KARL MARX

TRIER, BONN AND BERLIN
41
Finally, Marx welcomed the idea of the clash of parties, another favourite
Young Hegelian topic: 'Without parties there is no development, without
division, no progress.' 167
On his return to Bonn in July 1842, Marx began to be drawn more
and more into the organisation of the Rheinische Zeitung, owing mainly
to the incompetence of the alcoholic Rutenberg, whom Marx declared
himself ashamed to have suggested for the job. Simultaneously with his
closer involvement with the paper came signs of increasing disagreement
with his former Berlin colleagues. They had formed themselves into a
club known as the Freien, which was the successor to the old Doctors'
Club. The Freien were a group of young writers who, disgusted with the
servile attitude of the Berliners, lived a style of life whose aim was in
many respects simply epater les bourgeois. They spent a lot of their time
in cafes and even begged in the streets when short of money. The
intransigence of their opposition to established doctrines, and particularly
to religion, was causing public concern. Their members included Max
Stirner, who had published atheist articles in the Rheinische Zeitung as a
prelude to his supremely anarcho-individualistic book The Ego and His
Own\ Edgar Bauer (Bruno's brother), whose fervent attacks on any sort
of liberal political compromise were taken up by Bakunin; and Friedrich
Fngels, who was the author of several polemics against Schelling and
liberalism.
Marx, however, was against these public declarations of emancipation,
which seemed to him to be mere exhibitionism. In view of the Young
Hegelians' association with the Rheinische Zeitung he also feared that the
articles from Berlin might give his rival editor Hermes a further opportunity
of attacking the paper. Marx was writing for a business paper in
the Rhineland where industry was relatively developed, whereas the Freien
were philosophising in Berlin where there was little industry and the
atmosphere was dominated by the government bureaucracy. He was therefore
in favour of supporting the bourgeoisie in the struggle for liberal
reform, and was against indiscriminate criticism. It was indeed on his own
advice that the publisher of the Rheinische Zeitung, Renard, had promised
the President of the Rhineland that the paper would moderate its tone -
particularly on religious subjects. 168
The attitude of the Freien raised the question of what the editorial
principles of the Rheinische Zeitung ought to be. Accordingly at the end
of August, Marx wrote to Oppenheim, whose voice was decisive in determining
policy, virtually spelling out his own proposals for the paper,
should the editorship be entrusted to him. He wrote:
If you agree, send me the article [by Edgar Bauer] on the juste-milieu