Karl Marx: the Story of His Life by Mehring Franz; Fitzgerald E.;

Author:Mehring, Franz; Fitzgerald, E.; [Mehring, Franz]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1474641
Publisher: Routledge

5. Herr Vogt

It was not long before Lassalle’s warning against appealing to the Prussian courts was shown to be well founded. Through the mediation of Fischel Marx instructed Justizrat40 Weber to begin proceedings for libel against the National Zeitung, but he had even less success than Vogt, who had at least secured a hearing for his action. On the ground of “ insufficient evidence ” the court refused to permit the action to go to trial because the allegedly libellous statements had not been made in the first place by the National Zeitung, which had published “ mere quotations from other persons ”. This nonsense was rejected by the court of appeal, but only to be replaced by the still greater nonsense that it was not an insult for Marx to be termed “ the directing and superior head ” of a band of blackmailers and coiners. The supreme court of appeal could find “ no legal error ” in this extraordinary decision and thus Marx’s case was thrown out all along the line.

All that was left for him was to write his own answer to Vogt and this took him almost a year. In order to refute all the rumours and gossip which Vogt had revived, an extensive and protracted correspondence was necessary with people all over the world. The reply was completed on the 17th of November 1860 and Marx entitled it simply Herr Vogt. It is the only one of Marx’s independent works which has never been reprinted,41 and there are probably very few copies still extant. First of all, it is very long, amounting to 192 closely printed pages (Marx declared that in ordinary print it would be twice as long), and secondly it would require detailed commentary to make all the references in it clear to the present-day reader. For the most part this would not be worth while, because much of the matter with which Marx deals was forced on him by his opponent and relates to affairs which have long since been completely forgotten and rightly so. In reading the book one involuntarily experiences a sense of discomfort to hear Marx defending himself against slanderous attacks which did not touch him even remotely. On the other hand, the book offers an unusual treat to the literary gourmet. On the very first page Marx propounds a thesis which he pursues through the subsequent pages with the humour of a Shakespeare : “ The original of Karl Vogt is the immortal Sir John Falstaff and in his zoological resurrection he has lost nothing of his character.” Protracted as the theme is it never becomes monotonous in Marx’s hands and his vast acquaintance with classic and modern literature offers him arrow after arrow which he despatches with deadly accuracy against the insolent slanderer.

In Herr Vogt we meet the “ Vagabonds ” again, but this time as a small company of light-hearted students who fled to Switzerland after the crushing of the insurrection in the Palatinate in

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