Friday, May 16, 2008

The secret link between tocqueville and marx

"The revolutionary period had begun with an uprising in Sicily (January 12, 1848). The dunning dispatch was sent to Marx two weeks afterwards. The French revolution had been predicted by Alexis de Tocqueville in a parliamentary speech on January 27, 1848... the events of 1848 present a riddle to those who are reluctant to believe that revolutions ( as distinguished from riots ) occur spontaneously, let alone that many revolutions should occur spontaneously and simultaneously in different countries, with a presumed urge to imitate as the ony connecting link. There are enough data to show that secret societies were very active before and during the revolutionary period, and that they maintained close international contacts. Rarely if ever did a secret society act alone, and it is unlikely that the League did. Engels himself has provided us with some scanty information on this point.
Was there a 'conspiracy behind the conspiracy'? Secret wirepullers undoubtedly were at work, but they were not necessarily intent on promoting revolutionary objectives. For example, we know that the Tsar maintained at Paris an office that was in charge of what nowadays is called 'political warfare'...Possibly so; but what exactly were the circumstances which activated the Communist League and which induced the London communists to invite Marx to be their spokesperson? Where did the money come from? Was the League following instructions from a hidden source? Was this source a super-secret promoter of revolution? Or was it perhaps a government aiming to revise the political map of Europe?.. On the basis of presently available documentation, it is not possible to congeal these uncertanities into a true historical inquiry. Our best and practically only source on the Communist League and its relations with other revolutionary groups is a short report by Engels. It can be shown that, in some particulars, this report is not fully accurate. It is not even known whether all the documents available in the Nachlass of Marx and Engels have been published."(*1)



Alexis de Tocqueville and Marx were alive at the same period of time. Tocqueville published the first of four volumes of Democracy in America in 1835. Marx published in 1848.




(*1)
Front Cover:"Karl Marx; the communist manifesto;With an introduction by Stefan T. Possony; gateway edition".
Copyright 1954 by Henry Regnery Company, 14 E. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, Illinois. Copyright under International Copyright Union. Manufactured in the United States of America. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 54-8138.
1-62
Translated by Samuel Moore.

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