The Political Ideas of Marx and Engels: II Classical Marxism 1850–1895 PDF
Preview The Political Ideas of Marx and Engels: II Classical Marxism 1850–1895
THE POLITICAL IDEAS OF MARX AND ENGELS [II] Classical Marxism, 1850-1895 The Political Ideas of MARX and ENGELS {n) Classical Marxism 1850-1895 RICHARD N. HUNT M MACMILLAN Copyright© 1984, University of Pittsburgh Press All rights reserved Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1984 978-0-333-19706-6 First published in the USA in 1984 by the University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15260 First published in the UK in 1984 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS L TO London and Basingstoke Companies and representatives throughout the world British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Hunt, Richard N. The political ideas of Marx and Engels. 2. Classical Marxism, 1850-1895 1. Engels, Friedrich 2. Marx, Karl, 1818- 1883 I. Title 320.5'315'0922 HX39.5 ISBN 978-1-349-02985-3 ISBN 978-1-349-02983-9 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-02983-9 Manufactured in the United States of America This publication has been supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal agency. To my children, Fabi, Chris, Jennie Contents Preface xi 1. The Origins of the State 3 The Dual Emergence I Gentile Democracy I The Dualism Reconsidered 2. The Parasite State 27 Oriental Despotism I European Absolutism I Bonapartism 3. The Bourgeois Class State 64 Great Britain I France I The United States I Capitalist Rule Within the Factory 4. The Paris Commune: Revolutionary Strategy 99 Pre-March Cautiousness I "The Defensive is the Death of Every Armed Rising" I The Compromise Option 5. The Paris Commune: Workers' State 125 To Smash or to Use I Separation of Powers I Centralization Versus Decentralization 6. Individual Rights Versus Tyranny of the Majority 162 Rights Under the Bourgeoisie I Freedom of Conscience I The Rights of Peaceful Opposition I The Rights of Civilized Class Warfare 7. The Classless Society as a Polity 212 Transcending the Division of Labor I The Disappearance of the State I What Remains 8. The International Working Men's Association 266 Marx's Role in the International I The Conflict with the Anarchists I The Final Struggles 9. Strategy Ill: Skipping Stages 299 Changing Assessments of the Obshchina I Marx's Differences from Engels I A Revolutionary Vanguard 10. Strategy IV: Legal Revolution 325 The Democratization of Capitalist Countries I A Pro-Slavery Re- bellion? I The Special Case of Germany 11. Conclusion: Democracy Without Professionals 363 Notes 371 Bibliography 407 Index 417 Preface "DEMOCRACY WITHOUT PROFESSIONALS" is not a phrase that Marx or En gels themselves ever used. I have introduced it here to designate what seems to me the crucial and distinguishing feature in their conception of the communist polity. They expected that leadership functions would not only be elective but would be rotated frequently among the general citizenry in such a way that no professional cadre of leaders would exist. All citizens would participate in public life on a part-time or short-time basis. The idea of such a participatory democracy, organized without any professional leaders at all, forms the central-though not exclusive theme of the present volume. It is linked conceptually to Marx's theory of the parasite state, introduced in the first volume of this study, and to be developed at length in the early chapters below. Democracy without professionals is exactly what Marx and Engels perceived and admired in the Paris Commune, which will provide much of the material for our analysis in the central chapters of the book. It is likewise an idea that separates Marx and Engels from both the mainstream of twentieth-century Communist thinking and the mainstream of subsequent social democratic thinking. It is in fact an idea that has almost been forgotten, and where not forgotten, misunderstood, by all but a few. It deserves therefore a proper rehabilitation and reemphasis as the core of Marx and Engels' po litical ideas. The chronological-biographical framework laid down in volume 1 will be continued here, though we will not need to use it as rigorously. Where volume 1 dealt with Marx and Engels' political ideas as they emerged and developed in the first half of their lives, up to 1850, this volume will focus on the second half of their lives, but will not exclude pre-1850 writ ings by any means. Where the first volume endeavored mainly to estab lish what Marx and Engels were not (viz. totalitarians, or "totalitarian democrats"), volume 2 will focus more on their positive political values and theories. If volume 1 stressed what separated Marx and Engels from the later doctrines of Leninism-and a few remaining tasks of de-Russification must be included below-the present volume will also here make clear what separates them from the later attitudes of social democracy. [XI] [XII] PREFACE I feel obliged to add a word of explanation for the lamentably long gap between the appearance of the two halves of the book. The bulk of the manuscript for this volume was completed during a sabbatical in 1975-1976, after which I was drafted to serve a term as chairman of my department. Only after stepping down from that rewarding but onerous post was I able to complete the present work. Since 197 4 an imposing body of literature has appeared on Marx and Engels' political ideas. I could certainly no longer complain, as I did in the preface to volume 1, of a lack of scholarly interest in the subject. The most comprehensive of these new works, and in some respects the most similar to my own, is Hal Draper's multi-volume study (see bibliography). But perhaps there is room for more than one extended study of so important and controver sial a topic. Our interpretations, though similar in their general spirit, differ in some important ways. Draper does not, for example, recognize two separate theories of the state and does not emphasize deprofessional ization as the core of Marx and Engels' political goals. Readers of course will be able to form their own judgments from the evidence presented in both books. At the end of so many years of work on what was to be a "comprehensive" study, I am also more aware of its actual limitations. I have not dealt at all with Marx and Engels' views on international rela tions, for example, especially relationships between more advanced and less advanced countries, or the political aspects of ethnic minority con flicts, or women's rights issues-all topics of considerable current inter est. But I am pleased to see that other writers are taking up such subjects and will fill out the gaps left in this book. Since the publication of volume 1 there has also begun to appear the definitive English-language edition of Marx and Engels' writings-the Collected Works. Seventeen of an anticipated fifty volumes have appeared as of this writing, which include all of the masters' works up to 1860 (ex cept for correspondence). In the present volume I have used this collec tion for all quotations from pre-1860 writings-although a price had to be paid in terms of consistency of translation. As the acute reader will notice, there are minor discrepancies of translation between passages quoted in volume 1 and then requoted in volume 2. I have adopted the new translations below for the obvious reason that the Collected Works will become the standard collection of reference for scholars all over the English-speaking world. I would like to acknowledge the generous assistance of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in the completion of this volume. I would also like to repeat the thanks I offered in the preface to volume 1 PREFACE [XIII] to those colleagues and students who have read parts of the manuscript or listened to the exposition of my findings, and who served as a sound ing board for the interpretations developed below. Jan Leja and Geri Toth provided much appreciated assistance in the preparation of the manu script. I would like to thank the Director of the University of Pittsburgh Press and my old friend, Frederick A. Hetzel, for his saintly patience in waiting for volume 2 and for his quiet encouragement. Beyond words is my gratitude to my wife, Fran~oise, whose courage and esprit have supported me through the illness that has marred the otherwise happy completion of this book. Richard N. Hunt This preface was completed by my husband days before his untimely death. I extend my heartfelt thanks to Paul Le Blanc who spent many hours verifying the accuracy of the quotations in this work and under took the arduous task of collating and checking the internal reference notes to the contents of this volume. Fran~oise Hunt
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