The German ideology

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The first page of the manuscript (written by Marx)

The German Ideology is a bundle of manuscripts that were written in the years 1845–1846 mainly by Karl Marx and in parts by Friedrich Engels and at times also by Moses Hess , Joseph Weydemeyer and Roland Daniels , but only a small part was published at the time. Together with the theses on Feuerbach written by Marx in 1845 and also unpublished during his lifetime , The German Ideology is considered a key work of historical materialism .

Editions

Of the texts that later became known under the title Die Deutsche Ideologie , only one article was published by Marx during the authors' lifetime.

The longest text of the work at around two thirds of the total length , the Critique of Max Stirner , was published in 1903/1904 in nine episodes of the series Documents of Socialism under the title Der 'Heilige Max' by Eduard Bernstein . Bernstein intervened in the so-called Stirner Renaissance debate about anarchist forms of socialism.

The section with the criticism of Ludwig Feuerbach was published in 1926 by Dawid Rjasanow as a preprint for the Marx-Engels Complete Edition (MEGA 1 ) planned by him .

The entire German ideology appeared for the first time in 1932 in volume I / 5 of MEGA 1 in Berlin, after Ryazanov's arrest, with Vladimir Adoratsky as editor. In the same year, Siegfried Landshut and Jacob P. Mayer brought out a greatly abbreviated version as part of an edition of Marx's early writings, in which the Stirner section - two thirds of the entire text - was missing. The first complete print in a work edition took place in 1933 in Volume IV of the first Russian-language Marx-Engels work edition ( Sotschinenija 1 ); At the same time, the German Ideology in the USSR was published on the occasion of Marx's 115th birthday in May 1933 in a separate edition with a circulation of over 50,000 copies. As part of the German-speaking MEW , the text was finally published in volume 3 of the edition in 1958. A revised version of this was published in Moscow in 1965 and in the GDR in 1966.

For the second Marx-Engels Complete Edition (MEGA 2 ), a test volume was produced in 1972 in which the Feuerbach chapter is commented on and edited according to the latest research. On this basis, Wataru Hiromatsu published another version in Tokyo in 1974 with a new arrangement of the texts.

The publication of the newly edited volume I / 5 of MEGA 2 , which contains Die deutsche Ideologie , has been announced several times since the rehearsal volume in 1972, but did not take place until the end of November 2017 for a total of 1894 due to the extremely difficult source situation and the need to incorporate more recent research results Pages. The historical-critical edition led, among other things, to the inclusion of two further texts, an article published anonymously but attributed to Marx in the journal Gesellschaftsspiegel , as well as an article by Joseph Weydemeyer from the Westphalian Steamboat , which he had written with the assistance of Marx in Brussels. The publication of the MEGA volume after decades of editorial work also generated media coverage.

Main messages

Bruno Bauer and Max Stirner were recognized by Marx and Engels in Wilhelm Kaulbach's painting Die Hunnenschlacht (1834–1837).

The work contains reviews of the Young Hegelian philosophers Ludwig Feuerbach , Bruno Bauer and Max Stirner as well as contemporary German socialists.

In Die Deutsche Ideologie , the authors establish a connection between people's living conditions and their thoughts. In particular, the thoughts of people of a certain epoch, region and social position about morality, ethical ideas, ideals of beauty etc. are always a reflection of the specific living conditions of this epoch, region and social class (and class etc.). Simply put, one can say: It is not consciousness that determines life, but life that determines consciousness. The living conditions of the people of a certain epoch and a region are very different, which shows in a hierarchical order of the different classes . The thoughts of the members of all classes function here to secure the rule of the class that benefits most from the respective social structure. The ruling thoughts are always the thoughts of the rulers.

The interests of the ruling class are presented as supposedly common to all members of society. Marx and Engels refer to ideas that serve the interests of the ruling class and are presented as valid only as ideology . Ideology can be uncovered through criticism , but only through revolutionary practice ("revolutionary practice", as Marx wrote in the third thesis on Feuerbach ) can be eliminated by changing the material conditions.

The German ideology marks the boundary between the so-called early and the mature Marx, i.e. H. his dissolution from the humanistic materialism of Feuerbach. As Engels wrote, it contains the first formulation of Marx's “great theory”, historical materialism.

Theoretical classification

"If in the whole of ideology people and their relationships appear turned upside down like in a camera obscura , this phenomenon emerges just as much from their historical life process as the rotation of objects on the retina from its directly physical one."
Karl Marx, MEW, Vol. 3, p. 26 (Illustration: James Ayscough, 1752)

In the preface to On the Critique of Political Economy of 1859, Marx thematizes the background to the work:

“Friedrich Engels, with whom I have had a constant written exchange of ideas since the publication of his brilliant sketch on the critique of economic categories (in the Franco-German yearbooks ), was on a different path (compare his situation of the working class in England ) with me to the same The result reached, and when he also settled in Brussels in the spring of 1845, we decided to work out jointly the antithesis of our view against the ideological of German philosophy, in fact to settle it with our former philosophical conscience. The intention was carried out in the form of a criticism of the Post-Hegelian philosophy. The manuscript […], two strong octave volumes, had long since arrived at its place of publication in Westphalia when we received the news that changed circumstances did not allow printing. We left the manuscript to the gnawing criticism of the mice all the more willingly as we had achieved our main purpose - self-understanding. "

In 1888, Engels made a preliminary remark on Ludwig Feuerbach and the outcome of classical German philosophy on the manuscript as follows:

“Before I send these lines to the press, I picked out the old manuscript from 1845/46 and looked at it again. The section on Feuerbach is not completed. The finished part consists of a presentation of the materialistic conception of history, which only proves how incomplete our knowledge of economic history at that time was. There is no criticism of Feuerbach's doctrine itself; it was useless for the present purpose. On the other hand, I found the eleven theses on Feuerbach printed in the appendix in an old booklet by Marx . They are notes for later elaboration, quickly written down, absolutely not intended for printing, but invaluable as the first document in which the ingenious germ of the new worldview is laid. "

abstract

“The thoughts of the ruling class are the ruling thoughts in every epoch; H. the class, which is the ruling material power of society, is at the same time its ruling spiritual power. The class, which has the means for material production at its disposal, at the same time dispose of the means for spiritual production, so that at the same time, on average, the thoughts of those who lack the means for spiritual production are subjected to it. The dominant thoughts are nothing more than the ideal expression of the dominant material relations, the dominant material relations grasped as thoughts; that is, the conditions that make one class ruling, that is, the thoughts of its rule. "

criticism

The German ideology as the central work of Marx and Engels never existed in the published form of the Marx-Engels Works (MEW). The chapter "I Feuerbach" in particular was originally intended as a criticism of Max Stirner . Ulrich Pagel, Gerald Hubmann and Christine Weckwerth come to the following conclusion in their work on the Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe (MEGA) : “Instead of the formulation of a philosophy of historical materialism that was claimed in later reception (and suggested by text compilations), the manuscripts prove precisely that programmatic departure from philosophy in favor of real positive science ” .

Editions and partial editions

  • The "holy Max" (Sankt Max), ed. Eduard Bernstein. In: Documents of Socialism, III. Volume, 1903, pp. 19-32, 65-78, 115-130, 169-177, 306-316, 355-364; and IV. Volume, 1904, pp. 210-217, 259-270, 312-321, 363-373 and 416-419.
  • Marx and Engels on Feuerbach. The first part of the 'German Ideology' . In: Marx-Engels Archive. Journal of the Marx-Engels Institute in Moscow. Volume 1, 1926, pp. 205-306.
  • Marx-Engels Complete Edition (MEGA 1 ) . Department I. Volume 5. Karl Marx / Friedrich Engels: The German Ideology. Critique of the newest German philosophy in its representatives, Feuerbach, B. Bauer and Stirner, and of German socialism in its various prophets. 1845-1846. Published by V. Adoratskij, Berlin 1932, on behalf of the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute Moscow.
  • Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels: The German Ideology. Critique of the latest German philosophy in its representatives Feuerbach, B. Bauer and Stirner, and of German socialism in its various prophets (written 1845–1846, based on the manuscripts). (= Marx-Engels-Werke (MEW) ), Volume 3, Dietz, Berlin (GDR) 958, DEA archive online ; also Berlin 1973.
  • Feuerbach (new edition of Chapter I). In: German Journal for Philosophy, 14 (1966), pp. 1192–1254.
  • The German ideology. I. Volume. Chapter I. Feuerbach. Contrast between materialistic and idealistic views . Sample volume for the Marx-Engels complete edition (MEGA 2 ) (contains editing principles and samples). Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1972, pp. 31–119 and pp. 399–507.
  • The German ideology. I. Volume. Chapter I. Feuerbach. Edited by Wataru Hiromatsu, Tokyo: Kawadeshobo-Shinsha 1974 (German and Japanese).
  • The German ideology. Articles, artwork, drafts, fair copy fragments and notes on I. Feuerbach and II. Sankt Bruno , Ed .: Internationale Marx-Engels-Stiftung , Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 2004, 2 volumes (text; apparatus) ISBN 3-05-003837- 3 .
  • Marx-Engels Complete Edition (MEGA 2 ) . Department I. Volume 5. Karl Marx / Friedrich Engels: German Ideology. Manuscripts and prints. Edited by Ulrich Pagel, Gerald Hubmann and Christine Weckwerth . Published by the International Marx-Engels Foundation (IMES) Amsterdam. De Gruyter Academy Research, Berlin / Boston 2017. ISBN 978-3-11-048577-6 .

literature

  • Bert Andréas / Wolfgang Mönke : New data on the “German Ideology”. With an unknown letter from Karl Marx and other documents. Archive for social history . Volume VIII. Verlag für Literatur und Zeitgeschehen, Hanover 1968, pp. 167-293.
  • Jacques Grandjonc : The voice of the people 1839 or sheets of the future 1846. On the “German Ideology” In: Archive for social history. Vol. IX., Verlag für Literatur und Zeitgeschehen, Hannover 1969, pp. 499–508.
  • Reinhard Müller: A new chapter in the “German Ideology” or a Marx dubious? Hamburg 1975.
  • Galina Golowina: The project of the quarterly magazine from 1845/1846. To the original publication plans of the manuscripts of the "German Ideology". In: Marx-Engels-Jahrbuch 3, Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1980, pp. 260-274.
  • Studies on Marx's first stay in Paris and the development of the German ideology. Contributions by Marion Barzen, Helmut Elsner, Jacques Grandjonc, Elke Rölling, Inge Taubert and Bert Andréas (+), Jacques Grandjonc and Hans Pelger, Trier 1990 ( writings from Karl-Marx-Haus, issue 43) .
  • Moon-Gil Chung: Some problems with the text edition of the “German Ideology”, especially with regard to the reproduction of the chapter “I. Feuerbach ". In: Contributions to Marx-Engels research. New episode 1997, Hamburg 1997, pp. 31–60.
  • MEGA studies 1997-2. Amsterdam 1998 ISBN 90-804191-2-5 , pp. 3-161 and pp. 170-173.
  • Inge Taubert / Margret Dietzen: The manuscript "The True Socialists" by Friedrich Engels. A supplement to the constitution of MEGA² I / 5 "Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Moses Hess: Die deutsche Ideologie. Manuscripts and Prints (November 1845 to June 1846) ”. In: Marx et autres exilés. Études en l'honneur de Jacques Grandjonc, réunies par Karl Heinz Götze. Cahiers d'études germaniques, No. 42. Aix-en-Provence 2002, pp. 155-168.
  • Uwe-Jens Heuer : The revaluation of Marxian thinking , review of the Marx-Engels-Jahrbuch 2003, in Trend -Online 12/2004, according to Junge Welt, October 13, 2004.
  • Harald Bluhm (eds.): Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Die deutsche Ideologie, Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 3-050043-82-2 (interpret classics 36).
  • Kai Drewes: The insurmountability of censorship. An unknown letter from the Braunschweig publisher Eduard Vieweg to Karl Marx from 1846. In: Archive for the history of the book. Volume 66, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2011, ISBN 3-11-025105-1 , pp. 155–164 ( also available online as postprint ).
  • Ulrich Pagel: The editions of German Ideology in the interplay of political instrumentalization and historical-critical analysis. In: Matthias Steinbach / Michael Ploenus (ed.): Touchstone Marx. On the edition and reception of a classic, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-86331-118-6 , pp. 30–45.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Karl Grün : The social movement in France and Belgium (Darmstadt 1845) or: The historiography of true socialism In: The Westphälische Dampfboot . Paderborn August and September 1847, No. 8 and 9, pp. 439-463 and pp. 505-525 ( ULB Münster ).
  2. ↑ The "holy Max". From a work by Marx-Engels on Stirner ". In: Documents des Socialism, Stuttgart 1903, pp. 19–32, 65–78, 115–130, 169–177, 306–316, 355–364 and 1904, pp. 210-217, 259-270, 312-321, 363-373 and 416-419.
  3. ↑ Wolfgang Eßbach : Max Stirner, Obstetrician and Evil Fairy at the Cradle of Marxism, in: H. Bluhm (Ed.): Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Die Deutsche Ideologie , Berlin 2009, page 165 ff.
  4. ↑ Marx-Engels-Archiv, Vol. I, Frankfurt am Main 1926, pp. 230-306.
  5. ↑ Karl Marx. Historical materialism. The early writings , ed. by S. Landshut and JP Mayer, with the participation of F. Salomon, 2 vols., Kröner, Leipzig 1932.
  6. ↑ Vollgraf, Carl-Erich; Sperl, Richard; Hecker, Rolf (Ed.): Stalinism and the end of the first Marx-Engels complete edition (1931-1941) (contributions to Marx-Engels research. New series. Special volume 3), Hamburg 2001, pp. 206-209.
  7. ↑ Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences: Newly published: Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe (MEGA). I. Dept., Vol. 5: Karl Marx / Friedrich Engels: German Ideology. Manuscripts and prints. November 29, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2017 .
  8. ^ I / 5 M / E: Works. Items. Drafts. German ideology. November 29, 2017, accessed on December 18, 2017 (manuscripts and prints. 2017. XII, 1894 p. 52 fig. ISBN 978-3-11-048577-6 ).
  9. ↑ Marx-Engels-Jahrbuch 2003 ( Memento of the original from May 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 58 kB) on the website of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bbaw.de
  10. ↑ No Bible for the World Revolution. December 13, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2017 .
  11. ↑ The section “The Leipzig Council” begins: “In the third volume of Wigand's quarterly journal for 1845, Kaulbach's prophetically painted battle of the hunts actually takes place. The spirits of the slain, whose fury does not calm down even in death, raise a roar and howl in the air, as of wars and war cries, of swords, shields and iron chariots. But it is not about earthly things. The holy war is not waged for protective tariffs, constitution, potato disease, banking and railways, but for the most sacred interests of the spirit, for 'substance', 'self-confidence', 'criticism', 'the only' and the 'true man' '. We are at a council of church fathers. Since they are the last copies of their kind and hopefully for the last time in the matter of the Most High, alias Absolute, they are being pleaded here, it is worthwhile to include procès-verbal <Protocol> in the negotiations. "MEW Vol. 3, p. 78
  12. ↑ "The term 'materialistic conception of history' does not appear in the manuscripts on German Ideology ." (MEGA 2 , Vol. I / 5, Berlin / Boston 2017, p. 755).
  13. ↑ Marx, MEW Vol. 13, p. 10. In the place of the omission, the MEW editorial team has added the note that Marx speaks of the manuscript of the German Ideology .
  14. ↑ Engels, MEW Vol. 21, p. 264.
  15. ↑ Marx / Engels, MEW Vol. 3, p. 46.
  16. ↑ I / 5 M / E: Works · Articles · Drafts. German ideology. Manuscripts and prints. 2017 | XII, 1894 pp. | 52 fig. |. Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, accessed on November 9, 2019 ( ISBN 978-3-11-048577-6 - Marx-Engels Complete Edition).
  17. ↑ Manuscripts and prints of the "German Ideology"; The transmission history of the manuscripts of the “German Ideology”; The constitution of MEGA 2 I / 5; Karl Grün's criticism; Marx's declaration of April 3, 1847; The presentation of the manuscripts in the edited text and in the list of variants.

Web links

Wikiquote: The German Ideology  - Quotes