Letters to the Chicago Workingman's advocate, November 26, 1870 - December 2, 1871 /
Liebknecht, Wilhelm, 1826-1900.
Letters to the Chicago Workingman's advocate, November 26, 1870 - December 2, 1871 / Wilhelm Liebknecht ; edited, with an introduction and notes by Philip S. Foner. - New York, NY : Holmes & Meier, c1983. - 176 pages ; 24 cm.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 151-170) and index.
Letters to the Chicago Workingman's Advocate -- Notes to Liebknecht's letters
"Between November 26, 1870 and December 2, 1871, the leading labor newspaper in the United States -- the Chicago weekly, Workingman's Advocate -- published 31 letters from a correspondent in Leipzig, Germany, whose signature consisted only of the letters 'W. L.' The series of letters was prefaced by a description of the writer as 'one of the most prominent members of the German Parliament, and who is eminently qualified to judge the social and political changes now going in that country.' Long a puzzle to scholars, the identity of 'W. L.' has now been discovered -- through careful research by the distinguished historian Philip S. Foner -- to be Wilhelm Liebknecht ... [who was] a brilliant orator, prolific writer, and editor of the important German socialist newspaper Der Volkstaat. When the letters -- written in English, a language in which Liebknecht was fluent -- were published in the Workingman's Advocate, he was already one of Germany's leading socialists and a close associate of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The brief period spanned by publication of the letters encompassed the establishment of the German Empire at Versailles and the 72 days of the Paris Commune. During this time, too, Liebknecht spent three months in prison for opposing Bismarck's continuation of the Franco-Prussian War following the defeat of the French at Sedan, the surrender of the French Army, and the overthrow of the Second Empire. Most of the letters were written from prison." -- from the dust jacket.
Foner's extensively footnoted Introduction gives the historical context in which theses letters were written. Foner points to the pro-German stance of not only US politicians (including President Grant) and the US mainstream press, but also large parts of the US working class. Liebknecht, like Marx and Engels, supported the Paris Commune Foner speculates that A.C. Cameron, editor of Workingman's Advocate, decided to stop publishing Liebknecht's letters when he (Cameron) "turned from supporting the Commune --- to joining the rest of the American press in spreading infamies about it." -- page 20.
0841907439
81007042
Socialists--Correspondence.--Germany
Socialism--Germany
Political prisoners--France
HX 273 .L6 / A4 1983
335/.0092/4
Letters to the Chicago Workingman's advocate, November 26, 1870 - December 2, 1871 / Wilhelm Liebknecht ; edited, with an introduction and notes by Philip S. Foner. - New York, NY : Holmes & Meier, c1983. - 176 pages ; 24 cm.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 151-170) and index.
Letters to the Chicago Workingman's Advocate -- Notes to Liebknecht's letters
"Between November 26, 1870 and December 2, 1871, the leading labor newspaper in the United States -- the Chicago weekly, Workingman's Advocate -- published 31 letters from a correspondent in Leipzig, Germany, whose signature consisted only of the letters 'W. L.' The series of letters was prefaced by a description of the writer as 'one of the most prominent members of the German Parliament, and who is eminently qualified to judge the social and political changes now going in that country.' Long a puzzle to scholars, the identity of 'W. L.' has now been discovered -- through careful research by the distinguished historian Philip S. Foner -- to be Wilhelm Liebknecht ... [who was] a brilliant orator, prolific writer, and editor of the important German socialist newspaper Der Volkstaat. When the letters -- written in English, a language in which Liebknecht was fluent -- were published in the Workingman's Advocate, he was already one of Germany's leading socialists and a close associate of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The brief period spanned by publication of the letters encompassed the establishment of the German Empire at Versailles and the 72 days of the Paris Commune. During this time, too, Liebknecht spent three months in prison for opposing Bismarck's continuation of the Franco-Prussian War following the defeat of the French at Sedan, the surrender of the French Army, and the overthrow of the Second Empire. Most of the letters were written from prison." -- from the dust jacket.
Foner's extensively footnoted Introduction gives the historical context in which theses letters were written. Foner points to the pro-German stance of not only US politicians (including President Grant) and the US mainstream press, but also large parts of the US working class. Liebknecht, like Marx and Engels, supported the Paris Commune Foner speculates that A.C. Cameron, editor of Workingman's Advocate, decided to stop publishing Liebknecht's letters when he (Cameron) "turned from supporting the Commune --- to joining the rest of the American press in spreading infamies about it." -- page 20.
0841907439
81007042
Socialists--Correspondence.--Germany
Socialism--Germany
Political prisoners--France
HX 273 .L6 / A4 1983
335/.0092/4