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The Political Activism of Karl Marx
By Bob Patenaude
Mention the name Karl Marx and most people will conjure an imagine a
gray long-haired, bearded man hunched over piles of books and papers in
the London Library. This is, of course, an accurate image of much of
what occupied Karl Marx’s life, not only the writing of his masterwork
“Capital” but a body of work which was to become the basis for a global
movement for socialism. Yet Marx was more than just a specter haunting
the reading rooms of the London library. He was also actively engaged in
many of the earliest struggles of the communist movement in which he
played such a vital role.
One of his earliest forays into political activity was as a radical
journalist. In 1842, at the age of 24 Marx became the editor of Neue
Rheinische Zeitung, As a result of Marx’s fiery articles opposing
Prussian authoritarianism the paper was suppressed by the authorities.
After the closing of NRZ Marx made his way to Paris in 1843 where he
edited Deutsch-Franzosische Jahrbucher. He hoped to open up new lines of
communication between French Communists and the German left Hegelians
with this new effort. The publication did not last long, however. Only
one issue appeared ,and it failed to open the lines of communication
Marx had hoped to develop.
It was also during this time in Paris that Marx made what would become
his lifelong friendship with Friedrich Engels. Engels would become
Marx’s closest collaborator and confidant. Engles would also financially
support Marx and his family through much of the rest of their lives.
For his journalism and political activism, Marx was expelled from Paris
in 1844. He spent the next three years in Brussels. During this time he
became a member of the Communist League. It was during a conference of
the Communist League in 1847 that Marx and Engels were appointed to
write a short and accessible document stating the Position of the CL.
The resulting work appeared in 1848 when Marx and Engels published the
Communist Manifesto. “The Manifesto” would become the most popular
exposition of the principles of socialism as developed by Marx and
Engels during their time in the Communist League. It remains a statement
of the core principles of socialism to this day.
In 1848 Marx found himself, once again, in Paris. There he attempted to
revive Neue Rheinische Zeitung. The Communist League by this time had
all but collapsed allowing Marx to devote his full attention to the
publication of the new NRZ. It was also during this period that Marx
began a newly intensified study of political economy which would lead
ultimately to “Capital,” Marx’s masterwork and, arguably, the best
exposition on the nature and function of capitalism ever penned.
It would seem clear from this brief survey of Marx’s early political
activity that he was anything but an isolated academic. His work on Neue
Rheinische Zeitung and Deutsch-Franzosische Jahrbucher represented more
than simple radical journalism. At the age of 24 Marx had managed to
intimidate and politically unnerve some of the most powerful and
reactionary people and institutions in Europe. This lead to repeated
expulsions from France and German. Finally, he found himself exiled in
London. He would spend the rest of his life there. He died on March 14,
1883 at the age of 64.
It is interesting to note that early in his career, even with the
multiple pressures of his radical journalistic projects, the constant
expulsions and uprooting of his life Marx managed to pen one of his most
important contributions to socialist theory; “The Economic and
Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844.” Even work on “Capital” which is
generally considered his magnum opus was repeatedly interrupted and
delayed because of his work in the First International. The first volume
of Capital would not see publication until 1867. The latter two volumes
would be published by Engels after his death.
Marx was elected to the general council of the first international in
1864. He became especially active in preparing for the International’s
annual congresses as well as leading the struggle against Mikail Bakunin
who was the leading political and theoretical voice of the Anarchists
within the International.
Even in the final years of his life with his health failing and unable
to do the kind of sustained work that characterized his life up until
then he remained active in contemporary politics. He wrote “A Critique
of the Gotha Program” which started out as a letter to Eisenach faction
of the German social democratic movement (Which Marx and Engels
supported) in 1875. The critique was a polemic against Wilhelm Liebknect
and August Bebel, both of whom considered themselves followers of Marx.
In the Critique Marx attacks their position of compromise with Ferdinand
Lasalle Lassalle was an advocate of state socialism and Liebknect and
Bebel felt without a compromise the socialist party would be unable to
maintain unity. Critique of the Gotha program is thought by many to be
Marx’s clearest exposition on practical politics.
Marx’s life and work serves as an example to both activists and
theoreticians. He showed that in the pursuit of radical political change
both action and theory depend on each other in their mutual attempts to
understand and change the world. Marx was a living embodiment of
revolutionary praxis.
–Bob Patenaude is executive director of the Niebyl Proctor Marxist
Library in Berkeley, California.