Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Robin Blackburn — Lincoln and Marx

Abraham Lincoln, as president, chose to reply to an “Address” from the London-based International Workingmen’s Association. The “Address,” drafted by Karl Marx, congratulated Lincoln on his reelection for a second term. In some resonant and complex paragraphs, the “Address” heralded the world-historical significance of what had become a war against slavery. The “Address” declared that victory for the North would be a turning point for nineteenth-century politics, an affirmation of free labor, and a defeat for the most reactionary capitalists who depended on slavery and racial oppression.…
Jacobin Magazine
Lincoln and Marx — The transatlantic convergence of two revolutionaries.
Robin Blackburn | former editor of the New Left Review
h/t Jan Milch

1 comment:

Magpie said...

Many European exiles from the 1848 revolutions in Europe ended up in the U.S. In one way or another, most of them were either some kind of socialists (not necessarily Marxists, to be clear) or anarchists.

Some of them, particularly those of Prussian origin, had had previous officer training and combat experience and some of them distinguished themselves during the American Civil War.

But even among the rank and file, there was a lot of support for the Abolition and there were entire German volunteer regiments in the Union Army.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Americans_in_the_American_Civil_War

Those guys deserve to be honoured for that.