Karl Marx Library
Author | Saul K. Padover (ed.) |
---|---|
Cover artist | Roger Ferriter |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Genre | history |
Published | 1971–1977 (in 7 volumes) |
The Karl Marx Library is a topically-organized series of original translations and biographical commentaries edited by historian and
The scholarly utility of the series was severely undermined by the 1975 launch of the 50 volume
The formal Karl Marx Library series was terminated in 1977, with two tangential volumes by Padover subsequently published during the last years of his life, including a full-length biography of Marx.
Publication history
Launch
An ambitious scholarly project entitled "The Karl Marx Library" was launched in 1971 by historian and
"This development is bound to reduce the usefulness of Dr. Padover's series on which he must have expended much energy and time-consuming effort," Jordan presciently predicted.[1]
On Revolution (1971)
The first volume of the series, On Revolution (1971) broke little original ground for Marx scholars, containing only a spate of articles from the 1850s from
Another academic reviewer was no less harsh, declaring that "unfortunately, the best that can be said about the volume's scholarly apparatus is that it is all but swallowed up in the 600-odd pages of authentic, or nearly authentic, Marx texts."
Beyond Padover's introductory and supplemental material the contents of the first volume were divided into five parts, dealing in turn with general principles of revolutionary theory, The Communist Manifesto, and journalism related to specific revolutionary events in France, Germany, and Spain.
On Freedom of the Press and Censorship (1974)
On Freedom of the Press and Censorship, the fourth of the scheduled 13 volumes of the Karl Marx Library, saw print in 1974. The book's importance was already diminished by the forthcoming appearance of initial volumes of the Marx-Engels Collected Works through a well-funded international effort spearheaded by three Communist Party-related publishing houses.[3]
Padover was again taken to task by Z.A. Jordan in the pages of the American Political Science Review, with Jordan particularly questioning the decision to treat Marx in binary terms as a "Revolutionist" and an "Embattled Journalist" — with the former writing dealing with the Revolutions of 1848 split out into the volume On Revolution and other writing presented as the work of a "fighting journalist" engaged in a dedicated effort to win freedom of the press and abolition of censorship in Germany.[3] Jordan considered such a division to be a "doubtful" assumption, noting that Marx's primary fight as a journalist by the time of his Neue Rheinische Zeitung editorship had been not for freedom of the press per se, but rather "to stem the rising tide of the counter-revolution, led by the King of Prussia and his ministers, who used censorship effectively, to restrict the activities of their political opponents and, finally, to silence the opposition altogether."[3]
As a result, Jordan argued, the On Freedom of the Press and Censorship collection unsatisfactory, particularly for its "disappointingly inadequate" selection of material from the Neue Rheinische Zeitung and failure to document the evolution of Marx's political thinking on censorship matters over time.[3]
Structurally speaking, On Freedom of the Press and Censorship was divided into four sections. The first dealt with the young Marx's writing for the Rheinische Zeitung, a second on writing for its successor publication the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, a third with personal letters by Marx, with a final section containing official documents and correspondence dealing with Marx's alleged transgressions with the censorship as editor of the two Rhenish newspapers with which he was associated.[3]
On Religion (1974)
Padover's fifth topical volume of the Karl Marx Library, On Religion, drew significant academic attention beyond the more typical scholarly province of intellectual history and the history of the labor movement. Writing in the
Despite his intimations of the collection's merits, Padover was again taken to task by O'Malley for certain editorial errors, including attribution of the article "Luther as Arbiter Between Strauss and Feuerbach" to Marx rather than to Ludwig Feuerbach, as new scholarship had revealed.[4]
Writing in the
The structure of the fifth volume included a 19-page introductory essay by Padover followed by division of the textual material into three parts, dealing with "Christianity and Religion in General", "Judaism and the Jews", and "Personal Letters."[4] Material within each of these sections followed a chronological approach, marked by ample editorial annotation.[4]
Series
Volumes published
- Vol. 1: On Revolution. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1971.
- Vol. II: On America and the Civil War. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1972.
- Vol. III: On the First International. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1973.
- Vol. IV: On Freedom of the Press and Censorship. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1974.
- Vol. V: On Religion. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1974.
- Vol. VI: On Education, Women and Children. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1975.
- Vol. VII: On History and People. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1977.
Related volumes
- Karl Marx: An Intimate Biography. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1978.
- The Letters of Karl Marx. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prrentice-Hall, 1979.
Unpublished projected volumes
- Vol. VIII: On Radical Leaders and Theorists.
- Vol. IX: On Britain, Ireland, and Colonialism.
- Vol. X: On International Affairs.
- Vol. XI: Capital (Excerpts, Prefaces, and Letters).
- Vol. XII: Economic Writings.
- Vol. XIII: Personal and Family Letters.
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Z.A. Jordan, "Reviewed Work: Karl Marx On Revolution by Saul K. Padover", American Political Science Review, vol. 68, no. 4 (Dec. 1974), pp. 1743-1744. In JSTOR.
- ^ a b c d A. Thomas Ferguson, Jr. and Stephen J. O'Neil, "Marx's Writings on Revolution: Karl Marx: On Revolution by Saul K. Padover", The Review of Politics, vol. 35, no. 2 (April 1973), pp. 260-262. In JSTOR.
- ^ a b c d e Z. A. Jordan, "Karl Marx on Freedom of the Press and Censorship by Saul K. Padover", American Political Science Review, vol. 72, no. 1 (March 1978), pp. 227-229. In JSTOR
- ^ a b c d e Joseph O'Malley, "On Religion by Karl Marx; Saul K. Padover", Catholic Historical Review, vol. 63, no. 4 (Oct. 1977), pp. 593-594. In JSTOR
- ^ a b c Elmer H. Duncan, "Karl Marx on Religion. "Karl Marx Library", vol. 5 by Saul K. Padover", Journal of Church and State, vol. 19, no. 1 (Winter 1977), pp. 106-108. In JSTOR