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Karl Marx and Pierre-Joseph proudhon, correspond,ence

Karl Marx was both a prolific political and economic theorist as well as a political militant, who corresponded w_ith socialists and other p.olitical radicals throughout Europe. He, with Frie,drich Engels, was the authorof The Communist Manifesto (ls+a|, a widely circulated polemical critique of the capitilist economic system, which predicted the emergence of a revolutionary movement led by Europe's indistriat worhing classes, Thi exchange of letters with a prominent French socialist thinker, PierreJoseph Pr:oudhon, reveals disog'reements oiorg- roriitisi, in Europe about the desirability of revolution, and Marx's ideas about how rntellecluals such as hiiself might participate in the revolutionary movement,

Brussels, 5 May 1846

IM:,,iit.t*:n:r munists and socialists for a constant interchange of letters which will be devoted to discussing scientific ques- tions, and to keeping an eye on popular writings, and the socialist propaganda that can be carried on in Germany by this means. The chief aim of our correspon- dence, however, will be to put the Ger- man socialists in touch with the French and English socialists; to keep foreign- ers constantly informed of the social- ist movements that occur in Germany and to inform the Germans in Germany of the progress of socialism in France

and England. ln this way differences of opinion can be brought to light and an exchange of ideas and impartial criticism can take place. lt will be a step made by the social movement in its literary mani- festation to rid itself of the barriers of nationality. And when the moment for action comes, it will clearly be much to everyone's advantage to be acquainted with the state of affairs abroad as well as at home.

Our correspondence will embrace not only the communists in Germany, but also the German socialists in paris and London. Our relations with England have already been established. So far as France is concerned, we all of us believe

that we could find no better cor dent than yoursell As you know, English and Germans have hitherto mated you more highly than have yo own compatriots

So it is, you see, simply a question establishing a regular corresp and ensuring that it has the means keep abreast of the social movement the different countries, and to a rich and varied interest, such never be achieved by the work of singleperson....

Yours most sincerely Karl IVarx

Source: Karl Marx, Frederick Engels, Collected Worhs, vol.38 (New York: 1982), pp 38-40,

ciosed it down and sent Marx into exile-firSt to paris, then Brussels, and eventually London.

While in Paris, Marx studied early socialist theory, economics, and the history of the French Revolution. He also began a lifelong intellectual and political parrnership with Friedrich Engels (1820-1895). Engeis was rhe son of a textile manufacturer from the German Rhineland. His par_ ents had sent him to learn business with a merchant firm in Manchester, one o[ the cenrers of England,s Industrial Rev_ olution (see Chapter 19). Engels worked in the family busi_

ness unril 1870, but this did nor prevenr him from ta up his pen ro denounce rhe miserable working and living conditions in Manchester and what he saw as the system- atrc inequalitie s of capitalism. (He published The Condition ,f the Worhing Classes in England in 1844.) Marx and joined a small international group o[ radical artisans the League of the Just, renamed the Communtsr in 1847. The league asked Marx to drafrt a statement of its

680 | cHAprER 2o rhe Age of ld"eologies: Europe in the AJtermath of Revolution 1815-1848

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principles, which was published in IB4B as The Communist Man{esto, with Engels listed as coauthor. i

,17 May 1846

y dear Monsieur Marx, I am happy to become i

recipient of your correspon- whose goal and organization seem to be very useful. I cannot promise

you at length or often, however; many occupations and my natural

will not permit such epistolary I would also like to take the lib-

of expressing several reservations a few of the passages in your letter,

[ . . . ] I believe that it is my duty, duty of all socialists, to maintain time being a skeptical or critical ive, in a word, I claim [in mat-

economics] an almost absolute

us search together, if you wish, of society, and the ways that

laws make themselves felt, and the of development that allows us to them; but by God, after having

all the a priori dogmatisms, not dream of then indoctrinating

ourselves, do not fall into the ction faced by your com-

Martin Luther, who after hav- iown Catholic theology, set

about at once excommunicating others, in order to found a Protestant theology.

[ ] | applaud with all my heart your idea of bringing forth all possible opin- ions; let us therefore pursue a good and loyal argument; let us offer the world an example of a wise and perceptive tolera- tion, but we should not, simply because we are the leaders of a movement, seek to pose as the apostles of a new religion, even if this religion is that of logic, of rea- son. Under these terms, I am happy to join your association, but if not-then Nol

I would also like to comment on these words inyour I etler : At the m om ent of action. You may still think that no reform is possi- ble at present without a bold stroke, with- out what was formerly called a revolution

[ . . . ] Having myself held this opinion for a long time, I confess now that my more recent works have made me revisit this idea completely. I believe that we do.not need [a revolution] to succeed, because this alleged solution would simply be an appeal to force, to something arbitrary, in short, a contradiction. I see the problem like this: to find a t'orm of economic combina- tion that would restore to society the wealth

that has been tahen t'rom it by anothdr form of economic combrnation. ln other words, [ ] to turn Property against Property, in such a way as to establish what you Ger- man socialists call community, and which I limit myself to callingliberty, equality.[. . .l I prefer to burn Property with a slow fuse, rather than to give it new energy by mas- sacring the property owners.

Your very devoted

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

Source: P.-J. Proudhon, Am6d6e J616me, Correspondance de P.-J. Proudhon (Paris: 1875), pp 198-200.

Questions for Analysis ?. What is the purpose of the network of

correspondents that l\rlarx was invit- ing Proudhon to join? Why did Marx believe it necessary to overcome "the barriers of nationality"T

2. Why does Proudhon compare Marx's analysis of "scientific questions" or,'the laws of society" to religious dogmas?

3. Why does Proudhon reject Marxt assumptlon that a revolution is neces- sary? What alternative does he propose?

The Communist Manit'esto laid out Marx's theory of his- in short form. From Hegel, Marx imported the view

as a dynamic process, with an inner logic, mov- toward human freedom. (This is a good example of larger influence of conservarive historical thinking.) In :i's view, the historical process did not unfold in any

and predictable way; instead, history proceeded .ily," or through conflict. He saw this conflicr

one between ideas: a "thesis" produced an ,,antithe-

," and the clash between the two created a distinctive

and new "synthesis." ln a classic example, Hegel posited that the narural but iimited freedom of the savage (the- sis) encounrered its opposite (antithesis) in the constraints imposed on rhe individual by the family and the devel_ oping institutions of civil society. The result of this clash was a new and superior freedom (synthesis), the freedom of individuals within society, prorected by moral customs, law, and the state.

Marx applied Hegel's dialectic, or theory o[ conflict, to history in a different way. He did not begin with ideas, as

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