Engels, F

Name: Friedrich Engels

Achievements: Co-founded Communism.

Born: November 28, 1820; Barmen, Prussia (Germany)

Died: August 5, 1895; London, England. Aged 74

Field & Discipline: Philosophy; Socialism; Philosopher

Language: German; English

Father: Friedrich Engels (d. 1860)

Mother: Elise (d. 1873)

Siblings: Seven younger siblings

Spouse: Elizabeth Burns (m. 1877; d. 1877)

Children: None

Education: Barmen Pietist School (1826-35); Eberfeldt Pietist School (1835-38)

Major Work:

“Communist Manifesto” (with Karl Marx; 1848)

Life & Times:

In 1838, before he had completed his schooling, Engels was sent by his father to the seaport of Bremen to work as a clerk in an export firm. This was a period of great social and intellectual upheaval and it was during this period that Engels began to develop an interest in liberal and revolutionary works, and the philosophy of [influenced by] Hegel*, whose [developed further Hegel’s] dialectic* he developed further as dialectical materialism.

In 1841 he enlisted for a year in an artillery regiment in Berlin,  where he attended lectures by [taught by]  Schelling.*   After finishing his military service in 1842, Engels travelled to Cologne where he met [introduced to Marx by] Moses Hess*, the guiding force behind the radical daily newspaper the “Rheinische Zeitung.”  Hess effectively converted Engels to communism during this visit.  It was in Hess's office that Engels also first met [collaborated with] Karl Marx*, an editor on the paper.

In October 1842 Engels went to Manchester, England to continue his training in the family cotton-spinning business.   Believing that England, with its advanced industry, fast-growing working class, and indications of class conflict, was destined to play an important role in revolution, he also spent much time reading books and parliamentary reports on economic and political conditions in England, mingling with workers, meeting radical leaders, and gathering materials for a projected history of England that would stress the rise of industry and the repressed position of the workers.

In 1844 Engels contributed two articles on social and economic conditions in England to the German-French Yearbooks, edited by Marx in Paris, and several articles for “New Moral World,” the paper of the utopian socialist [wrote for] Robert Owen*, describing the spread of communist ideas in Europe.

In August 1844, on his way home to Barmen, Engels stayed in Paris for 10 days, and here he again met with Marx, who had been extremely impressed by Engel's essay "Outlines of a Critique of Political Economy" published in February 1844.  It was a meeting that marked the beginning of their lifelong friendship and political partnership dedicated to the promotion of the socialist movement.

Engels then returned to Barmen, where in late 1844 he published his first collaboration with Marx, a critique of the ideas of the Young Hegelians entitled “The Holy Family,” and the following year his first great work, “The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844.”  This attracted much attention, not so much for descriptions of the oppression of English workers (middle-class English reformers like [work related to] Babbage*, [work related to] Chadwick* and others had done this before), as for its call to the English proletariat to embrace socialism and fight for emancipation.

In the summer of 1845 Engels joined Marx in Brussels and the pair then travelled together to England and visited Manchester, before returning to Brussels where they began a second joint work: “German Ideology,” which clarified their disagreements with the Young Hegelians and other German socialists who rejected the need for revolution, and set out their own philosophical standpoint.

During this period, Engels completely and enthusiastically embraced Marx's newly formulated economic, or materialistic, interpretation of history - named "scientific socialism" - which predicted the eventual burial of capitalism and triumph of communism - and became the first Marxist.

In 1846 Engels travelled to Paris and London in order to ensure that the communities of expatriate German workers in these cities were adopting Marxist, rather than any other communist principles. 

In London in 1847 the first congress of communists was held in London.  Engels attended and helped transform it into the Communist League. In November-December 1847 the second Communist Congress was held in London.  Marx and Engels both attended and successfully dominated it,  authorized to draft a statement of communist principles and policies.

This document appeared in 1848 as the “Communist Manifesto,” essentially Marx's own original contribution - its central thesis being that classes in society exist as a result of particular phases in the development of production, and that only the modern exploited class can accomplish the transition to a classless society.

No sooner had the “Communist Manifesto” been published than the European revolutions of February and March 1848 erupted, first in France and then in Prussia and other states, against authoritarian governments.  Engels and Marx immediately travelled to Cologne, where they took charge of the democratic newspaper the “Neue Rheinische Zeitung,” and attempted to turn the revolution into a communist victory, by rallying workers and the radical middle-class  against the forces of reaction.

However, faced with a threateningly powerful and developed working class, the representatives of the German bourgeoisie quickly capitulated to the demands of the Prussian monarchy and made an agreement to crush the opposition of the workers, including suppression of the “Neue Rheinische Zeitung” and the deportation of Marx.  Drawing on his military training, Engels took an active part in the armed popular uprising against the Prussian armies, first in Elberfield, near Barmen, and later in Baden and the Palatinate. When the revolt was defeated, he escaped across the border to Switzerland, and then joined Marx in London.

After the failure of the revolution, Engels and Marx reorganized the Communist League in London, but by 1850 both men were in financially difficulty, and that year Engels took a subordinate position in the offices of Ermen & Engels in Manchester.

For twenty years he worked successfully as a capitalist in his father's firm, of which he eventually became a partner, in order to support both himself and Marx and his family in London.   As a result, Marx was able to immerse himself in his great works while from Manchester Engels assisted him further by writing many of the articles Marx had undertaken to produce for the “New York Tribune” (run by [worked for] Greeley*), which appeared first under Marx's name and were later published (1896) under that of Engel's as “Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Germany in 1848.”

During this period in Manchester, Engels also found time to continue his own studies of languages, history, the natural sciences and military affairs (including the work of the Prussian soldier [studied work of] Clausewitz*).  

In 1878 Engels published his great defence of Marxism.  It influenced a generation of prominent Marxists (including Lenin) and was, more than any other work, responsible for spreading the scientific socialism of the International Workers' Movement.

After Marx died in 1883 Engels served as the foremost authority on Marx and Marxism, devoting himself to producing, from Marx's uncompleted manuscript and rough notes, volumes two and three of “Das Kapital” (published in 1885 and 1894).   For the next 12 years he also led the International Workers' Movement.  

In 1888 Engels visited the United States for two months and in 1893 his work for the Second International culminated in his triumphant reception at the Zurich Congress. In June 1895 he was diagnosed as suffering from throat cancer, and he died two months later.  In accordance with his wishes, his body was cremated and his ashes scattered in the sea off Beachy Head, Sussex.

Extra Connections: Knew Marx’s daughter[knew]  Eleanor Marx*

Was an admirer of chartist [an admirer of] O’Connor*

Assessment: Marx has overshadowed Engels, but the influence of Engels on

the theories of Marxism, and particularly on the elaboration of dialectical materialism, cannot be overestimated.

Oneliner: Friedrich Engels, co-founder of Communism

Bibliography:

• Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia.
• Carver, Terrell, Engels, Oxford & New York: OUP, 1981.
• Encyclopedia Britannica.
• McLellan, David, Engels, Hassocks, Sussex: Harvester Press, 1977.

"bourgeoisie" to the Suffrage means nothing but 'LA REPUBLIQUE!'.

Paris, June 26th, 1847"

(Source: MECW Volume 6, p. 213)