The Holy Family Or Critique of Critical Critique
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K ^«^nr^ 1 THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES EEMGELSAND THE HOLY FAMILY OR CRITIQUE OF CRITICAL CRITIQUE *• FOREIGN LANGUAGES PUBLISHING HOUSE Moscow 19 3 6 TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY R. DIXON >^- (J , I fv^ CONT ENTS Page From the Institute of Marxism-Leninism 9 Foreword 15 Chapter I. CRITICAL CRITICISM AS A BOOKBINDER, OR CRITICAL CRITICISM IN THE PERSON OF HERR REICHARDT by Engels 17 Chapter 11. CRITICAL CRITICISM AS A MILL-OWNER, OR CRITICAL CRITICISM IN THE PERSOX OF HERR JULES FAUCHER by Engels 21 Chapter III. THE THOROUGHNESS OF CRITICAL CRITICISM, OR CRITICAL CRITICISM IN THE PERSON OF HERR J. (JUNGNITZ?) by Engels 27 Chapter IV. CRITICAL CRITICISM AS THE CALM OF KNOWLEDGE, OR CRITICAL CRITICISM IN THE PER- SON OF HERR EDGAR 29 - ^^ 1) "Flora Tristan's Union Ouvriere" > , Fnaoic ^^^ i^ngeis 2) Beraud on Prostitutes ... I .31 31 3) Love 1 , ,, ''^ ^^"'^ 4) Proudhon 1 35 Characterizing Translation No. 1 35 Critical Gloss No. 1 45 Critical Gloss No. 2 49 Characterizing TrarsUition No. 2 54 Critical Gloss No. 3 55 Characterizing Translation No. 3 60 Critical Gloss No. 4 67 Characterizing Translation No. 4 70 Critical Gloss No. 5 71 1250046 fi CONTENTS Chapter V. CRITICAL CRITICISM AS A MYSTERY-MONGER, OR CRITICAL CRITICISM IN THE PERSON OF HERR SZELIGA by Marx 75 1) "The Mystery of Degeneracy in Civilization" and "tlie Mystery of Rightlessness in the State" 76 2) The Mystery of Speculative Construction 78 3) "The Mystery of Educated Society" 83 4) "The Mystery of Probity and Piety" 94 5) "Mystery, a Mockery" 97 6) Turtie-Dove (Rigolette) 101 7) The World System of the Mysteries of Paris 103 Chapter VI. ABSOLUTE CRITICAL CRITICISM, OR CRITICAL CRITICISM IN THE PERSON OF HERR BRUNO .... 105 1) Absolute Criticism's First Campaign by Marx 105 a) "Spirit" and "Mass" 105 b) The Jewish Question, No. 1. Setting of the Question . 117 c) Hinrichs No. 1. Mysterious Hints on Politics, Socialism and Philosophy 122 2) Absolute Criticism's Second Campaign 124 a) Hinrichs No. 2. "Criticism" and "Feuerbach." Damnation of Philosophy by Engels 124 b) The Jewish Question No. 2. Critical Discoveries on Socialism, Jurisprudence and Politics (Nationality) by Marx . 127 3) Absolute Criticism's Third Campaign by Marx .... 133 a) Absolute Criticism's Self-Apology. Its "Political" Past . 133 b) The Jewish Question No. 3 143 c) Critical Rattle against the French Revolution 160 d) Critical Battle against Fronch Materialism 167 o) Final Defeat of Socialism 179 f) The Speculative Circular Motion of Absolute Criticism and the Philosophy of Self-Consciousness 183 Chapter VII. CRITICAL CRITICISM'S CORRESPONDENCE . 193 1) The Critical Mass by Marx 193 2) The Un-Crilical Mass and "Critical Criticism" 199 a) The Obdurate Mass and the Unsatisfied Mass by Marx . 199 b) The Soft-Hearted Mass "Pining for Salvation" by Engeh . 203 c) Mercy Pours Forth on the Mass by Marx 206 3) The Un-Critically Critical Mass, or "Criticism" and the "Berlin Couleur" bi^ Marx 207 CONTENTS 7 Chapter VIII. THE WORLDLY PEREGRINATION AND THE TRANSFIGURATION OF CRITICAL CRITICISM, OR CRIT- ICAL CRITICISM IN THE PERSON OF RUDOLPH, PRINCE OF GEROLDSTEIN by Marx 217 1) Critical Transformation of a Butcher into a Dog, or Chourineur 218 2) Revelation of the Mystery of Critical Religion, or Fleiir " de Marie 222 a) The Speculative "Daisy" 222 b) Fleur de Marie 225 3) Revelation of the Mysteries of Law 235 c) The Gang Leader, or the New Penal Theory. The Myartery of the Cell System Revealed. Medical Mysteries .... 235 b) Punishment. Double Justice (with a Table) Reward and . 248 c) Abolition of Degeneracy within Civilization and of Riglitles'^- ness in the State 251 4) The Revealed "Standpoint" Mystery 253 5) Revelation of the Mystery of the Utilization of Human Impulses, or Clemence d'Harville 256 6) Revelation of the Mystery of the Emancipation of Women, or Louise Morel 258 7) Revelation of Political-Economic Mysteries 260 a) Theoretical Revelation of Political-Economic Mysteries . 260 h) "The Bank for the Poor" 261 c) Model Farm at Bouqueval 263 8) Rudolph, "the Revealed Mystery of all Mysteries" ... 265 Clwpter IX. THE CRITICAL LAST JUDGMENT by Marx . 276 Historical Epilogue 277 Notes 278 Index of Authorities 286 Name Index 292 FROM THE INSTITUTE OF MARXISM-LENINISM The Holy Family, or Critique of Critical Critique. Against Bruno Bauer and Co. is the first joint work of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. At the end of August 1844 Marx and Engels met in Paris and their meeting was the beginning of their joint creative work in all fields of theoretical and practical revolutionary activity. By this time Marx and En- gels had completed the transition from idealism to mate- rialism and from revolutionary democratism to communism. The polemic The Holy Family was written in Paris in autumn 1844. It reflects the progress in the formation of Marx and Engels's revolutionary materialistic world out- look. In The Holy Family Marx and Engels give a devastating criticism of the subjectivist views of the Young Hegelians from the position of militant materialists. They also criti- cize Hegel's own idealistic philosophy: giving credit for the rational element in his dialectics, they criticize the mystic side of it. The Holy Family formulates a number of fundamental theses of dialectical and historical materialism. In it Marx already approaches the basic idea of historical materialism/ —the decisive role of the mode of production in the devel-'| opment of society. Refuting the idealistic views of history/ which had dominated up to that time, Marx and Engels 10 FROM THE INSTITUTE OF MARXISM-LENINISM prove that of themselves progressive ideas can lead society only beyond the ideas of the old system and that "in order to carry out ideas men are needed who dispose of a certain practical force." (See p. 160 of the present edition.) The proposition put forward in the book that the mass, the peo- ple, is the real maker of the history of mankind is of para- mount importance. Marx and En gels show that the wid er •^ and the more profound a ch ange taking place in society~is , t he more numerous the mass effecting that changew ill be. Lenin especially stressed the importance of this thought and described it as one of the most profound and most im- '^portant theses of historical materialism. The Holy Family contains the almost mature view of the historic role of the proletariat as the class which, by virtue of its position in capitalism, "can and must free itself" and at the same time abolish all the inhuman conditions of life of bourgeois society, for "not in vain does" the proletariat "go through the stern but steeling school of labour. The question is not what this or that proletarian, or even the whole of the proletariat at the moment considers as its aim. The question is what the proletariat is, and what, conse- quent on that being, it will be compelled to do." (Pp. 52-53.) A section of great importance is "Critical Battle against French Materialism" in which Marx, briefly outlining the development of materialism in West-European philosophy, shows that communism is the logical conclusion of material- istic philosophy. The Holy Family was written largely under the influence of the materialistic views of Ludwig Feuerbach, who was responsible to a great extent for Marx's and Engels's tran- sition from idealism to materialism; the work also contains elements of the criticism of Feuerbach's metaphysical and contemplative materialism given by Marx in spring 1845 in his Theses on Feuerbach. Engels later defined the place of The Holif Family in the historv of Marxism when he FROM THE INSTITUTE OF MARXISM-LENINISM 11 wrote: "The cult of abstract man, which formed the kernel of Feuerbach's new religion, had to be replaced by the sci- ence of real men and of their historical development. This further development of Feuerbach's standpoint beyond Feuerbach was inaugurated by Marx in 1845 in The Holy Family^ (F. Engels, Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy.) The Holy Family formulates some of the basic princi- ples of Marxist political economy. In contrast to the Utopian Socialists Marx bases the objective inevitability of the vic- tory of communism on the fact that private property in its economic motion drives itself towards its downfall. The Holy Family dates from a period when the process of the formation of Marxism was not yet completed. This is reflected in the terminology used by Marx and Engels. Marxist scientific terminolog}' was gradually elaborated and defined by Marx and Engels as the formation and develop- ment of their teaching progressed. Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the C.C., C.P.S.U. it peaUlgf ^suMiüilt^^ oDet ^ r t t i f be t friftfc&en ^ritif. en f^runo flauer & Conförtm. Con ^rtc^rid) CSngeld unb S^atl Wavf^. /rankfurt a. Sittcorifdle ^n^aif (J. RUtten.) Tille page of the first edition of The Holy Family FOREWORD Real Humanism has no more dangerous enemy in Ger- many than spiritualism or speculative Idealism which substi- tutes '' self-consciousness'' or the "splrlC for the real Individ- ual man and teaches with the evangeUst "that the spirit quickeneth everything and that the flesh profiteth not." Need- less to say, this fleshless spirit is spiritual only in his im- agination. What we are combating in Bauer's criticism is speculation reproducing itself as a caricature. We see in it the most complete expression of the Christian-Germanic principle which, in a last effort, transforms "criticism" itself into a transcendent power.