Marx and Jewish Emancipation - Shlomo Avineri
Marx and Jewish Emancipation - Shlomo Avineri
Marx and Jewish Emancipation - Shlomo Avineri
.
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SHLOMO AVINERI
That Karl Marx was an inveterateantisemiteis today considereda commonplace which is hardly ever questioned. Marxists feel rather uneasy
about it and try to evade the issue by pushing his essay Zur Judenfrage
into the background,wishfullyhopingthat it will be ultimatelyforgotten.
The essay is seldomtranslatedor even separatelypublishedin the original
German,nor is it quoted by orthodoxMarxistsabove the absoluteminimum.
They, as well as non-Marxists,are usually perplexedby the enormityof
Marx's anti-Jewishoutbursts;1 others see in it one more evidence of an
antisemiticundercurrentin European socialism.2That Marx's essay was
later accompanied by such uncomplimentaryremarks about Lassalle as
8 seemsto giveweight
Braun,'or 'EphraimGescheit,'
'BaronItzig,''Jiudel
446
SHLOMO
AVINERI
EMANCIPATION
447
448
SHLOMO
AVINERI
whenhe denmands,
oftheirfreehumanity
desireforrecognition
amongother
of movement,
things,the freedom
sojourn,travel,earningone'sliving,etc.
of 'freehumanity'
are explicitly
as suchin
Thesemanifestations
recognized
the FrenchDeclarationof the Rightsof Man. The Jewhas all the more
as the 'freecivil society'is
rightto the recognition
of his 'freehumanity'
thoroughly
commercial
and Jewishand theJewis a necessary
linkin it."16
of bourgeoissocietyand of the role the Jewsplay in it,
Marx's criticism
according
to his view,doesnotpreventhimfromdemanding
fullciviland
politicalrightsfortheJews;notbecauseJewishemancipation
signifies
the
journey'send,butbecausethoserightsare in accordancewiththepremises
of bourgeoissocietyitself.'7That thoseprinciplesare but a milestoneon
theroad to ultimatesalvationis besidethe pointwhenconsidered
in this
context;nay more,theybecomea necessarystage towardsthis ultimate
Marxsupports
emancipation.
Riesseralso on anotheroccasionbymaintainingthattheonlylegitimate
attitudeto theJewishclaimsis to gaugethem
by the criteriaof the objectivejuridicalnormsof bourgeoissociety;an
approachlike thatof Bauer,based as it is on subjectivefeelingand consciousness('Gemiitund Gewissen')throwsthedoorwideopento a hostof
considerations
whichare by definition
in deciding
inadequateand irrelevant
questionsofrights.18
Bauer'stheological
approachalso causeshimto viewJudaismas outside
thepale of historical
processand theJewsas existingoutsidethe realmof
history,havingno historicaljustification
for theircontinuing
existence.
Bauer deniesRabbi SamuelHirsch'scontention
thatthe Jewsplayedany
part in history.'9
Of course,the Jewscontributed
to history,
'something'
Bauer asserts,butthen"an eyesoreis something
too-does it meanit contributesto developmy eyesight?"Marx seemsto have put some of the
ancestralrabbinicalvehemence
into his rejoinderin defending
the rabbi
againstthe criticaltheologian:"Something
whichhas been an eyesoreto
me sincemy birth,as the Jewshave been to the Christianworld,which
16lbid.,153 (Werke,II, 120).
17This cleardistinction
betweenhis attitudetowardJudaismand the political
questionofJewishemancipation
is manifested
by Marx in a letterto ArnoldRuge.
Here Marx relateshowas editorof the Rheinische
Zeitunghe was approachedby
theleaderoftheJewish
in Colognein connection
community
witha Jewishpetition
on emancipation
to be presentedto the RhenishDiet. Marx informs
Ruge that
thoughthe'Israelitereligion'
to him,he willsupportthe
is 'destestable'
(widerlich)
petitionso as to bringmorerationality
intothe existing'Christianstate' (Letter
to Ruge,13 March1843,MEGA, I, 1/2, 308).
18 TheHolyFamily,
130 (Werke,II, 102). It is noteworthy
thatthiswasalsothe
anglefromwhichHegelviewedthecriteria
by whichJewishemancipation
shouldbe
judged.Marx is in fullagreement
withHegelin thatbothdetestJudaism,
though
fordifferent
yetbothgo out oftheirwayto pointout thatJewishemancireasons,
of theuniversal
pationis a necessary
normsofmodernsociety.Cf. G. W.
corollary
F. Hegel,Grundlinien
der Philosophiedes Rechts,ed. J. Hoffmeister
(Hamburg,
1955),? 209,270,as wellas my"A Noteon Hegel'sViewson Jewish
Emancipation,"
JewishSocialStudies,XXV (April1963),145-51.
19S. Hirsch,Das Judentum,
derchristliche
Staat unddiemoderne
Kritik:Briefe
zur Beleuchtung
derJudenfrage
vonBrunoBauer (Leipzig,1943),24.
EMANCIPATION
449
450
SHLOMO
AVINERI