42
present order. The proletariat, however, lacks the consciousness of its mission, lacks
knowledge and philosophy. It will become the propeller of the entire emancipation
movement once it becomes imbued with this consciousness, this philosophy, once it
understands the conditions requisite for its emancipation, once it conceives the
exalted role that fell to its lot.
This point of view is exclusively Marxian. The great Utopian Socialists --
Claude Saint-Simon (1760-1825), Charles Fourier (1772-1837), and particularly
Robert Owen (1771-1858) -- had already directed their attention to the "most
numerous and the neediest class/index.htm" -- the proletarians. But they worked on
the assumptions that the proletariat was merely the most suffering class, the most
indigent class, that it had to be taken care of, and that this care had to be exercised by
the higher, cultured classes. In the poverty of the proletariat they saw only poverty,
they did not fathom the revolutionary possibilities immanent in this poverty, the
product of the decay of bourgeois society.
Marx was the first to point out that the proletariat besides being merely the
suffering class, was the active fighter against the bourgeois order; it was the class
which in every condition of its existence was being converted into the sole
revolutionary element in bourgeois society.
This idea, advanced by Marx at the beginning of 1844, was further developed
by him in collaboration with Engels in a work called The Holy Family. Though a bit
obsolete, this book is not much more obsolete than some of the early works of
Plekhanov or of Lenin. It is still full of interest to those who are aware of the intense
intellectual and social struggles that were raging in Germany in the early forties. In
this book Marx vehemently ridicules all the attempts of the German intelligentsia
either to turn away from the proletariat, or to find satisfaction in philanthropic
societies which were expected greatly to benefit the proletariat. Marx again tried to
explain to the German intelligentsia the revolutionary significance of the proletariat,
which only a few months before had shown, by the uprisings of the Silesian weavers,
that when it came to a defence of its material interests the proletariat did not stop at
insurrection.
Marx was already adumbrating in this book the guideposts of his new
philosophy. The proletariat is a distinct class, for the society in which it lives is
constructed on class lines. The proletariat is opposed by the bourgeoisie. The worker
is exploited by the capitalist. There is still another question. Where did the capitalists
43
come from? What were the causes that engendered this exploitation of hired labour
by capital?
There was need for a scientific examination of the fundamental laws of this
society, its evolution and its existence. In this book Marx already stressed the
importance of a knowledge of the conditions of industry, of production, of the
material conditions of life, of the relations established among people in the process of
satisfying their material wants, for a thorough comprehension of the real forces
working in any given historic period.
From then on Marx began to work assiduously upon this problem. He threw
himself into the study of political economy to clarify for himself the mechanism of
economic relations in contemporary society. But Marx was not only a philosopher
who wanted to explain the world, he was also a revolutionist who wanted to change
it.
44
CHAPTER IV
THE HISTORY OF THE COMMUNIST
LEAGUE.
MARX AS AN ORGANIZER.
THE STRUGGLE WITH WEITLING.
THE FORMATION OF THE COMMUNIST LEAGUE.
THE Communist Manifesto.
THE CONTROVERSY WITH PROUDHON.
We shall now proceed to examine the extent to which Marx took part in the
organization of the Communist League at the request of which the Communist
Manifesto was written. After examining all the data obtainable from the writings of
Marx and Engels pertaining to this question, one must conclude that their account
regarding the origin of the League is not entirely correct. Marx had occasion to touch
upon this episode only once in one of his works that is read very little, Herr Vogt,
published in 1860. He allowed a great number of errors to creep into that book. The
history of the Communist League is usually learned through the account written by
Engels in 1885. Engels' story can be summarised as follows:
Once there lived Marx and Engels, two German philosophers and politicians,
who were forced to abandon their native land. They lived in France and they lived in
Belgium. They wrote learned books, which first attracted the attention of the
intelligentsia, and then fell into the hands of the workers. One fine morning the
workers turned to these two savants who had been sitting in their cloisters remote
from the loathsome business of practical activity and, as was proper for guardians of
scientific thought, had been proudly awaiting the coming of the workers. And the day
arrived; the workers came and invited Marx and Engels to enter their League. But
45
Marx and Engels declared that they would join the League only on condition that the
League accept their programme. The workers agreed, they organized the Communist
League and forthwith proceeded to authorise Marx and Engels to prepare the
Communist Manifesto.
The workers who did this had belonged to the League of the Just which was
mentioned in connection with the history of the labour movement in France and
England. It was l pointed out that this League of the Just had been formed in Paris
and that it had suffered serious reverses after the unsuccessful uprising of the
Blanquists on May 12, 1839. It was also reported that after the defeat, the members
of the League went to London. Among them was Schapper who organised the
Workers' Educational Society in February, 1840.
U. Steklov, in his book on Marx, gives a similar account of the origin of the
Communist League.
"While living in Paris, Marx was keeping in personal touch with
the leaders of the League of the Just which consisted of German
political emigrants and artisans. He did not join this League
because its programme was too greatly coloured with an
idealistic and conspiratory spirit which could not appeal to
Marx. The rank and file of the League, however, gradually came
to a position approaching that of Marx and Engels. The latter
through personal and written contact, as well as through the
press, influenced the political views of the members of the
League. On some occasions the two friends transmitted their
views to their correspondents through printed circulars. After the
breach with the rebel Weitling, after the systematically 'severe
criticism of the useless theoreticians,' the soil was fully prepared
for Marx and Engels to join the League. At the first congress of
the League, which had now assumed the name of the
Communist League, Engels and Wilhelm Wolff were present; at
the second convention, at the end of November, 1847, Marx,
too, was present. The convention, after having heard Marx's
address in which he expounded the new socialist philosophy,
commissioned him and Engels to prepare the programme of the
League. This was how the famous Communist Manifesto came
to be written."
Dostları ilə paylaş: |