BOOK REVIEW
KARL MARX, ROBERT PAYNE, HARPER BOOKS, 1978
Karl Marx is, or at least was when I was young, a historic figure about whom one could not or should not be neutral. Either he was the creator of the ‘origin sin’ of modern communism or he was the father of the scientifically-based struggle for the future progress of humankind. Although the urgency of the need to address his role in history has diminished somewhat with the demise of the Soviet Union and other workers states as factors in world politics Marx still is a figure about which one cannot be neutral.
It was with this thought in mind that I sought out a biography about him for this space. Although the author here, Robert Payne, is hostile to Marxism (and apparently any kind of socialist perspective) and Marx as a historical personality, he does hit the highlights of Marx’s career and thus this book can serve as a primer for that purpose. I would note here that as in the case of biographers of other revolutionaries like Cromwell, Robespierre, Lenin and Trotsky Mr. Payne tries to make the case that if Marx had only been satisfied with being a parliamentary bourgeois democrat, or at the most a bourgeoisified social democrat, that all would be well with the world. Of course, their rough and tumble revolutionary edges are what make all of these personalities interesting and why they have had a dramatic affect on the progress, such as it has been, of human history.
As mentioned above, Mr. Payne hits all of the highlights of Marx’s career from his first academic fights in the Young Hegelian movement; the struggle for a socialist perspective in the League of the Just culminating in the formation of the Communist League and the publication of the Communist Manifesto; the defeat of the revolutionary wave and the demoralization after the European Revolutions in 1848; the return to scholarly work culminating in the classic work of political economy Das Capital; the emergence of his leadership in the First International and later, after the defeat of the Paris Commune, its demise; the fight to learn the lessons of the Paris Commune and the first stirrings of what a workers state might look like; and, the first steps of the development of the German Social Democratic Party that was to formally adopt his world view.
Mr. Payne also includes the personal highs and lows of Marx's life; the marriage to his beloved Jenny and the rearing of their several children; the periods of grinding poverty and uncertainly that seemingly always comes with the territory of being a revolutionary; the frustrations of practical revolutionary work in non-revolutionary times; the physical and mental torments that plagued his latter years; and the final partial settling down through the financial efforts of his long time friend, comrade and co-thinker Frederich Engels.
One of the problems with dealing with the life of Karl Marx from Mr. Payne's non-Marxian point of view is that it is very hard to see where the man leaves off and the intellectual, theoretican and practical revolutionary begins. Since Marx formed his own school of socialism- scientific socialism based on historical materialism and deriving from the influences of the French revolution, English political economy and German Hegelian philosophy that does present a problem. Rather than beg the point here it would probably be more fruitful to look at Marx’s life as a struggle to break out of the losing strategies of previous revolutionary experiences. Although that is a higher standard than he himself might have placed on the value of his work it nevertheless places in the context of his lifetime the very small returns that he received for his wisdom. While Mr. Payne’s book can be used as a cautious primer on Marx thoughtful readers will want to look elsewhere, including at Marx’s own work, to find out more about his theories.
KARL MARX, ROBERT PAYNE, HARPER BOOKS, 1978
Karl Marx is, or at least was when I was young, a historic figure about whom one could not or should not be neutral. Either he was the creator of the ‘origin sin’ of modern communism or he was the father of the scientifically-based struggle for the future progress of humankind. Although the urgency of the need to address his role in history has diminished somewhat with the demise of the Soviet Union and other workers states as factors in world politics Marx still is a figure about which one cannot be neutral.
It was with this thought in mind that I sought out a biography about him for this space. Although the author here, Robert Payne, is hostile to Marxism (and apparently any kind of socialist perspective) and Marx as a historical personality, he does hit the highlights of Marx’s career and thus this book can serve as a primer for that purpose. I would note here that as in the case of biographers of other revolutionaries like Cromwell, Robespierre, Lenin and Trotsky Mr. Payne tries to make the case that if Marx had only been satisfied with being a parliamentary bourgeois democrat, or at the most a bourgeoisified social democrat, that all would be well with the world. Of course, their rough and tumble revolutionary edges are what make all of these personalities interesting and why they have had a dramatic affect on the progress, such as it has been, of human history.
As mentioned above, Mr. Payne hits all of the highlights of Marx’s career from his first academic fights in the Young Hegelian movement; the struggle for a socialist perspective in the League of the Just culminating in the formation of the Communist League and the publication of the Communist Manifesto; the defeat of the revolutionary wave and the demoralization after the European Revolutions in 1848; the return to scholarly work culminating in the classic work of political economy Das Capital; the emergence of his leadership in the First International and later, after the defeat of the Paris Commune, its demise; the fight to learn the lessons of the Paris Commune and the first stirrings of what a workers state might look like; and, the first steps of the development of the German Social Democratic Party that was to formally adopt his world view.
Mr. Payne also includes the personal highs and lows of Marx's life; the marriage to his beloved Jenny and the rearing of their several children; the periods of grinding poverty and uncertainly that seemingly always comes with the territory of being a revolutionary; the frustrations of practical revolutionary work in non-revolutionary times; the physical and mental torments that plagued his latter years; and the final partial settling down through the financial efforts of his long time friend, comrade and co-thinker Frederich Engels.
One of the problems with dealing with the life of Karl Marx from Mr. Payne's non-Marxian point of view is that it is very hard to see where the man leaves off and the intellectual, theoretican and practical revolutionary begins. Since Marx formed his own school of socialism- scientific socialism based on historical materialism and deriving from the influences of the French revolution, English political economy and German Hegelian philosophy that does present a problem. Rather than beg the point here it would probably be more fruitful to look at Marx’s life as a struggle to break out of the losing strategies of previous revolutionary experiences. Although that is a higher standard than he himself might have placed on the value of his work it nevertheless places in the context of his lifetime the very small returns that he received for his wisdom. While Mr. Payne’s book can be used as a cautious primer on Marx thoughtful readers will want to look elsewhere, including at Marx’s own work, to find out more about his theories.
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