Marxʼs journalistic critique of the 1850s

What is it about?

This article foregrounds a section of Marxʼs work in which he reflects upon a period when emancipatory politics seemingly come to a slack, namely his journalism of the 1850s. In consequence of the crushing of the 1848/49 revolutions and Louis Napoléonʼs coup dʼétat, he finds himself compelled to take a stand on many unfavourable, sometimes quite changeful events in international politics and economy. In doing so, Marx has to readjust his hitherto held notion of revolution. He focuses on the Bourgeoisie as his principal opponent, relentlessly disclosing its membersʼ fraud and trickery, their production of ‘illusionary knowledge’, as well as their political alliances with the ‘vanishing’ ruling classes. Although he produces his articles for a badly needed fee and for editorial offices on which he exerts no influence, they can be considered as purposeful political stakes.

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Why is it important?

Marx's journalism of the 1850s is unknown even to many Marx scholars. My paper aims at making this fascinating chapter of his work more accessible. In order to characterise the specific mode of criticism which Marx applies in his articles, I distinguish three ‘registers’ in his structure of reasoning: political revelations, economic expertise, and assessment of the prospects of revolution. Their application, along with Marxʼs ever-confident explanations of current events, gives him an aura of being constantly in the know. This stance is indispensable because with his journalistic criticism Marx gets in what he himself calls a 'hand-to-hand fight'.