Marx Life and Works

150 Pages·1965·13.026 MB·English

by  Maximilien Rubel (auth.)

MARX
LlFEANDWORKS
Macmillan ChronologySeries
MARX
LIFE AND WORKS
MaximilienRubel
Translated by Mary Bottomore
M
©EditionsGallimard, 1965
Allrightsreserved. Nopart of thispublication
maybereproduced or transmitted,inany form
orby any means, withoutpermission.
Firstpublished1980 by
THEMACMILLANPRESSLTD
Londonand Basingstoke
Companies and representativesthroughoutthe world
ISBN978-0-333-28049-2 ISBN978-1-349-86107-1 (eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-1-349-86107-1
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Contents
Introduction
Preface to thisedition
Chronology to Marx's Life 1
Bibliographical Notes 125
Index ofNames 126
PlaceIndex 133
Index ofWorks 135
Subject Index 139
General Introduction to the Chronology Series
The aim of this series is to provide an accurate, succinct, in-depth
account of the central figure's life and ideas and the impact hehad on
the events ofhisday. Personaldetails areincludedwhen they shed light
on character and personality. The subject's own writings and speeches
are the main source ofinformation, but letters and the opinionsofhis
contemporaries are used when they add auseful extra dimension to the
study. An attempt has been made only to record verifiable facts and to
provide a reliable, up-to-date account of the subject's activities and
influence. The main events of the time are included so as to set the
person in historical perspective and to provide arational context for his
ideas and actions. Bibliographical references are givenso as to permit
readers, should they so desire, to follow up the quotations;a detailed
bibliography ofworks by and about the subject isalsoincluded.
Martin McCauley,SeriesEditor
Preface to the English Edition
This English translationisasomewhatexpandedversion ofthe Chrono
logie presented in the first volume of the Pleiade edition of Marx's
'Econorny' (Paris:Gallimard, 1963,5thed. 1977,p. LVII-CLXXVI).
Within its more limited scope this Marx Chronology has the same
purpose as the author's previous publications in this field;namely, to
provide the non-specialised reader with sufficient biographical and
factual data to enable him to become acquainted with the personality
and work of Kar! Marx, rescued from travesties and parodies, and
liberated from the received ideas about the teachings ofa thinker and
political militant who once modestly described his activity in the
following terms: '1am a machine condemned to devour books and to
throwthem in achanged form on the dunghill ofhistory.'
The definitive biography of Marx has yet to be written. It should
provide an unbiased portrait ofthe man and the thinker whose work,
if disentangled from the legendary, mythical and ideological encum
brances which hinder access to it,will be seen asan attempt,sustained
under the most unfavourable material and moral circumstances, to
contribute to the emancipation of humanity through the conscious
activity of 'the immense majority in the interest of the immense
majority.'(CommunistManifesto)
When Marx, shortly before his death, declared that he was not a
'Marxist',it was not in order to condemnone category ofdisciples and
to show his preference for another, but to indicate his support of a
fundamental principle: the cause ofthelabourmovementoughtnot to
be linked to the name ofany thinker,howevergreat hiscreative genius.
Tolerating the use byhis followers ofthe terms 'Marxist'and 'Marxism'
meant betraying the spirit of a theory, the originality of which was
precisely that it had been conceived as the expression ofthe will and
consciousness of a social dass, 'the most numerous and the poorest
dass' (Saint-Simon). That would have been aconcessionto vanity,and
Marx
involved the risk ofhaving his name associated with the activities ofa
political sect and the aberrations of a moral ideology. (Cf. M Rubel,
Marx, critiquedu marxisme,Paris:Payot, 1974,p.403)
The precedingpassageembodiesmyjustificationofthe field ofresearch
which I call 'Marxology'. I conceive it as an intellectual reaction of
'self-defence'against the spreadofthe obscurantistideologies which,by
invoking an alleged system of thought called 'Marxism', make use of
of Marx's social theory for purposes of political oppression and
economic enslavement. A meticulous search through the thousands of
pages written by Marx would never discover a single line to justify an
assertionsuch asthe following:
'dialectical and historical materialism was the most important
discovery in human thought, a veritable revolutionin science,philo
sophy and universal knowledge.' (MEW, Vol. I, 1966, preface,
p.IX)
Nor would it providethe slightest supportfor the statement:
'The dialectical materialist philosophy elaborated in creative colla
boration by Marx and Engels, together with theirpoliticaleconomy
and scientific communism, are an intrinsically cornplete systern of
philosophical, economicand socio-politicaldoctrines: they represent
the only scientificWeltanschauung.' (Introductionto the new Marx
Engels-Gesamtausgabe,I, 1,Moscow-Berlin, 1975,p. 20)
It is unnecessary, Ithink,to refer to the incisivecriticismmade by Kar!
Popper in order to condemn such verbal excesses, which betray the
state ofmind, characterised by a lust for domination,ofanew dass of
masters. Marx's work embodies theoretical principles and ethical argu
ments which dispose of the pseudo-science called 'historical
materialism', with all its attendant 'historicist' myths and episterno
logical aberrations.
By way ofconclusion let me cite a passage from a text which may be
regarded asthe theoreticalcomplementofthe present Chronology:
'In the Communist Manifesto Marx speaks ofthe "theoretical con
clusions of the Communists", which "merely express, in general
terms, actual relations springing from an existing dass struggle,
Lifeand Works
from a historical movement going on under our veryeyes." These
are conclusions derived from the empirical study ofhistorical and
social facts,but not a new "scientific socialism". At the most they
constitute a scienceofsocialism,an analysisof an existing socialist
movement and of the conditions in which it develops.' (T BBotto
more and MRubel, Introduction to KarlMarx:Selected Writingsin
SociologyandSocialPhilosophy London: Watts&Co., 1956,p.16)
M.R.
Paris,December 1979
The titles in italics under each year or period ofyears indicate Marx's
principal writings during that time. Theletter P after a title indicates
a posthumously published work; it is followed by the date of first
publication.
The principal sources used are: the works and correspondence of
Marxand Engelsinvariouscollected editions; the Marx-Engelsarchives
of the International Institute ofSocialHistoryinAmsterdam;for those
texts whicharemissingfrom the collected editions: Kar!Marx,Chronik
seines Lebens in Einzeldaten, Moscow 1934; 0 Mänchen-HeIfen and
B Nicolaievski,KarlundJenny Marx, Berlin 1933; the work ofHeinz
Monz, Karl Marx, Grundlagen der Entwicklung zu Leben und Werk,
Trier 1973.