KARL MARX: vHis Life and Work 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) Kael Marx KARL MARX: HIS LIFE AND WORK BY JOHN SPARGO NEW AND REVISED EDITION NEW YORK B. W. HUEBSCH 1912 Copyright, 1910, by B. W. HUEBSCH All rights reserved First Printing, Kaj, 1910. 8<»sd Printing, Sejtembtr. IMS. PKIKTRD IN U. S. A. ' TO MARY ROBINSON SANFORD A GREETING FROM "NESTLEDOWN" TO " TUCKED-AWAY CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE 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 (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 Frangois Marie Charles Fourier 70 Ludwig Feuerbach 76 Heinrich Heine 82 Wilhelra Weitling 96 Wilhelm Wolff 96 Ferdinand Flocon 106 Friedrich Engels I20 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 IQO Robert Owen I94 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 £. 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 intel- lect 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 move- ment 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 manifesta- tion. 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 ban- ners 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 II 12 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 noth- ing 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 ten- der 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 13 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- ography, and during the years that have elapsed — years which, owing to my activity In the Socialist movement, have been al- most wholly bereft of leisure — that work has been continued with as much persistence and energy as possible under the cir- cumstances. 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 ex- tended account of the Franco-Prussian war and the Paris Com- mune 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 hesi- tated, 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. 14 KARL MARX No man in modern times has been more grievously misunder- stood 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 un- derstanding 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 com- ments upon the literary remains of Marx, Engels and Lassalle — Jus dent literarischen Nachlass von Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels und Ferdinand Lassalle.