(The humor of the title may
be too elusive for the American reader, and perhaps even for younger Russian
readers, but it should be instantly recognized by anybody growing up in the Soviet
times. The expectation here is to find Friedrich Engels, rather than Friedrich
Nietzsche, as the natural complement to Karl Marx!
The
following critique on Die Judenfrage by Karl Marx, in his one-sided
polemic with his former mentor Bruno Bauer (see a much fuller exposition
of this important subject in my Marx Contra Bauer entry, earlier in this
section), has earned Marx a particularly harsh accusation of being an
anti-Semite. It may be true that Marx’s attack on Jewish venality perhaps betrays
a personal chip on the shoulder, but what he actually says is extremely insightful,
especially considering the fact that a disregard of his criticism by the German
Jews had undoubtedly contributed to the kind of social conditions in Germany,
eventually making the Holocaust possible.
The
subject of discussion in Bauer’s essays, and in Marx’s response to them, is Jewish
emancipation. And here is Marx’s solution: “The social
emancipation of the Jew is the emancipation of society from Judaism.”
It
is too easy to misconstrue what he says, therefore, the immediate question
which arises is what exactly is Judaism according to Karl Marx? And here
is his crucial distinction of the Sabbath Jew from the everyday Jew:
“Let us consider the actual, worldly Jew, not the Sabbath Jew,
as Bauer does, but the everyday Jew.
“Let us not look for the secret of the Jew in his religion but let
us look for the secret of his religion in the real Jew. What is the secular
basis of Judaism? Practical need, self-interest. What is the
worldly religion of the Jew? Huckstering. What is his worldly God? Money.“Well, then, emancipation from huckstering and money, consequently, from practical real Judaism, would be the self-emancipation of our time. An organization of society abolishing the preconditions for huckstering, and therefore, the possibility of huckstering, would make the Jew impossible. His religious consciousness would be dissipated like a thin haze in the real air of society. On the other hand, if the Jew recognizes that his practical nature is futile, and works to abolish it, he extricates himself from his previous development, and works for human emancipation as such, and turns against the supreme practical expression of human self-estrangement.
“We recognize in Judaism, therefore, a general anti-social element of the present time, an element, which through historical development (to which in this harmful respect the Jews have zealously contributed) has been brought to its present high level, at which it must necessarily begin to disintegrate.
“In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.”
(And
now Marx is about to equate Judaism with Capitalism. Nota
bene!---)
“The Jew has already emancipated himself in a Jewish way.
“‘The Jew, who, in Vienna, for example, is only tolerated,
determines the fate of the whole Austrian Empire by his financial power. The
Jew, who may have no rights in the smallest German state, decides the fate of
Europe. While corporations and guilds refuse to admit Jews, or have not yet
adopted a favorable attitude towards them, the audacity of industry mocks at
the obstinacy of the material institutions.’” (Bruno Bauer, The Jewish Question, p. 114)“This is no isolated fact. The Jew has emancipated himself in a Jewish way, not only by acquiring financial power, but also because, through him and also apart from him, money has become a world power, and the practical Jewish spirit has become the practical spirit of the Christian nations. The Jews have emancipated themselves in so far as the Christians have become Jews.”
The
best comment on the passage above is to remain speechless, allowing the weight
of these words to sink in. That mission accomplished, I wish to turn next, as
promised, to Nietzsche’s take on the Judenfrage…
(This is the end of Part I. Part II will be posted tomorrow.
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