Page:Zelda Kahan - Karl Marx His Life And Teaching (1918).pdf/16

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France, and he went to London with his family, where he remained for the rest of his life.

MARX'S WORK IN LONDON.

Here, after the dissolution of the Communist League, which took place in 1852, Marx at first devoted himself to journalism and to his scientific studies. In London, leading the life of a poor political refugee, constantly worried by grave bread-and-butter problems for his family, Marx nevertheless managed to get through a tremendous amount of work. To earn a living he wrote a long series of articles for the New York Tribune on political conditions in Germany and on economic subjects. A brilliant study which will ever remain valuable for the student of Continental history of the time, this work was subsequently reprinted in book form under the title of Revolution and Counter-Revolution. At about this time Marx also wrote The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, a brilliant exposition of the Coup d'Etat of December 2nd, 1851. He also wrote a remarkable series of articles on the relations of Lord Palmerston to the Russian Government. "Urquhart's writings on Russia," says Marx, "had interested but not convinced me. In order to arrive at a definite opinion, I made a minute analysis of Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, and of the Diplomatic Blue Books from 1807 to 1850." Two pamphlets—one entitled Herr Vogt, exposing the hypocrisy of France and Prussia in their war of liberation on behalf of Italy against Austria and the other The History and Life of Lord Palmerston, are written in Marx s best, characteristic, satirical style, and in their small volume are veritable treasure stores of contemporary history.

MARX'S ECONOMIC THEORIES.

In 1859 the Critique of Political Economy was published, giving for the first time an exposition of Marx's theory of value. In the introduction, he lays down the general theory which, once reached, served as the leading thread in his studies—namely, the dependence of the general character of the social, political and spiritual processes of life on the mode of production in material life, and this indeed runs throughout this and his other economic