Monday, February 21, 2011

AS SEEN ON TV: FRIEDRICH ENGELS

On this date in 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published "The Communist Manifesto".

FRIEDRICH ENGELS


AS SEEN IN:
'London'

AS PLAYED BY:
John Simm

From Wikipedia:
Friedrich Engels (November 28, 1820 – August 5, 1895) was a German entrepreneur, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of communist theory, alongside Karl Marx. In 1845 he published "The Condition of the Working Class in England", based on personal observations and research. In 1848 he produced with Marx "The Communist Manifesto" and later he supported Marx financially to do research and write "Das Kapital". After Marx' death Engels edited the second and third volumes.

Engels wrote after Marx's death,

"I cannot deny that both before and during my forty years' collaboration with Marx I had a certain independent share in laying the foundations of the theory, but the greater part of its leading basic principles belong to Marx....Marx was a genius; we others were at best talented. Without him the theory would not be by far what it is today. It therefore rightly bears his name."

Despite Engels's modesty in these quotations, in fact he made major contributions to the Manifesto, starting with the suggestion to abandon "the form of a catechism and entitle it the Communist Manifesto."

Moreover, Engels joined Marx in Brussels for the writing of the Manifesto. There is no evidence of what his contributions to the final writing were, but the Manifesto bears the stamp of Marx's more rhetorical writing style. Nevertheless, it seems clear that Engels's contributions justify his name's appearance on the title page after Marx's.

BCnU!

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