Q: Professor Jonathan Sperber  Karl Marx – A Nineteenth Century Life

A:

• Red Diaper baby

• Thought I knew Marx well

• Discovered “contradictory” Marx writings

• Delved into Marx & his life

Q: What is the MEGA Project?

A: 

• Huge Undertaking

• All works of Marx & Engels

• Including notes on envelopes, letters

• Started century ago in Soviet Union

• Taken up in East Berlin

• Supported by Germany / Helmut Kohl

Q: What were the early influences that shaped Marx?

A:

• Three early influences

• Father, who ready Voltaire to son

• Gymnasium head: Johann Wyttenbach

• Introduced Marx to Kant

• Hegel / Young Hegelians / University of Berlin

Q: Did Marx receive any Jewish Education?

A:

• Marx was baptized at age 5

• First Religious writing was on Gospel of John

• Marx Family, many converted

• Some Trier relatives remained Jewish

Q:  Marx: Prophet of the Future?

A:

• Tend to view Marx in contemporary terms

• Far seeing prophet

• Predictor of future economic collapses

• Or devil who led to Stalin and Mao

• Marx was product of French Revolution

• And of Industrial Revolution

• Needs to be understood as 19th century figure

Q: Was Marx An Accomplished Economist?

A:

• Marx deeply researched economics

• Economics in 19th century was called “Political Economy”

• Not as we view it today

• Marx was a philosopher

• Economists at that time came from varied backgrounds

Q: Was Marx A Marxist?

A:

• Marx himself said, I’m not a Marxist

• Engels really coined Marxism

• Marxism can better be called Engelsism

• Engels: Darwin discovered natural order

• And Marx discovered law of social order

• Recent work: Invention of Marx

Q: What Was Marx’s Personality?

A:

• Marx was good one on one

• He could be charming

• But also brusque if you argued with him

• Good dinner guest

• Educated in philosophy, arts, literature, music

Q: How does the Communist Manifesto Rank?

A:

• Communist Manifesto & Das Kapital are best known

• Part of canonical Marx writings

• But many other important Marx writings

• Ideas of young Marx that later developed

• Journalism writings are significant

• And then there is the “weird stuff”

Q: Was there a Contradiction between Marx’s private life & writings?

A:

• Marx’s focus on his personal finances

• Had a servant & child out of wedlock

• Received money from Engels

• Perception in 19th century was different

• Not as scandalous –private vs. public

Q: How did Marx View Judaism & the Jewish People?

A:

• Essay on the Jewish People

• Wrote about his Jewish descent

• Certain writings are nasty, anti-Jewish

• Lens of 20th/21st centuries – Nazi/Stalin like

• 19th century perspective - viewed Judaism as narrow

Q: What is Marx’s Essay on the Jewish Question?

A:

• Background: Jews not citizens of Germany

• Germans must be Christians

• Even Protestants – Judaism/Jews inferior

• Bruno Bauer: The Jewish Question

• Secular State – Jewish Rights

• But Jews need to abandon Judaism

• Marx’s Essay a response to Bauer

• Marx favors Separation of Church and State

• Marx however equates (evil) Capitalism with Jews

• Communism = No Capitalism = No Judaism/Jews

Q: Did Marx face anti-Semitism?

A:

• Not really

• Prussia attacks Marx / Communists

• Wilheim Stieber accusations

• Cologne Communist Trials1852

• Jewish descent referenced

Q: What would Marx have said about the 1917 Russian Revolution?

A:

• No heaven for Marx

• In 1858 Max thought there would be a revolution

• Can Communism survive in a Capitalist controlled world?

• Question Soviet Union, Cuba & China grappled with

Q: Why Should Young People Study Marx?

A:

• Question: Why Study the Past

• Past is not predictor of the present

• Past is not the present

• But past events are the origins of the present

• Marx was a 19th century figure

• Ideas of Marx can be expanded to understand present