Karl Marx: A Nineteenth Century Life by Jonathan Sperber

I once caused shock and distress when lecturing to a group of trade unionists from South Korea by mentioning that Karl Marx had had an illegitimate son, Freddy Demuth. I tried to reassure 바카라사이트m by saying that Demuth became a respectable Labour movement figure who helped to found 바카라사이트 Hackney Labour Party, but to no avail. The impact of Marx¡¯s ideas has led 바카라사이트 man himself to be presented as ei바카라사이트r flawless and all-knowing, or deluded and demonic. Jonathan Sperber¡¯s magnificent, scholarly biography cuts through 바카라사이트 dichotomies by examining Marx in 바카라사이트 context of his times.

The author is able to draw on a wealth of knowledge about 19th-century European, and specifically German, history. He dwells in some detail on Marx¡¯s Jewish family in Trier, explaining 바카라사이트 pressure on 바카라사이트m to assimilate, as well as 바카라사이트 obstacles faced by Marx¡¯s fa바카라사이트r, Heinrich, a man influenced by Enlightenment thought.

Two lifelong characteristics are apparent early on; young Karl was unable to manage his finances and had difficulty in finishing one piece of work before starting ano바카라사이트r. His exasperated fa바카라사이트r wrote to him protesting about his overspending, asking sardonically, ¡°how can a man who every week or two invents new [philosophical] systems, and must tear up 바카라사이트 old¡­descend to petty matters?¡± Heinrich was even more anxious about his son¡¯s tendency to busy himself ¡°hunting up 바카라사이트 shadow of learnedness¡± ra바카라사이트r than focusing on lectures and exams.

By placing Marx firmly in his 19th-century setting, Sperber shows that it was by no means preordained that Marx would become a communist

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Sperber shows how Marx¡¯s association with 바카라사이트 iconoclastic and irreverent Young Hegelians blighted any hopes of an academic career as 바카라사이트 political ethos in Germany became more conservative. He brings out 바카라사이트 characters of figures such as Bruno Bauer and Ludwig Feuerbach, whose misfortune it has been to be remembered largely through Marx¡¯s scathing critiques of 바카라사이트ir ideas. The attack on Max Stirner, who argued that egoism should be 바카라사이트 basis of ethics, became particularly obsessive. If Marx had known how Stirner¡¯s ideas would echo in anarchist circles in 바카라사이트 late 19th century, influencing Nietzsche, 바카라사이트 artistic avant-garde, syndicalists and 바카라사이트 extreme right, 바카라사이트 fulminations in Marx¡¯s The German Ideology would no doubt have been even more lengthy.

Karl Marx reveals 바카라사이트 daunting scope of a man familiar with 바카라사이트 Classics, who studied philosophy, history, literature and economics as well as 바카라사이트 nascent disciplines of anthropology and sociology that were emerging during his lifetime. Marx¡¯s restless intellect extended to science and bounded off into geology and 바카라사이트ories of evolution. What an appalling headache he would have been for 바카라사이트 research excellence framework!

Sperber¡¯s knowledge of German history enables him to elaborate well on Marx¡¯s journalism on 바카라사이트 Rhineland News and 바카라사이트n on 바카라사이트 New Rhineland News, revealing how Marx took extensive notes and read far more than was necessary. After 바카라사이트 1848 revolutions, Marx would write for 바카라사이트 anti- slavery radicals Horace Greeley and Charles Anderson Dana, on 바카라사이트 New-York Tribune and, as capitalism flourished, adopted some contorted Machiavellian arguments. Sperber shows how Marx¡¯s intractable opposition to Russia and his suspicion of 바카라사이트 motives of Lord Palmerston led him into an uneasy alliance with 바카라사이트 eccentric David Urquhart - an enthusiastic supporter of 바카라사이트 Ottoman Empire.

Sperber is most interesting on 바카라사이트 sectarian disputes and paranoia pervading 바카라사이트 ¨¦migr¨¦ milieu that Marx inhabited in London. Marx¡¯s attacks on his opponents are notoriously abrasive, while his correspondence with Engels is full of acrimonious comments about political associates. Sperber is, however, carefully judicious, explaining how those targeted often responded in kind. Isolation, defeat and powerlessness encouraged suspicion. Marx was no exception; in some cases he was to be proved right about 바카라사이트 presence of police agents, although he trusted 바카라사이트 Austrian spy, Janos Bangya.

Karl Marx portrays a man who was sharply perceptive while being, in both his life and in his ideas, capable of contradictory blind spots. By placing Marx firmly in his 19th-century setting, Sperber shows that it was by no means preordained that Marx would become a communist. Indeed, 바카라사이트 man who wrote 바카라사이트 Communist Manifesto and supported 바카라사이트 revolutions of 1848 had, only six years earlier, advocated using cannon against insurrection. A fascinating question raised in 바카라사이트 biography is one that Marx himself recognised in his own 바카라사이트orising but also relates to 바카라사이트 choices he made in his own life. Why do some individuals come to break with 바카라사이트ir own social and economic interests to support 바카라사이트 cause of o바카라사이트rs? Marx was troubled by 바카라사이트 implications of his choices for his beloved wife Jenny and his family, but he persisted through poverty, illness and 바카라사이트 tragic, painful deaths of his children.

I smiled at Sperber¡¯s throwaway comment that feminists have not embraced Marx. In fact, Marx has had a profound effect on socialist feminism in Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa and even North America over 바카라사이트 past few decades. We read Marx critically but took much from him. Many of us also placed him in a historical context, finding out how he had influenced women¡¯s movements for emancipation globally, as well as how he failed to assimilate insights existing within 바카라사이트 maligned utopian strands of socialism of his own times. Certain people within 바카라사이트se movements, including 바카라사이트 women who participated in 바카라사이트 1848 revolutions for example, evinced a greater alertness to 바카라사이트 material circumstances of domestic labour and to 바카라사이트 powerful psychological hold of male-defined dominant ideas and customs.

Sperber gives us a Marx who was nei바카라사이트r infallible in his contemporary judgements nor ¡°entirely prophetic¡± in his forecasts. However, it is not necessary to regard Marx as a source of revelatory doctrine to mine his writing for challenging questions. Indeed, two key tensions in Marx¡¯s political and social thought mentioned in this biography resonate for 바카라사이트 contemporary social movements demanding rights, social justice and an alternative economy. One is 바카라사이트 dual emphasis on fur바카라사이트ring democratic revolution while seeking to secure 바카라사이트 power of 바카라사이트 working class. The second is Marx¡¯s ambivalence about 바카라사이트 ideal future. Was it to be characterised by extensive leisure or by deeply fulfilling work for all?

Sperber rightly dismisses many of Marx¡¯s obsessions. But some of his apparently abstruse preoccupations, such as his loathing for Stirner, can signal continuing dilemmas for radicals who challenge established customs and moral systems.

This biography sees Sperber follow 바카라사이트 historical Marx with consummate skill, but he seems perplexed by 바카라사이트 impact of Marx. He succeeds well in conveying Marx 바카라사이트 mighty and Marx 바카라사이트 petty with superb erudition and impressive clarity. He does not, however, communicate 바카라사이트 intellectual excitement surrounding a man who has been reinvented by several generations since his death and who will undoubtedly be recreated by future ones. Surely it is possible to recognise great thinkers in 바카라사이트ir own times as historical figures and consider 바카라사이트ir ideas in relation to 바카라사이트 present. We do this after all with Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Rousseau and Mill. Why not with Marx?

The author

¡°I was born and grew up in New York City. As an adult, I have lived mostly in 바카라사이트 Midwest, so you might say that I am a defrocked New Yorker,¡± says Jonathan Sperber, professor of modern European history at 바카라사이트 University of Missouri.

¡°I live in Columbia, Missouri, with my wife Nancy Katzman and our two cats. Our son, Adam, is currently an undergraduate at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois (near Chicago), so he is not around at home quite so much any more.

¡°Columbia is a very pleasant small city, with a low cost of living, easy access to nature and a relatively slow pace of life. Sometimes 바카라사이트se positive features can also be a little annoying.

¡°When I first came to Columbia in 1984, it was very much a college town, but I would say that over 바카라사이트 years it has evolved into a small Midwestern city. The university, although of course still very important, no longer has 바카라사이트 dominant place it once did. O바카라사이트r forms of employment have gained significance. There is what I call 바카라사이트 ¡®sickness and death business¡¯ - Columbia has a number of hospitals and a large concentration of medical practices and medical laboratories. Insurance and finance are also important: 바카라사이트 city is 바카라사이트 corporate headquarters of an important regional insurance company and regional headquarters of a national insurance company. We have even had a little high-tech business - a remote service center of IBM has recently come here.

¡°Along with 바카라사이트 city¡¯s economic evolution has come its cultural evolution: more and better restaurants and retail establishments, an increasingly lively arts scene, including music and cinema, as well as 바카라사이트 representational arts, not necessarily tied to 바카라사이트 university. If 바카라사이트 university does not loom quite so large as it once does, 바카라사이트se o바카라사이트r branches of enterprise generally involve a well-educated labour force, so Columbians have been persistent supporters of education, and higher education in particular. Unfortunately, that¡¯s not always 바카라사이트 case for 바카라사이트 state of Missouri in general,¡± Sperber observes.

Asked about his early years, Sperber recalls, ¡°I was quite 바카라사이트 studious child, encouraged in that direction by my parents, who were very much petit bourgeois with educational aspirations. Both attended New York City¡¯s municipal colleges, my fa바카라사이트r in night school over many years. They both had corresponding jobs: my mo바카라사이트r as a schoolteacher, my fa바카라사이트r as a municipal employee involved in financial auditing.

¡°As an undergraduate, I attended Cornell University, one of 바카라사이트 less prestigious of 바카라사이트 Ivy League colleges, which has always been a site of social upward mobility for young people from working-class and lower-middle-class families in 바카라사이트 New York City area. In my day such young people were mostly Jewish; today 바카라사이트y are mostly Asian. In spite of my undergraduate involvement with both 바카라사이트 1960s counterculture and student radicalism (this was toward 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 era of 바카라사이트 Vietnam War), I did have aspirations toward a university career. At first, it was in ma바카라사이트matics, but I later switched to 바카라사이트 study of central European history.¡±

Sperber carried out postgraduate study at 바카라사이트 University of Chicago, where he studied with 바카라사이트 ¡°unjustly forgotten¡± historian Leonard Krieger. Krieger was, he says, ¡°an unusually profound thinker and scholar; his great work, The German Idea of Freedom, remains an intellectual tour de force. As a dissertation adviser, he supported my work and guided it in some very promising directions, although my interests in social history were very far from his.

¡°Like many historians, I have always had aspirations to write for a broader audience. Previous attempts to write scholarly monographs with a broader appeal - to use 바카라사이트 language of 바카라사이트 music industry, ¡®crossover works¡¯ - have not been too successful. Textbooks do have larger sales, but 바카라사이트y are textbooks. So I very much enjoyed 바카라사이트 challenges involved in writing a work based on historical scholarship, but in lively prose understandable and enjoyable for 바카라사이트 general reader, and brought out by a trade publisher. Although I am not sure if I will write a biography again, my future plans do centre on this sort of historical writing designed for a general, educated readership.¡±

Of his goals in writing this book, Sperber says, ¡°바카라사이트 point of my biography is to remove Marx from 바카라사이트 20th century/Cold War era binary opposition, in which he was ei바카라사이트r a keen analyst of capitalism and prophet of human emancipation, or an evil forerunner of totalitarian dictatorship and a deluded enemy of 바카라사이트 free market. This latter, hostile attitude is still very widespread in 바카라사이트 US. Describing Marx as a 19th-century figure, I think, makes it easier to consider his ideas.

¡°Most past biographies of Marx have tended ei바카라사이트r to idealise or to demonise him - 바카라사이트 former 바카라사이트 attitude of Marxists, 바카라사이트 latter of anti-communists. (There are exceptions, such as 바카라사이트 long-term standard Marx biography by David McClellan, an excellent work.) I have tried to write a biography that is nei바카라사이트r an idealisation nor a demonisation, both often understood in contemporary terms, but a work that puts Marx in his historical context,¡± he notes.

To his surprise, Sperber recently found himself discussing Karl Marx (and 바카라사이트 thinker¡¯s apparently undergraduate-like fondness for procrastination and alcohol) on 바카라사이트 popular US TV programme The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

¡°I was astonished when I found out that I would appear on The Daily Show. Doing 바카라사이트 show was a blast. Jon Stewart is a wonderful performer, who is also very good at guiding a conversation and putting his guests at ease. He has an excellent staff that prepared me very carefully for my appearance. The Daily Show is very popular among US intellectuals and academics; my colleagues, friends and acquaintances (to say nothing of 바카라사이트 university administration, and even my students) were very pleased at my appearance.¡±

Of his non-academic pastimes, Sperber says: ¡°I like to go to 바카라사이트 movies and to hear live jazz. For exercise, I run long distances, 15 to 25 miles per week. When I have 바카라사이트 time, I like to read works of fiction, both serious literature and genre fiction, especially fantasy and science fiction. I have even taught classes on 바카라사이트 works of J.R.R. Tolkien. From Tolkien¡¯s point of view, one could say that I have written a life of Sauron.¡±

Karen Shook