Abstract
Marx and Engels were close confidants and had the same beliefs and aspirations. Both of them devoted a great deal of effort to Capital. Although Engels did not claim co-authorship of Capital, he was a genuine collaborator in ensuring it would appear, making major contributions to its creation and publication. Together with Marx, he helped lay the foundations for Capital in the 1840s, establishing the basic elements of practice, method, and politics that would bring the work into being. From the 1850s to 1867 he devoted enormous energies to supporting the creation of Capital. During the 1870s he worked to promote Capital, and from 1883 to 1894 he toiled at preparing the final two volumes for publication. All in all, Engels was a legendary writer who devoted himself to Capital over a period of half a century.
Highlights
In an essay written shortly after Engels’s death, and paying respects to him, Lenin pointed out: “From the time that fate brought Karl Marx and Frederick Engels together, the two friends devoted their life’s work to a common cause” (Lenin [1896] 1972, 19)
Marx and Engels carried on their theoretical discussion largely by correspondence, but Marx often felt that direct consultation was required
On December 8, 1857, Marx wrote to Engels: “While I was upstairs busy writing my last letter to you, my wife down below was besieged by hungry wolves all of whom used the PRETEXT of the ‘HEAVY TIMES’ to dun her for money which she had not got” (Marx and Engels 2010, 40:214; emphasis in the original)
Summary
In an essay written shortly after Engels’s death, and paying respects to him, Lenin pointed out: “From the time that fate brought Karl Marx and Frederick Engels together, the two friends devoted their life’s work to a common cause” (Lenin [1896] 1972, 19) In this “life’s work” of Marx and Engels, the most important element was the creation of Capital. The Austrian Social-Democrat, has rightly remarked that by publishing volumes II and III of Capital, Engels erected a majestic monument to the genius who had been his friend, a monument on which, without intending it, he indelibly carved his own name These two volumes of Capital are the work of two men: Marx and Engels. We undertake a further discussion on the basis of previous studies commemorating the 200th anniversary of Engels’s birth
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