MARX'S LOYAL SIDEKICK

Friedrich Engels is one of those names virtually unknown to the Western public, but universally known to every Soviet citizen. In my early days, he was the second violin in the Marx-Engels-Lenin-Stalin quartet.

For curiosity, rather than for much information, here is the Engels entry in my Webster’s Biographical Dictionary:

“Engels, Friedrich. 1820-1895. German Socialist; collaborator with Karl Marx in the Communist Manifesto (1847); involved in revolutionary agitation in Baden (1848-49); fled to England, where he was a manufacturer at Manchester (1850-69); to London (1870-95). Associated with Marx in spreading Socialist propaganda; edited and published Marx’s works. Author of Die Lage der Arbeitenden Klassen in England (1845) and Entwickelung der Sozialismus von der Utopie zur Wissenschaft (c. 1880), etc. See also Moses Hess.”

Do I need to elaborate on the relative inadequacy of this Webster’s entry, which will be rectified below, in my own treatment of the historically important figure of Engels? Incidentally, regarding another forgotten, yet historically indispensable figure of Moses Hess, see my entry Before Karl Marx in the Judaica section, published on my blog on June 4^th, 2012.

But let us now proceed with our own account of Marx’s loyal sidekick…

Engels (1820-1895) was a German Socialist philosopher, best friend, chief financial supporter and closest collaborator of Karl Marx, who coauthored The Communist Manifesto (1848) with Marx, and later was the editor of the second and third volumes of Das Kapital, after Marx’s death.

Although himself not a Jew, Engels became attracted to the communist idea as preached by German Jews. Before Marx it was Moses Hess (1812-1875), a wealthy Jewish Socialist who introduced the young Engels to his brand of socialism, closely resembling what was later to become Marxist philosophy: Hess effectively argued that the logical consequence of Hegel’s philosophy and dialectic was communism. He also pointed to England as the land of the future socialist transformation, which resulted in Engels’ 1842-1844 trip there, followed by several more trips, and a final sojourn in England through his death in 1895 in London. As for Moses Hess, although initially on friendly terms with both Engels and Marx, he broke up with them after the 1848 revolution, joining Lassalle in Paris, and becoming an early (pre-Herzl) champion of Zionism.

In 1844, before he met Marx, young Engels wrote two articles for the Deutsche-Französische Jahrbücher, edited by Marx in Paris. In these early writings, Engels presented his vision of the coming of communism: the existing economic system based on private property was leading to the polarization of society into the world of “millionaires and paupers.” The inevitable social revolution was to eliminate all private property and bring about a “reconciliation of humanity with nature and itself.”

Having met Marx in Paris in 1844, Engels befriended him, and they formed a partnership, the outcome of which would be the celebrated 1848 Communist Manifesto and a lasting mutually beneficial collaborative effort. Engels wholeheartedly accepted Marx’s economic theory, and his unique interpretation of history. The collaboration was by no means one-sided. In the informal division of labor, Engels took over the area of nationalities-related subjects, military and international affairs, and questions of science. Marx needed Engels also as a popularizer of his economic ideas and philosophy. Engels wrote highly effective reviews of Marx’s Das Kapital, calling it the bible. It was Engels’s personal effort, in the brilliant pamphlet known as Anti-Düring, which contributed the most to the spread and understanding of Marxism among the European intellectuals and the public. And then, as we said before, after Marx’s death, it was Engels’s single-handed effort that the second and third volumes of Das Kapital became a reality, from his faithful reconstruction of Marx’s sketches, notes, and personal memos: a monumental achievement in recreating the bulk of the most famous Marxian signature work, where quite unfairly little or no credit has been given to Engels in the West (whereas in Russia this fact is well-known to everyone, and Engels has received ample credit for his creative collaboration with his senior partner).

And finally, in most situations where two or more persons are closely linked in various creative areas, it is a general rule to make a dedicated scholarly effort of distinguishing them, not only in the ways how they may have cut the common pie, but also with regard to the basic differences between them. In most cases, this is a useful and legitimate practice, but the collaboration of Engels with Marx is, perhaps, a rare exception. There was an organic affinity in their views, recognized by both of them without any pretense. It was only in how they divided their common labor, where the individuality of Engels does stand out, as otherwise, in the most general sense, Marx’s philosophical personality was overwhelming, reducing Engels to the role of a loyal and extremely valuable sidekick, but by no means on a par with his senior, in more senses than one, partner.