KARL MARX

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4IO KARL MARX: A BIOGRAPHY
popular rights, a people's militia, etc., many of which had already been
achieved in progressive bourgeois republics.
In spite of his threats, Marx did not dissociate himself from the programme;
and Engels' assertion that a split in the new party was absolutely
certain proved quite mistaken. Bismarck's growing opposition to the
socialists made the Lassalleans' policy of co-operation with the state more
and more implausible, and the Eisenachers soon gained the upper hand.
As the industrialisation of Germany increased at a gigantic rate, the new
Social Democratic Workers' Party polled an ever larger number of votes.
Nevertheless Marx was still far from happy with the policies of his colleagues
and disciples. As even Bebel - whom Marx and Engels regarded
as the only completely reliable member of the Party - commented: 'It
was no easy matter to arrive at an understanding with the two old men
in London.' 78
Although Marx was keen to have a theoretical journal in which to
expose 'the absolute ignorance of professors and lecturers' 79 he could not
welcome the appearance in August 1877 Die Zukunft, a theoretical
fortnightly designed to supplement the Party's newspaper Vorwiirts. It was
financed by Karl Hochberg, the rich son of a Frankfurt bookmaker who
had the best of intentions but, as Marx said, 'I do not give a damn for
intentions.' 80 He refused to write for the journal and felt more than
justified when he read the phrases about justice and the phantasies of the
future communist society that were reminiscent of the 'true socialism' of
the 1840s. The result of 'bringing a bourgeois into the party' 81 had not
been a success. Marx summed up his general opinion of the situation in
Germany as follows:
... A rotten spirit is making itself felt in our Party in Germany, not
so much among the masses as among the leaders (upper-class and
'workers'). The compromise with the Lassalleans has led to a compromise
with other halfway elements too: in Berlin (like Most) with Duhring
and his 'admirers', but also with a whole gang of half-mature
students and super-wise diplomaed doctors who want to give socialism
a 'higher, idealistic' orientation, that is to say, to replace its materialistic
basis (which demands serious objective study from anyone who tries to
use it) by modern mythology with its goddesses of Justice, Liberty,
Equality and Fraternity. Dr Hochberg, who publishes Die Zukunft, is a
representative of this tendency and has 'bought his way' into the Party
- with the 'noblest' intentions, I assume, but I do not give a damn for
'intentions'. Anything more miserable than his programme of Die
Zukunft has seldom seen the light of day with more 'modest presumption'.
The workers themselves, when, like Herr Most & Co., they give up
work and become professional literary men, always breed 'theoretical'