July 27, 2025 • 8 mins
This captivating essay by Harold Laski, a renowned figure in the British socialist movement, offers an in-depth examination of Karl Marxs life and philosophy. Born in Manchester in 1893, Laski was an influential member of the Fabian Society and the Socialist League faction of the Labour Party. As a professor at the London School of Economics, he mentored numerous politicians, including leaders of post-war Asia and Africas independence movements, and Ralph Milliband, father of the current Labour Party leader, Ed Milliband. Laskis political views, which encompassed democratic socialism, revolutionary Marxism, and Zionism, were sophisticated and multifaceted. This compelling 1922 essay provides a critical and scholarly analysis of Marxs work and life. - Summary by Phil Benson (adapted from Wikipedia)
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Part one of Carl Marx An Essay by Harold J. Laski.
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. Carl Marx An Essay by Harold J. Laski, London,
(00:21):
The Fabian Society, twenty five tott Hill Street, Westminster, Southwest
one and Allen and Unwin Limited, forty Museum Street, London,
w C one one shilling to H. G. Wells. This
work has been published at the expense of the Tullock
(00:43):
and Bar Publishing Fund, instituted as a memorial of Lieutenant
William Tullock and Captain Hugh Barr mb ra MC, two
members of the Fabian Society who lost their lives in
the Great War One. His name in the history of
social ideas occupies a place more remarkable than that of
(01:04):
Karl Marx, save Machiavelli and Rousseau. No thinker has been
the subject of a condemnation so unsparing, and like Rousseau,
it has been his fortune to preside after death over
a revolution conceived in his name. His books have received
from a chosen band a scrutiny as earnest as ever
(01:25):
the Bible or the Digest have obtained. Yet the precise
grounds of the position he occupies among socialists is a
more complex problem than is usually assumed. His theory of
value is no more than a formidable adaptation of a
concept already worked out in full by a group of
English predecessors. Men like Harrington and James Madison realized hardly
(01:47):
less clearly than he the significance of the materialist interpretation
of history. His appreciation of the fact of class antagonism
had been anticipated in detail by Saint Simon. His passionate
sympathy with the inarticulate aspirations of the working class was
no more profound than that of Charles hall and Owen
and John Stuart Mill. His position, indeed, cannot be appreciated
(02:13):
unless it is seen in its historical perspective. Born between
two revolutions, he utilized the method produced by the reaction
from the excesses of France to the service of its
fundamental principles, the disciple of Hegel. He was the first
of those who felt his master's influence to apply his
dialectic to the analysis of social facts. Hardly less important
(02:37):
was the material of which he made use, beginning to
write when the full implications of capitalism were becoming visible,
he utilized its own description of its economic consequences as
the proof of its moral inadequacy. The evidence was impressive
and complete, and the induction therefrom of a social order
at once new and inevitable, suited to a nicety the
(02:59):
yearning of his generation. The main result of the Hegalian
movement was to lend a new sanction to philosophic conservatism.
The impact of the revolutionary wars seems to have turned
the mind of its founder towards the justification of established order.
In that sense, Hegel is a chief of reactionary romanticism,
(03:20):
and his affinity to men like Burke and Sabineer is obvious.
Yet the essence of Hegalianism is at the same time
the idea of evolution, and to an age which, as
with Demstra, was chiefly concerned with finding the basis of
a permanent social scheme. The notion of evolution was a
definitely radical one, for Hegel insists on the impermanence of institutions.
(03:45):
Each age is its predecessor, with a difference. There is
a change of tone and outlook, a tendency to emphasize
the antithesis of what has been characteristic of the earlier
period to the period of religious intensity. There succeeds the
age of religious indifference. Bussuet begets Voltaire as Lord Eldon
(04:05):
implies the reforming zeal of Henry Brutham. The law of
life is the warring of contradictions, with growth as its consequence.
This process, which Hegel called dialectic, is, as it were,
a kind of rhythm which moves from the concrete hardness
of some definite idea to its opposite. From that repulsion,
(04:25):
it shifts towards a synthesis in which the two first
stages inter penetrate each other to form a new concept
by their union. This notion is the ruling method of
Marxian thought. Obviously enough, it provides a means whereby the
foundations of any given social system may be criticized at
their base. But if we can be certain that any
(04:47):
interpretation of a period is necessarily a partial view, we
have only to emphasize its antithesis to call forth the
possibility of a new standpoint. Hegalianism, for example, might insist
on the moral adequacy of the Prussian state, but under
its very banner, Young Germany might make protest against its
rigorous impermeability to freedom. Where Hegelian doctrine had emphasized birth
(05:11):
and position, Young Germany could point to the frustration of
talent and the tragedies of the poor. Where it insisted
on the value of religion, the newer thinkers might question
the very foundations of faith. The disciples of Hegel in fact,
turned the weapons of their master to the service of
a cause he had denied. Strauss and Feuerbach, Bruno, Bauer
(05:33):
and Heine are essentially a part of the same general
tendency of which Marx is the representative. In social ideas.
They are the heralds of revolt against the reaction. Their
difference from Marx consists in their failure to see the
political implications of their position. Marx grasped them from the outset,
and the Hegelian dialectic in his hands is an effort
(05:55):
at the overthrow of the existing social order. The time, indeed,
was singularly fitted for the ideas of which he was
the protagonist. The shadow of two French revolutions bestrode Europe
like a colossus. And the very reaction they had provoked
was compelled to make grudging concessions to ensure even its
temporary survival. The mood of the people was everywhere bitter
(06:20):
and discontented, and the criticism of existing institutions secured a
widespread and eager welcome. In France, the work of San Simon,
of Fourier and en Fontine had shown how prolific of
novelty the revolution remained, and its influence was hardly less
apparent in the new liberalism of Sismondi and the Catholic
experiments of Laminae. England was in the throes of a convulsion,
(06:44):
not the less profound because it was silent. Bentham had
at last come into his own and under the stress
of his urgent protests, English institutions were being transformed into
the organs of a middle class state. The relics of
feudalism had at last summit smitted to the assaults of
Ricardo and his school and the new born industrialism. Even
(07:04):
if to an observant eye it seemed but the grim
doctrines of Calvin translated to an economic sphere, completely altered
the atmosphere of social life. The revolution indeed did not
achieve its purpose without suffering. As early as eighteen hundred five,
Charles Hall had uttered a remarkable protest against the implications
(07:26):
of the new civilization, and that half forgotten school of economists,
who form a link between the individualism of Bentham and
the cooperation of Owen were riddling its protective armour in
the name of social justice. The masses had regarded the
Reform Act of eighteen thirty two as the prelude to
the greatest happiness of the greatest number, and their disappointment
(07:47):
expressed itself in the revolutionary activity of the trade unions
and the formation of the Chartist movement. Thinkers like William
Thompson and JF. Bray. Noble minded agitators like Francis Placer
William Lovett are every wit as indicative of the new
capitalism as the great merchants and the incredible machines of
Lancashire and Yorkshire. The Industrial Revolution reaped what it had sown.
(08:12):
It ground a whole generation into intolerable despair, and dreams
of its destruction were the sole refuge of its victims.
Those dreams were the background which made possible the emergence
of Karl Marx. They gave him the foundation of his
social philosophy. End of Part one
Part one of Carl Marx An Essay by Harold J. Laski.
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. Carl Marx An Essay by Harold J. Laski, London,
(00:21):
The Fabian Society, twenty five tott Hill Street, Westminster, Southwest
one and Allen and Unwin Limited, forty Museum Street, London,
w C one one shilling to H. G. Wells. This
work has been published at the expense of the Tullock
(00:43):
and Bar Publishing Fund, instituted as a memorial of Lieutenant
William Tullock and Captain Hugh Barr mb ra MC, two
members of the Fabian Society who lost their lives in
the Great War One. His name in the history of
social ideas occupies a place more remarkable than that of
(01:04):
Karl Marx, save Machiavelli and Rousseau. No thinker has been
the subject of a condemnation so unsparing, and like Rousseau,
it has been his fortune to preside after death over
a revolution conceived in his name. His books have received
from a chosen band a scrutiny as earnest as ever
(01:25):
the Bible or the Digest have obtained. Yet the precise
grounds of the position he occupies among socialists is a
more complex problem than is usually assumed. His theory of
value is no more than a formidable adaptation of a
concept already worked out in full by a group of
English predecessors. Men like Harrington and James Madison realized hardly
(01:47):
less clearly than he the significance of the materialist interpretation
of history. His appreciation of the fact of class antagonism
had been anticipated in detail by Saint Simon. His passionate
sympathy with the inarticulate aspirations of the working class was
no more profound than that of Charles hall and Owen
and John Stuart Mill. His position, indeed, cannot be appreciated
(02:13):
unless it is seen in its historical perspective. Born between
two revolutions, he utilized the method produced by the reaction
from the excesses of France to the service of its
fundamental principles, the disciple of Hegel. He was the first
of those who felt his master's influence to apply his
dialectic to the analysis of social facts. Hardly less important
(02:37):
was the material of which he made use, beginning to
write when the full implications of capitalism were becoming visible,
he utilized its own description of its economic consequences as
the proof of its moral inadequacy. The evidence was impressive
and complete, and the induction therefrom of a social order
at once new and inevitable, suited to a nicety the
(02:59):
yearning of his generation. The main result of the Hegalian
movement was to lend a new sanction to philosophic conservatism.
The impact of the revolutionary wars seems to have turned
the mind of its founder towards the justification of established order.
In that sense, Hegel is a chief of reactionary romanticism,
(03:20):
and his affinity to men like Burke and Sabineer is obvious.
Yet the essence of Hegalianism is at the same time
the idea of evolution, and to an age which, as
with Demstra, was chiefly concerned with finding the basis of
a permanent social scheme. The notion of evolution was a
definitely radical one, for Hegel insists on the impermanence of institutions.
(03:45):
Each age is its predecessor, with a difference. There is
a change of tone and outlook, a tendency to emphasize
the antithesis of what has been characteristic of the earlier
period to the period of religious intensity. There succeeds the
age of religious indifference. Bussuet begets Voltaire as Lord Eldon
(04:05):
implies the reforming zeal of Henry Brutham. The law of
life is the warring of contradictions, with growth as its consequence.
This process, which Hegel called dialectic, is, as it were,
a kind of rhythm which moves from the concrete hardness
of some definite idea to its opposite. From that repulsion,
(04:25):
it shifts towards a synthesis in which the two first
stages inter penetrate each other to form a new concept
by their union. This notion is the ruling method of
Marxian thought. Obviously enough, it provides a means whereby the
foundations of any given social system may be criticized at
their base. But if we can be certain that any
(04:47):
interpretation of a period is necessarily a partial view, we
have only to emphasize its antithesis to call forth the
possibility of a new standpoint. Hegalianism, for example, might insist
on the moral adequacy of the Prussian state, but under
its very banner, Young Germany might make protest against its
rigorous impermeability to freedom. Where Hegelian doctrine had emphasized birth
(05:11):
and position, Young Germany could point to the frustration of
talent and the tragedies of the poor. Where it insisted
on the value of religion, the newer thinkers might question
the very foundations of faith. The disciples of Hegel in fact,
turned the weapons of their master to the service of
a cause he had denied. Strauss and Feuerbach, Bruno, Bauer
(05:33):
and Heine are essentially a part of the same general
tendency of which Marx is the representative. In social ideas.
They are the heralds of revolt against the reaction. Their
difference from Marx consists in their failure to see the
political implications of their position. Marx grasped them from the outset,
and the Hegelian dialectic in his hands is an effort
(05:55):
at the overthrow of the existing social order. The time, indeed,
was singularly fitted for the ideas of which he was
the protagonist. The shadow of two French revolutions bestrode Europe
like a colossus. And the very reaction they had provoked
was compelled to make grudging concessions to ensure even its
temporary survival. The mood of the people was everywhere bitter
(06:20):
and discontented, and the criticism of existing institutions secured a
widespread and eager welcome. In France, the work of San Simon,
of Fourier and en Fontine had shown how prolific of
novelty the revolution remained, and its influence was hardly less
apparent in the new liberalism of Sismondi and the Catholic
experiments of Laminae. England was in the throes of a convulsion,
(06:44):
not the less profound because it was silent. Bentham had
at last come into his own and under the stress
of his urgent protests, English institutions were being transformed into
the organs of a middle class state. The relics of
feudalism had at last summit smitted to the assaults of
Ricardo and his school and the new born industrialism. Even
(07:04):
if to an observant eye it seemed but the grim
doctrines of Calvin translated to an economic sphere, completely altered
the atmosphere of social life. The revolution indeed did not
achieve its purpose without suffering. As early as eighteen hundred five,
Charles Hall had uttered a remarkable protest against the implications
(07:26):
of the new civilization, and that half forgotten school of economists,
who form a link between the individualism of Bentham and
the cooperation of Owen were riddling its protective armour in
the name of social justice. The masses had regarded the
Reform Act of eighteen thirty two as the prelude to
the greatest happiness of the greatest number, and their disappointment
(07:47):
expressed itself in the revolutionary activity of the trade unions
and the formation of the Chartist movement. Thinkers like William
Thompson and JF. Bray. Noble minded agitators like Francis Placer
William Lovett are every wit as indicative of the new
capitalism as the great merchants and the incredible machines of
Lancashire and Yorkshire. The Industrial Revolution reaped what it had sown.
(08:12):
It ground a whole generation into intolerable despair, and dreams
of its destruction were the sole refuge of its victims.
Those dreams were the background which made possible the emergence
of Karl Marx. They gave him the foundation of his
social philosophy. End of Part one
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