'Friedrich Engels' (
November 28,
1820 –
August 5,
1895) was a
German social scientist and
philosopher, who developed
communist theory alongside his better-known collaborator,
Karl Marx, co-authoring ''
The Communist Manifesto'' (1848). Engels also edited the second and third volumes of ''
Das Kapital'' after Marx's death.
Biography
Early Years
Friedrich Engels was born in
Barmen,
Rhine Province of the kingdom of
Prussia (now a part of
Wuppertal in
North Rhine-Westphalia,
Germany) as the eldest son of a German textile manufacturer, with whom he had a strained relationship.
[1] Due to family circumstances, Engels dropped out of
High school and was sent to work as a nonsalaried office clerk at a commercial house in
Bremen in 1838.
[2] [3] During this time, Engels began reading the philosophy of
Hegel, whose teachings had dominated German
philosophy at the time. In September of 1838, he published his first work, a poem titled ''
The Bedouin'', in the ''
Bremisches Conversationsblatt'' No. 40. He also engaged in other literary and journalistic work.
[4][5] In 1841, Engels joined the Prussian Army as a member of the Household Artillery. This position moved him to Berlin where he attended university lectures, began to associate with groups of Young Hegelians and published several articles in the
Rheinische Zeitung.
[3] Throughout his lifetime, Engels would point out that he was indebted to German
philosophy because of its effect on his
intellectual development.
[2]
England
Friedrich Engels' house in Primrose
In 1842, the twenty-two year old Engels was sent to
Manchester,
England to work for the textile firm of Ermen and Engels in which his father was a shareholder.
[8] [9] Engels' father thought working in at the Manchester firm might make Engels reconsider the radical leanings that he had developed in high school.
[2] [9] On his way to Manchester, Engels visited the office of the
Rheinische Zeitung and met Karl Marx for the first time - though the pair did not impress each other.
[12] In Manchester, Engels met
Mary Burns, a young woman with whom he began a relationship that lasted until her death in 1862.
[13] Mary acted as a guide through Manchester and helped introduce Engels to the British working class. Despite having a lifelong relationship, the two were never married as Engels was against the institution of marriage which he saw as unnatural and unjust.
[14]
During his time in Manchester, Engels took notes and personally observed the horrible working conditions of
British workers. These notes and observations, along with his experience working in his father's commercial firm, formed the basis for his first book ''
The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844''. Whilst writing ''Conditions of the Working Class'', Engels continued his involvement with radical journalism and politics. He frequented some members of the
English labour &
Chartist movements and wrote for several different journals, including ''
The Northern Star'',
Robert Owen’s ''
New Moral World'' & the ''
Democratic Review'' newspaper.
[15] [13]
Paris
After a productive stay in England, Engels decided to return to
Germany in 1844. While traveling back to Germany, he stopped in
Paris to meet
Karl Marx, with whom he had an earlier correspondence. Marx and Engels met at the Café de la Régence on the Place du Palais,
August 28,
1844. The two became close
friends and would remain so for their entire lives. Engels ended up staying in Paris in order to help Marx write ''
The Holy Family'', which was an attack on the
Young Hegelians and the
Bauer brothers. Engels' earliest contribution to Marx's work was writing to the ''Deutsch-französische Jahrbücher'' journal, which was edited by both
Marx and
Arnold Ruge in Paris in the same year.
[8]
Brussels
Between 1845 and 1848, Engels and Marx lived in
Brussels, spending much of their time organizing the city's
German workers. Shortly after their arrival, they contacted and joined the underground
German Communist League and were commissioned, by the League, to write a pamphlet explaining the principles of Communism. This became the ''
The Manifesto of the Communist Party'', better known as the ''Communist Manifesto''. It was first published on
February 21 1848.
[2]
Return to Prussia
Friedrich Engels
During the month of February in 1848,
there was a revolution in France that eventually spread to other Western European countries. This event caused Engels & Marx to go back to their home country of
Prussia, specifically the city of
Cologne. While living in Cologne, Engels and Marx created and served as editors for a new daily newspaper called the ''
Neue Rheinische Zeitung''.
[8] However, during June 1849 Prussian
coup d'état the newspaper was suppressed. The coup d'état separated Engels and Marx, the latter was deported, since he lost his Prussian
citizenship, and fled to
Paris and then
London. Engels stayed in Prussia and took part in an armed uprising in South Germany as an
aide-de-camp in the volunteer corps of the city of
Willich.
[20] When the uprising was crushed, Engels managed to escape by traveling through
Switzerland as a
refugee and returned to England.
[2]
Back in Manchester
Once Engels made it to England, he decided to re-enter the commercial firm where his father held shares in order to help support Marx with his publications. He hated this work intensely, however knew that his friend needed the support.
[22][23]
He started off as an office clerk, the same position he held in his teens, but eventually worked his way up to become a joint proprietor in 1864. Five years later, Engels retired from the business to focus more on his studies.
[8] At this time, Marx was living in London but they were able to exchange ideas through daily correspondence. In 1870, Engels moved to
London where both he and Marx lived until the latter's death in 1883.
[2]
His London home at this time and until his death was 122 Regent's Park Road,
Primrose Hill, NW1.
[26]Marx's first London residence was a cramped apartment at 28 Dean Street, Soho. From 1856 he lived at 9 Grafton Terrace, Kentish Town and subsequently in a tenement at 41 Maitland Park Road from 1875 till his death.
[27]
Later years
After Marx's death, Engels devoted much of his remaining years to editing and translating Marx's unpublished works. However, he also contributed significantly to other areas, such as
feminist theory. Engels believed that the concept of
monogamous marriage was created from the domination of man over women. Engels would tie this particular argument to communist thought by arguing that men have dominated women just as the
capitalist class has dominated workers. One of the best examples of Engels' thoughts on these issues are in his work ''
The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State''.
Engels died of
throat cancer in London in 1895.
[28] Following cremation at
Woking, his ashes were scattered off
Beachy Head, near
Eastbourne as he had requested.
Major Works
''The Holy Family'' (1844)
''
The Holy Family'' was a book written by
Marx & Engels in November 1844. The book is a critique on the
Young Hegelians and their trend of thought which was very popular in
academic circles at the time. The title was a suggestion by the
publisher and is meant as a sarcastic reference to the
Bauer Brothers and their supporters.
[29] The book created a controversy with much of the
press and caused
Bruno Bauer to attempt to refute the book in an article which was published in Wigand's ''Vierteljahrsschrift'' in 1845. Bauer claimed that Marx and Engels misunderstood what he was trying to say. Marx later replied to his response with his own article that was published in the journal
Gesellschaftsspiegel in January 1846. Marx also discussed the argument in chapter 2 of
The German Ideology.
[29]
''The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844'' (1844)
Main articles: The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844
''The Condition of the Working Class'' is a detailed description and analysis of the appalling conditions of the working class in
Britain and
Ireland during Engels' stay in
England. It was considered a classic in its time and still widely available today. This work also had many seminal thoughts on the state of
socialism and its development.
''The Communist Manifesto'' (1848)
Main articles: The Communist Manifesto
Engels and Marx were commissioned by the
German Communist League to publish a political pamphlet on communism in 1848. This slender volume is one of the most famous political documents in history. Much of its power comes from the concise, pithy and punchy way it is written.
''The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State'' (1884)
Main articles: The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State
''The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State'' is an important and detailed seminal work connecting
capitalism with what Engels argues is an unnatural institution - family - designed to "privatize" wealth and human
relationships contrary to the way animals and early humans evolved. It was written when Engels was 64 years of age and at the height of his
intellectual power and contains a comprehensive historical view of the family in relation to the issues of
class, female subjugation and
private property.
See also
★
Karl Marx
★
Marxism
★ ''
Das Kapital''
★
Mary Burns
External links
★
Spartacus article on Engels
★
The Marx & Engels Internet Archive at
Marxists.org.
★
Marx/Engels Biographical Archive
★
Marx and Engels in their native German language
★
★
Libcom.org/library Frederick Engels archive
★
The Legend of Marx, or “Engels the founder†by
Maximilien Rubel
Notes & References
1. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/letters/45_03_17.htm
2. http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1895/misc/engels-bio.htm
3. Tucker, Robert C. ''The Marx-Engels Reader'', p.xv
4. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/cw/volume02/preface.htm
5. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/cw/volume02/footnote.htm#188
6. Tucker, Robert C. ''The Marx-Engels Reader'', p.xv
7. http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1895/misc/engels-bio.htm
8. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/bio/engels/en-1893.htm
9. http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/work/england/manchester/article_1.shtml
10. http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1895/misc/engels-bio.htm
11. http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/work/england/manchester/article_1.shtml
12. Wheen, Francis ''Karl Marx: A Life'', p. 75
13. http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/work/england/manchester/article_2.shtml
14. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1884/origin-family/index.htm
15. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1880/05/04.htm
16. http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/work/england/manchester/article_2.shtml
17. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/bio/engels/en-1893.htm
18. http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1895/misc/engels-bio.htm
19. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/bio/engels/en-1893.htm
20. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/bio/engels/en-1892.htm
21. http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1895/misc/engels-bio.htm
22. http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/work/england/manchester/article_4.shtml
23. http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/work/england/manchester/article_5.shtml
24. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/bio/engels/en-1893.htm
25. http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1895/misc/engels-bio.htm
26. London Blue Plaques English Heritage - Accessed February 2007
27. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/photo/places/index.htm Photos of Marx's Residence(s)
28. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1895/letters/95_05_21.htm
29. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/holy-family/index.htm
30. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/holy-family/index.htm
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