Brentano vs. Marx

 

"that the average condition of the British labourer has improved during the last 20 years in a degree which we know to be

extraordinary, and which we may almost pronounce to be unparalleled in the history of any country and of any age".

 

Before Mr. Gladstone, all his predecessors "had the happiness" to supplement the picture of the augmentation of Capitalist

wealth in their budget speeches with self-satisfied phrases about the improvement in the condition of the working class. Yet he

gives the lie to them all; for the millennium dates only from the passing of the Free Trade legislation. The correctness or

incorrectness of Gladstone's reasons for consolidation and congratulation is, however, a matter of indifference here. We are

concerned solely with this: that, from his standpoint, the pretended "extraordinary" improvement in the condition of the

working class in no way contradicts the "intoxicating augmentation of wealth and power that is entirely confined to the classes

possessed of property". On the contrary. It is the orthodox doctrine of the mouthpieces of Capital -- Mr. Gladstone being one of

the best paid -- that the most infallible means for working men to benefit themselves is -- to enrich their exploiters.

 The shameless stupidity or stupid shamelessness of the manufacturers' organ culminates in its assurance: "The report in The

Times just gives, formally more contracted, what the shorthand report by Hansard gives verbatim." [Marx note: The

manufacturers' paper appears actually to believe that the big London newspapers employ no shorthand writers for their

parliamentary reports.] Now let us see both reports:

 

              I                                           II

From Gladstone's speech of Ap-             From Gladstone's speech of

ril 16, 1863, printed in "The              April 16, 1863, printed by Han-

Times" of April 17, 1863                   sard, Vol. 170, parliamentary

                                           debates of March 27 to May 28

                                           1863

"That is the state of the case as          "Such [...] is the state of the case as

regards the wealth of this country. I      regards the general progress of ac-

must say for one, I should look almost     cumulation; but, for one, I must say

with apprehension and with pain upon       that I should look with some degree of

this intoxicating augmentation of wealth   pain, and with much apprehension,

and power if it were my belief that it     upon this extraordinary and almost intox-

was confined to the CLASSES WHO ARE IN     icating growth, if it were my belief

EASY CIRCUMSTANCES. This takes no cogniz-  that it is confined to THE CLASS OF

ance at all of the condition of the        PERSONS WHO MAY BE DESCRIBED AS IN EASY

labouring population. The augmentation     CIRCUMSTANCES. The figures which I have

I have described ... is an augmentation    quoted take little or no cognizance of

entirely confined to the classes           the condition of those who do not pay

possessed of property. Now the augment-    income tax; or, in other words, suffi-

ation of Capital is of indirect benefit    ciently accurate for general truth (!),

to the labourer etc.                       they do not take cognizance of the

                                           property (!) of the labouring popula-

                                           tion, or (!) of the increase of its

                                           income. Indirectly, indeed, the mere

                                           augmentatiOn of Capital is of the ut-

                                           most advantage to the labouring class,

                                           etc."

I leave it to the reader himself to compare the stilted, involved, complicated CIRCUMLOCUTION OFFICE [From Ch.

Dickens' Little Dorrit -- MECW Ed.] style of the Hansard publication with the report in The Times.

 Here it is enough to establish that the words of the Times report: "This intoxicating augmentation of wealth and power ... the

augmentation I have described ... is an augmentation entirely confined to the classes possessed of property", are in part garbled

by Hansard and in part completely suppressed. Their emphatic "exact wording" escaped no earwitness. For example:

 "The Morning Star", April 17, 1863 (Gladstone's budget speech of April 16, 1863).

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"I must say, for one, I should look with apprehension and with pain upon this intoxicating augmentation of wealth and

power, if it were my belief that it was confined to the CLASSES WHO ARE IN EASY CIRCUMSTANCES. THIS

GREAT INCREASE OF WEALTH takes no cognizance at all of the condition of the labouring population. THE

AUGMENTATION IS AN AUGMENTATION ENTIRELY CONFINED TO THE CLASSES POSSESSED OF PROPERTY.

BUT THAT AUGMENTATION must be of indirect benefit to the labouring population, etc."

 

"The Morning Advertiser", April 17, 1863 (Gladstone's budget speech of April 16, 1863).

 

"I must say, for one, I should look almost with apprehension and ALARM upon this intoxicating augmentation of wealth

and power, if it were my belief that it was confined to the CLASSES WHO ARE IN EASY CIRCUMSTANCES. This

great increase of wealth takes no cognizance at all of the condition of the labouring population. THE AUGMENTATION

STATED is an augmentation entirely confined to the CLASSES POSSESSED OF PROPERTY. THIS AUGMENTATION

must be of indirect benefit to the labouring population, etc."

 

Thus, Gladstone subsequently filched away from the semiofficial Hansard report of his speech the words that he had uttered in

the House of Commons on April 16, 1863: "This intoxicating augmentation of wealth and power ... is an augmentation entirely

confined to the classes possessed of property." The Concordia did not, therefore, find this in the excerpt provided by their

business friend in London, and trumpeted:

 

"Yet this sentence is nowhere to be found in Gladstone's speech. Marx has added the sentence lyingly, both in form

and in content."

 

It is no surprise that they now weepingly tell me that it is the critical "custom" to quote parliamentary speeches as officially

falsified, and not as they were actually delivered. Such a "custom" in fact accords with the "general" Berlin "education", and the

limited thinking of the German Manufacturers' Association which is typical of Prussian subjects. Lack of time forces me to end,

once and for all, my pleasurable exchange of opinions with the Association, but as a farewell, another nut for its "learned men"

to crack. In what article did a man -- and what was his name -- utter to an opponent of a rank at least equal with that of the

Concordia, the weighty words: "Asinus manebis in secula seculorum"? ["Thou wilt remain an ass for evermore."]

 London, July 28, 1872

Karl Marx

 

No. 7.

THE REJOINDER OF ANONYMOUS

 CONCORDIA, No. 54, AUGUST 22, 1872

More on the Character of Karl Marx

 

On August 7, in the Volksstaat, Karl Marx replied to the article "How Karl Marx Defends Himself" in No. 27 of the Concordia.

Astonishing is the dogged mendacity with which he clings to the distorted quotation from Gladstone's budget speech of April

16, 1863, astonishing even for someone for whom no means are too base for his subversive plans. In fact this can only be

explained by the fear, which must be called forth in the author, of the very embarrassing effect of confessing that this quotation,

the bombshell of the Inaugural Address, is false, given the great circulation of the latter.

 It will be recalled that in his first defence Marx admitted the shorthand report of Gladstone's speech in Hansard did not contain

this quotation. But the reason was: Mr. Gladstone had clumsily excised this compromising passage! Initial proof: Professor

Beesly, in an article in The Fortnightly Review had quoted this speech in the same way as the Inaugural Address.

 This could lead the reader to believe that Professor Beesly had quoted Gladstone's speech in an essay on some other historical

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