than when he died in relative
47:13
obscurity in London a hundred years ago
47:15
how much of what has happened in the
47:17
20th century
47:19
is his work and in what sense is a much
47:22
larger and more complex question for
47:25
Marx the man he perhaps wrote his own
47:27
best epitaph when he said nothing that
47:30
his human is foreign to me others made
47:35
him an abstraction and an icon