Libmonster ID: UZ-1502
Author(s) of the publication: V. V. SAZONOV

In a correspondence from London to the Rheinische Zeitung of November 30, 1842, F. Engels, who had recently arrived in England, recalled the summer unrest of the proletariat, which apparently ended without success, and wrote:: "Nevertheless, the poor have profited from these events: it is the consciousness that a peaceful revolution is impossible, and that only the violent overthrow of the existing unnatural relations, the radical overthrow of the noble and industrial aristocracy, can improve the material condition of the proletarians... This revolution will be initiated and carried out for the sake of interests, not for the sake of principles; only from interests can principles develop, that is, the revolution will not be political, but social. 1 These words testified to a certain turn in the spiritual and political development of the 22-year-old Engels, to his departure from idealism and the emerging transition to the position of materialism, to the strengthening of his communist beliefs. It will be some time before this transition becomes apparent and the idealistic views of history and the influence of Young Hegelian ideology are overcome. A thorough acquaintance with the situation of the working class in England, a study of economic and social relations in this country helped Engels to understand the decisive role of the economic factor in the historical process, and played a decisive role in shaping his communist views. But this was preceded by several years of painful search, internal struggle, and the development of a new worldview. Researchers, again and again referring to this important stage of Engels ' life, do not cease to be struck by the brightness and talent of the publicist F. F. Engels. Oswald (pseudonym of F. V. S. Engels), his powerful temperament as a political fighter, and the rapidity of his ideological growth.

Engels ' first publicistic speech made a great impression. "Letters from Wuppertal" 2, published unsigned in March and April 1839 in the main organ of Young Germany3 - "Telegraph fur Deutschland" by K. Gutskov, was vividly discussed not only among the residents of Barmen and Elberfeld, who were outraged by the impertinence of an anonymous person and tried to guess the true author, but also in the press. The Elberfelder Zeitung ranked him among the "young geniuses", salesmen of" Young Germany", who are in a hurry to present their impressions in the form of travel notes. The newspaper correctly noticed the predilection of Young Germany writers for this genre. It was not accidental, but was dictated by the specific nature of state and social relations in Germany at that time. The fragmentation of the country into several dozen small states, the prevailing spirit of provincial isolation, along with class privileges and the omnipotence of the local bureaucracy hindered its industrial and cultural development. The idea of unity, the desire to overcome the internal border cordons, became more and more firmly rooted in the minds of the Germans, reflected in the desire to get acquainted with the lands that were to become part of the future

1 K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch. Vol. 1, pp. 502-503.

2 Wuppertal - the valley of the river Wupper, where the cities of Barmen are located (place of birth of F. Engels) and Elberfeld.

3 "Young Germany" is a literary movement that emerged in the 1930s, influenced by G. Heine and L. Berne, and reflected the oppositional sentiments of the petty bourgeoisie.

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a single state. The answer to this desire was the writings of writers who formed the Young German direction in literature. They followed in the footsteps of G. Heine, who in his "Travel Pictures" (1826-1831) gave a vivid description of the then Germany with its immobility and backwardness, barren scholarship, disenfranchisement and philistinism. One of Heine's followers in the spring of 1839 was the author of "Letters from Wuppertal".

By the time they were published, 18-year-old Engels had already lived in the "free city" of Bremen for more than six months. The distance from the family, the release from the atmosphere of mysticism that suppressed the young man's independent thinking, largely determined his development in the spirit of radical democracy. After moving to Bremen, Engels, who was probably already working on Letters from Wuppertal, wrote to his high school friend F. Graeber on February 19, 1839: "I am becoming more and more desperate for the Bartender: from a literary point of view, this is a finished city. It is not without reason that Barmen and Elberfeld are called obscurantist and mystical cities; Bremen has the same reputation and bears a strong resemblance to them; philistinism combined with religious fanaticism, to which the vile constitution is added in Bremen, prevents any uplifting of the spirit... " 4 Nevertheless, his stay in Bremen, whose spiritual life as a port connected with foreign countries was richer than that of Wuppertal, provided the young man with immeasurably greater opportunities for expanding his horizons, mental and moral development.

Young Engels greedily pounces on new and old literature, which was inaccessible to him at home, devours classics, domestic and foreign, the works of writers of "Young Germany", and most importantly, liberal journalism, many of whose works were published outside of Germany and secretly delivered to the country. "I have a special interest in such literature," Engels wrote to the Graebers shortly after his arrival in Bremen. Among these books were the writings of L. Berne, whom Fr. Engels called him "the standard-bearer of German freedom." 6 In Bremen, Engels, who already knew many foreign languages, also had access to foreign newspapers. More and more intently he looks into the surrounding reality, he is " embraced by the spirit of freedom." A fighter's temperament demands action. And Engels delivers the first-quite sensitive-blow to retrograde, sanctimonious Germany with his " Letters from Wuppertal."

From the very first lines, the author introduces the reader with a light, and sometimes sharp irony (in full accordance with the traditions of "Young Germany") to the city, which is "the most notorious" among enlightened people, skillfully highlights its most remarkable features: a narrow river squeezed by smoky factory buildings and whitewash, bright red color water - "not out of shame for people's morals, although there is really enough reason for this, but solely out of the multitude of paint shops", the tower of the old Catholic church, "which in its own way serves the general good, namely, as a prison", a museum turned into a casino, etc., etc. Irony is replaced by lyricism when Engels paints the city's surroundings. And then, with a dark, perhaps even discordant chord, the unexpected conclusion sounds: the general pleasant impression of the appearance of the valley does not correspond to the content of Wuppertal life. Drunkenness and mysticism are the lot of most of them. Heavy factory labor, "in most cases, starting from the age of six," leads to massive diseases of consumption, and together with drunkenness - to increased mortality. "Terrible poverty prevails among the lower classes, especially among the factory workers in Wuppertal; syphilis and lung diseases are so common that it is hard to believe; in Elberfeld alone, out of 2,500 school-age children, 1,200 are deprived of the opportunity to study and grow up in factories-only so that the manufacturer does not have to pay the adult worker they replace, twice as much as the salary that he gives to a minor. " 7
Engels goes on to give a scathing characterization of one of the main trends in the Protestant Church, Pietism, which dominated the Reformed Church.

4 K. Marx and F. Engels. From early works, Moscow, 1956, p. 277.

5 Ibid., p. 262.

6 K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch. Vol. 1, p. 479.

7 Ibid., pp. 451, 452, 455, 456.

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the (Calvinist) community of Elberfeld. The hypocrisy and wild intolerance of the pietists, the absurd doctrine of predestination, which is based on the dogma of the inability of a person to wish good on his own initiative, and even more so to create it - all this is sharply criticized by Engels. Ending the first part of the letters with an optimistic note ("...this rock of old obscurantism can no longer withstand the turbulent flow of time: the sand will be carried away by the current and the rock will collapse with a crash"), Engels opens the second with a picture of how pietism negatively affects all aspects of Wuppertal life, especially school education. In church schools-which are "much more diligently attended, because they are much cheaper" - students are taught only the catechism in addition to reading, writing and counting, while teaching in other educational institutions in Elberfeld is such that "in six months it can turn a student into a dullard."

The Wupperthals, Engels writes, are not really familiar with real literature. Very few people have read anything of Heine. And although the poet F lives among them. Freiligrath, a representative of the new poetic generation (a future friend and collaborator of Marx and Engels in the Neue Rheinische Zeitimg), their main desire is to get acquainted with him, and not with his poems; they were eager to " have a drink on the bruderschaft with the person who published something, because for these people the poet nothing, but a published author is everything. " 9
In the Wupper Valley, flooded by "a sea of pietism and philistinism", "prose is devoid of any value", journalism is weak (even the best of the local newspapers, the Elberfelder Zeitung, enjoys great recognition outside the city), and poetry is characterized by monotony and religious hypocrisy. Is it any wonder that the Wupperthals were startled by their sudden "fame" - and where? In the magazine of the hated "Young Germany". Engels, having learned about this, wrote to V. Graeber on April 28-30, 1839: "I have just received a letter from V. Blank, in which he writes to me that the article has caused a terrible uproar in Elberfeld; Dr. Runkel scolds it in the Elberfelder Zeitung and reproaches me for being untruthful; I will suggest that he point out at least one of the following facts: one inaccuracy in my article - he will not be able to do this, since everything presented in it is based on the facts I received from eyewitnesses. " 10
Researchers have already compared Engels 'essays with the anonymous correspondence "From Elberfeld"that appeared at the same time (March 1839) in the Leipzig Zeitung fur die elegante Welt11 . The striking similarity between Engels ' depiction of the Wupperthals and his nameless ally only confirms the author's objectivity of the young publicist, who wrote to V. Graeber about his article: "There may be some exaggerations in it, but in general it gives a correct picture of reality, viewed from a reasonable point of view"12 .

"Letters from Wuppertal" opened Engels ' long, almost three-year collaboration with the leading organ of Young Germany. Telegraph fur Deutschland was at its peak, with the largest number of subscribers and a fairly stable popularity. The involvement of K. Gutskov as employees of the most talented writers made the magazine, perhaps, the most interesting and bright periodical of those years. By the time Gutskov began publishing the Telegraph, two groups were already quite clearly defined within the "Young Germany": the Rhenish-Hamburg group headed by Gutskov and Vinbarg, and the Leipzig - Berlin group - Mundt, Kuehne, and Laube. The former took more radical positions, the latter - moderate. In a letter to F. Graeber dated January 20, 1839, that is, even before the "Letters from Wuppertal", Engels sarcastically characterized the supporters of Mundt and Kuehne [13] and it was not by chance that he sent "Letters from Wuppertal" specifically to Gutskov. It is impossible not to be amazed at how an 18-year-old boy, just entering the literary path, accurately assessed the significance of "Young Germany" as a whole and how well he understood the internal contradictions of this direction.

8 Ibid., pp. 463-465.

9 Ibid., p. 468.

10 K. Marx and F. Engels. From early works, p. 296.

11 V. Machackova. Der junge Engels und die Literatur. B. 1961, S. 73 - 74.

12 K. Marx and F. Engels. From early works, p. 299.

13 See ibid., p. 273.

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Gutskov's journal was the organ where Engels ' journalistic talent was formed and strengthened. In two and a half years, he published 19 works in the Telegraph, most often under the pseudonym f. Oswald. These are mainly literary-critical and journalistic articles. Whether Engels wrote about folk books or the works of the poets E. Beck and A. Platen, about the dramas of K. Gutskov or the memoirs of K. Immerman, in one form or another he sought to express his attitude to the "ideas of the century", to the phenomena that dominated the life of society and determined its physiognomy. Typical in this sense are the comments made by him in one of the articles. "Nothing is new under the moon!" Engels begins the article. Is this banal statement true? "No," he replies, "the new is enough, but it is suppressed"if it does not represent an elastic pseudo - truth, but threatens old ideas that challenge each other for" the honor of eradicating free thought." Reactionaries of all stripes immediately take up arms as soon as they feel that " their kingdom is in danger of destruction." And Engels emphasizes that " powerful reactionary phenomena in the life of the church and state correspond to less noticeable trends in art and literature." Engels is surprised that "a comparison of these tendencies has not yet been made anywhere," for what is the task of criticism but such a comparison? In his opinion, it should not only point out backward trends in art and literature, but also identify and emphasize their inseparable, though often hidden from the surface view, connection with the corresponding phenomena in politics, in the life of the state and society. 14 This position sharply distinguished Engels from other critics and publicists.

After the" Letters from Wuppertal " and a short note, Engels did not publish anything for six months. Only in the autumn of 1839 did his active collaboration with Gutskov's magazine and other German periodicals (Mitternacht-Zeitung fur gebildete Leser, Morgenblatt fur gebildete Leser, Deutscher Courrier, Athenaum, etc.) begin again. Why did Engels suddenly take a break from writing after such a brilliant debut? Some researchers believe, not without reason, that this was a time of intensive work of the young publicist's mind, shaping his worldview, and fighting religious ghosts .15 This is evidenced by his letters to his high school friends Greber and his sister Maria. "I am now very much engaged in philosophy and critical theology," writes F. Engels. Graeber April 23-May 1, 1839-When you are 18 years old and get acquainted with Strauss, the rationalists, and the Eirehenzeitung, you should either read everything without thinking about anything, or start doubting your Wuppertal faith. " 16 This letter opens Engels ' polemic with the theological students the Graeber brothers about the truth of church teaching. In his argument, Engels primarily followed the example of D. F. Strauss, who in his book The Life of Jesus analyzed specific ambiguities in the Bible text, contradictions between the Old and New Testaments, and so on. Speaking out against Orthodox theology, Engels first supported the common demand for religious tolerance for Young Germans and Young Hegelians. On April 9, 1839, he wrote to F. To Graeber: "I am now an honest, very tolerant supernaturalist; I do not know how long I will remain so, but I hope to remain so, although I sometimes lean more or less towards rationalism."17
A month passes, and the young man's tendency to rationalism becomes an obvious fact. Already in May, in the article "F. W. Erummacher's Sermon on Jesus", he criticizes the Wuppertal pastor's claim that the Sun revolves around the stationary Earth, precisely from a rationalistic point of view. D. F. Strauss's "Life of Jesus" made a strong impression on the young man, but he could not easily and painlessly reject faith. The religious prejudices instilled by his family, school, and church were too deeply ingrained in his mind. Strauss's book caused an intense work of thought. Engels was caught up in a flood of doubts. A discord arises in his soul, for the mystical is religious.-

14 Ibid., pp. 353, 354, 357.

15 See, for example, V. Machackova. Op. Cit.; H. Ulrich. Der junge Engels. B. 1961.

16 K. Marx and F. Engels. From early works, p. 282.

17 Ibid., pp. 281-282.

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this feeling was not in any way consistent with intellectual requests. The attempt to combine Strauss's conclusions, which rejected the divine origin of the gospel myths, with the belief that Christian teaching originates in the deepest sources of the human soul and is rooted in the desire to atone for sin by the grace of God, failed. Having thoroughly studied Strauss, F. Engels makes a decisive choice: "I am now an enthusiastic Straussian18," he tells W. Graeber on October 8, 1839. Strauss was not only instrumental in freeing Engels ' consciousness from religious fetters. Through Strauss, he came to Hegel.

The" spring and summer holidays " of 1839 were a period of reflection for Engels. He read a lot and avidly, trying to get into the course of modern literary and socio - political events. My own pen tests didn't stop either. At the same time, he paid a lot of attention to mastering the "modern style", which is characterized by "extreme brevity and coinage, which characterizes its object in one word, interspersed with an epic, calm description; simple language interspersed with sparkling images and bright sparkles of wit"19 . Engels, according to him, learned this style from his contemporaries - Heine, Gutskov, Vinbarg, from the classics - Lessing, Goethe, Jean Paul. However, his ideal was Bernet, and mainly because he brilliantly combined stylistic skill with the striking skill of a polemicist. The lessons that Engels "took" from the best masters of German literature and journalism bore great fruit. The style of the young critic and publicist grows stronger and stronger. His style of writing attracts clarity, energy, subtle and sometimes sarcastic wit, imagery.

Engels ' first literary and journalistic speech after the break - the article "German Folk Books "(November 1839) - showed that the period of apprenticeship was over. In the Telegraph fur Deutschland, his articles appear one after another: "German Folk Books", "From Elberfeld", "Karl Beck", "Retrograde Signs of the Times", "Platen" and others. In the first of them, Engels boldly opposed those literary phenomena that openly or covertly expressed the interests of reaction. He explicitly pointed out the need to put in the hands of the people such a book that would educate them in a proud consciousness of their rights and dignity, their strength and freedom, and help "awaken their courage, their love for the fatherland"20 . Looking at a number of books, Engels rebelled against the prominence of reactionary religious motives and the idealization of"humility". A people's book, he declares, must meet its time, if it is truly a people's book. "In particular, if we take contemporary life, the struggle for freedom that permeates all the phenomena of modernity-the developing constitutionalism, resistance to the oppression of the aristocracy, the struggle of thought with pietism, cheerfulness with the remnants of gloomy asceticism - then I do not see why we would not have the right to demand from the people's book that it should participate in this struggle. it came to the aid of a poorly educated person, showed him, although, of course, not by direct deduction, the truth and reasonableness of these aspirations, but in no case would it condone hypocrisy, low worship of the nobility and pietism"21 .

Engels ' next major article in the Telegraph was devoted to one of the most prominent lyricists of Young Germany, Karl Beck. Engels was one of his most enthusiastic admirers. In May 1839, he wrote to friends that he admired Beck's works, that he was impressed by the poet's indomitable imagination, his love of freedom and youthful enthusiasm. Engels compares the new poetic star in talent with Freiligrath, Schiller, and even Goethe. He expects a lot from Beck, becoming more and more convinced that an outstanding poet has appeared in Germany, "a huge talent, moreover-a genius" 22 . But this admiration does not prevent Engels from seeing the ambiguity in Beck's poems. He closely follows the further work of the poet, not missing a single publication of his poems in magazines and waiting for the promised new collection - "Quiet Songs". This last one appeared at the end of 1839 and did not bring mo-

18 Ibid., p. 316.

19 Ibid., p. 318.

20 Ibid., p. 344.

21 Ibid., pp. 344-345.

22 Ibid., p. 314.

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to any critic, nothing but disappointment. Engels re-evaluates the poet's work in the article "Karl Beck".

What was the reason for this turn? Why, after calling Beck a genius a few months ago, is Engels now inclined to recognize him even as unoriginal? Engels realized that Beck's weaknesses, which at first he did not attach any serious importance to, were not overcome by the poet, but rather worsened. Thoughts in his poems are chaotic, the most powerful images are drowned in a continuous stream of phrases, the annoying inflating of the motives of world sorrow is too unnatural. This article is also interesting because it quite clearly expresses Engels 'attitude towards L. Berne, whose "strong, indestructible character"he admired. Criticizing the image of Berne that Beck created in his poems, Engels exclaims: "Isn't Berne poetic enough in itself, and it is still necessary to fill it with this newfangled world sorrow?.. After all, this is the greatness of Bernet, that he was head and shoulders above the pathetic rhetoric and petty slogans of our day."23 These words are very significant. They show that Engels saw behind the pompous phrases of the Young Germans their indecision and inconsistency, and understood their inability to act energetically. He was much closer to the political radicalism of the forerunner of the "Young Germany" - Berne, the integrity of his character and inflexible sans-Culottism. The timid political hints in the literary speeches of the Young Germans could not attract Engels. It is quite understandable that he is increasingly drawn to Berne and is gradually cooling off towards the "Young Germany".

The reading of Hegel, to which Engels paid increasing attention from the autumn of 1839, also contributed a great deal. "I am just on the threshold of becoming a Hegelian," he wrote to V. Graeber in November. "I really don't know if I'll ever become one, but Strauss has given me such an insight into Hegel that it seems to me quite plausible. In addition, his (Hegel's) philosophy of history seems to have been read from my soul. " 24 A month later, in a letter to F. Graeber, he already admires the Hegelian system, "which is poured out as if from one piece and does not need any fasteners to keep intact, "and reports that every evening he studies the "Philosophy of History": "... its titanic ideas frighten me terribly. " 25 Engels was particularly interested in"the idea that world history is the development of the concept of freedom" 26, and he repeatedly addressed it in his subsequent journalistic speeches. As Engels carefully studied Hegel's writings, he also took a closer look at his students, quite clearly distinguishing their left wing (Hans, Ruge, Rosencrantz, etc.) from those who only harmed his teaching.

Engels ' turn to Hegel was reflected in the article "Retrograde Signs of the Times". To the "heroes of Chinese stagnation, Mandarins of regression," who recognized only what was sanctified by tradition, he threw a vivid philippic in the face in defense of the Hegelian view of historical development. In depicting the form of history, he wrote, " I prefer rather to compare it with a free, hand-drawn spiral, the curves of which are by no means too precise. Slowly history begins its run from the invisible point, slowly making its revolutions around it; but its circles grow ever larger, its flight becomes faster and more lively, and finally it rushes, like a flaming comet, from star to star, often touching its old paths, often crossing them, and with each revolution it comes closer and closer to infinity. Who can foresee the end?" And if it "seems to be returning to its old path", this does not mean a step back at all - just from this point of intersection of the spiral, "history rushes only along the shortest path to a new shining constellation of ideas" 27 . In this article, for the first time, Engels openly expressed his hope for "the interaction of science and life, philosophy and modern trends, of Berne and Hegel - the interaction that had previously been planned by one part of the so-called 'Young Germany'. "28
During this period, Engels ' beliefs became increasingly revolutionary and radically democratic. Engels continued to work extremely fruitfully.

23 K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch. Vol. II (1st ed.), pp. 36-37.

24 K. Marx and F. Engels. From early works, p. 330.

25 Ibid., pp. 334, 335.

26 Ibid., p. 335.

27 Ibid., pp. 353-354.

28 Ibid., p. 356.

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One by one, his articles are published: "Joel Jacobi", "Requiem for the German "Adelszeitung", a note on Anastasius Gruen. In addition, the Mitternacht-Zeitung publishes his large review article "Modern Literary Life", the first part of which is devoted to Gutskov's drama, and the second part is devoted to the literary strife in the camp of the Young Germans. In the summer of 1840 Engels ' correspondence from Bremen was published in the Stuttgart Morgenblatt. They are mainly devoted to the literary, theatrical and musical life of the port city, to the religious disputes that take place in it, which Engels now judges not from the enlightenment-rationalist, but from the Young Hegelian, that is, essentially close to atheism, point of view.

One of the most significant pieces of correspondence from this period is A Trip to Bremerhaven. On July 7, 1840, in a letter to his sister Maria, Engels spoke for the first time about his visit to Bremen Harbor. In August 1841, his essay on this trip appeared, revealing the author's keen interest in social issues. Subtly noticing the differences in the behavior of the ship's passengers, including one hundred percent Bremen burghers, stockbrokers, office workers, etc., he connects this with their social status. And when he goes on to describe the emigrants who are forced to leave their homeland, his voice is filled with sincere sympathy for their fate and indignation. For the second time since the Letters from Wuppertal, Engels ' publicist articles appear about the plight of the working people, now the peasants. They show that his attention to this social stratum has not weakened, that his thoughts are directed towards the search for an answer to the question of what is the reason for such blatant social inequality, such hopeless need and disenfranchisement of workers. This answer will not be found for a long time, but contempt for the "cream" of Bremen society occupying the upper deck, and compassion for those trapped in the holds, vividly characterize the young radical.

In December 1840-January 1841, Engels ' articles "Siegfried's Homeland" and "Ernst Moritz Arndt" appeared in the Telegraph. Their revolutionary-democratic, radical character is unmistakable. In the first article, Engels refers to the German youth, the personification of which, in his opinion, is the hero of the epic Siegfried. This image had been a source of concern to Engels since his adolescence. Having visited the homeland of the legendary young man, he very expressively describes the feelings he experienced at the same time, making Siegfried a symbol of his radical political views. "Siegfried," he writes, " is a representative of German youth... We all feel the same thirst for action, the same hostility to everyday life that forced Siegfried to leave his father's castle; eternal hesitation, philistine fear of a new task is deeply hateful to our soul; we want to go out into the wide world, we want to overturn the boundaries of prudence and strive for the crown of life-a feat..." And when, Engels continues, we "manage to cope with philistinism and indifferentism, when the thirst for heroic deeds finds an outlet," we are waiting... Wesel Tower, a prison "called the stronghold of German freedom". Protesting against the persecution of "every manifestation of the free spirit," against the illegal persecution of those "who do not see the good of the state in blind obedience," Engels for the first time in his journalism puts forward the demand for an open and democratic trial by independent juries, as opposed to the" paper, secret, judicial procedure "conducted by "paid servants of the state." 29
The article "Ernst Moritz Arndt" is distinguished by the dialectical nature of thinking. Paying tribute to Arndt, a writer, historian and philologist, an active participant in the liberation struggle of the German people against Napoleonic domination, who did much to awaken the national consciousness of the Germans, Engels deeply analyzes the process of turning this feeling into "Teutonomania", into national swagger. At the same time, Engels criticizes the "cosmopolitan liberalism of the South German estate assemblies, which was awakened among Germans - in contrast to Teutonomania - under the influence of the bourgeois revolution of July in France, which denied national differences and set as its goal the formation of a great, free, united humanity."30 According to the French historian O. Cornu, both of these tendencies, Teutonomania and cosmopolitan liberalism, are rejected by Engels

29 K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch. Vol. II, pp. 65, 66.

30 K. Marx and F. Engels. From early works, p. 367.

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as one-sided, he considered that they should be replaced by a new, simultaneously national and liberation movement, which he imagined again as a combination of Berne's radical aspirations for the political transformation of Germany and Hegel's worldview, understood in a revolutionary spirit. According to Engels, this synthesis was initiated by the Young Hegelians .31 Criticizing the reactionary tendencies in Arndt's views from a democratic, Young-Hegelian point of view, Engels expressed his own political and social views in contrast to him, as well as representatives of the Romantic trend, including the "historical school of law", who defended the existing order in Germany. He demanded the formation of a democratic state as "a great, united, equal nation of citizens" 32 , the abolition of guilds, estates, majorates and all related privileges, freedom of land ownership, etc.

The last journalistic work written by Engels in Bremen was the article" Memoirs " of Immermann. Reviewing his memoirs published a few weeks after the talented writer's death, Engels criticized his predilection for Prussianism and indifference to constitutional aspirations in Germany. 33 Engels ' main thesis in this review is: Immermann is the author of transitional time. This explains its ambivalence: its religious freedom and political commitment to the government ("Prussianism was still very strong in it"). However, Engels did not go unnoticed by the efforts of the author of Memoirs to "keep up with his time, "and perhaps, he writes," the flow of history would have gradually eroded the dam of conservatism and Prussianism behind which Immermann took refuge." As in the previous articles, this one is an enthusiastic eulogy for the younger generation. After all, it is he who will have to solve the problems of his time. "Our future depends more than ever on the rising generation," 34 Engels wrote, no doubt regarding himself as a fighter in the ranks of this generation.

Filled with passionate enthusiasm and eager for active political activity, Engels gladly left Bremen at the end of March 1841. After a May trip through Switzerland to Lombardy and a summer vacation at home, Engels goes to Berlin in September for military service. He chooses Berlin as a major university city, which gave him the best opportunity to continue his education and establish personal relationships with the Young Hegelians. That is why, after becoming a volunteer member of the Guards Infantry and Artillery regiment, Engels immediately signed up as a free student at the University of Berlin and began attending lectures by the most prominent professors-Schelling, Werder, Marheinecke, etc.

It was at this time that the process of revolutionizing the Hegelian left began. It was caused by the fact that the liberal illusions and hopes that were associated with the appearance of Frederick William IV on the Prussian throne in 1840 quickly burst. The new king did not think of a constitution and bourgeois representation of the people, as the liberals imagined. On the contrary, deathly frightened by the growing influence of Hegel's left-wing disciples, Friedrich Wilhelm IV, after the death of Altenstein, who was quite tolerant of religious disputes and did not encroach on the freedom of science, appointed the stupid pietist Eichhorn as minister of confessions. Immediately, instead of the Hegelians, Orthodox, pietists, Romantics, and the pillars of the "historical school of law"appeared in university departments. The Young Hegelian magazine Hallische Jahrbucher, published by the philosopher and publicist A. Ruge, was ordered by the king to monitor the Prussian censorship, and Ruge was forced to move to Dresden, where from July 1841 his magazine was published under a new name-Deutsche Jahrbucher. These and other events showed the Young Hegelians that the new king had turned back to the Christian-Romantic reaction. Under these circumstances, the need to revise views on the role of the Prussian state became quite obvious. A. Ruge's magazine.

31 See O. Kornyu, K. Marx and F. Engels. Zhizn i deyatel'nost ' [Life and Activity], vol. 1, Moscow, 1959, p. 246.

32 K. Marx and F. Engels. From early works, p. 372.

33 See ibid., p. 379.

34 Ibid., p. 384.

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It intensifies the polemic against the Prussian state system and insists more and more on the idea of freedom. When Ruge learns of Schelling's invitation to Berlin, where he was supposed, in the King's words, to root out "the dragon's seed of Hegelian pantheism, vulgar know-it-all," he writes to Feuerbach: "It would be unforgivable not to welcome this challenge of reaction with bombs and buckshot." 35 The first such" bomb " was the article by F. Engels ' Schelling on Hegel, which ended his collaboration with the Telegraph fur Deutschland.

The appearance of Schelling, who in the past was largely like-minded with Hegel, but since then has become much weaker and imbued with religion and mysticism, in the university department of Berlin, Engels and other young Hegelians perceived as a reason for polemics, to which they attached great importance. Engels plunged into the philosophical and political struggle with the passion of his youth. He was animated by the desire to "start a battle in defense of the great dead man", "swearing over Hegel's tombstone" caused a sharp protest in his soul. "We are not afraid of the struggle," Engels declared. - We want nothing more than to be for a while in the position of ecclesia pressa (the persecuted church-V. S.). Here there is a division of minds. Everything that is true stands the test of fire, but we will willingly part with the elements that are not of good quality."36
Engels ' first speech against Schelling was more political than speculative and philosophical. Two of Engels ' pamphlets, Schelling and Revelation and Schelling the Philosopher in Christ, which were then published anonymously, deepened the critique of Schelling's philosophy of revelation, while at the same time showing that Engels, as yet a convinced idealist of the Hegelian type, who considers the world spirit as the driving force of historical development and believes in the omnipotence of the idea, strives, however, to discard everything conservative in Hegel's views and to establish truly radical conclusions from his philosophy. In Hegel's belief in the triumph of reason and truth, he put a revolutionary content. He understood this triumph as the victory of democracy. After proving that Schelling's attempt to refute Hegel failed, Engels pointed out that Hegel's teaching should be criticized not because, as Schelling thinks, it explains faith by reason, but because, having changed its own principles under the pressure of the restoration, it has assumed a reactionary character. "The limits that Hegel himself set as dams to the powerful, violently boiling stream of conclusions from his teaching were determined partly by his time, partly by his personality. The system in its main features was ready even before 1810, and by 1820 Hegel's worldview was already fully formed. His political views and his doctrine of the state, which were formed under the influence of English institutions, bear a clear imprint of the Restoration period, which was also reflected in his lack of understanding of the July revolution in its world-historical necessity"37 . Engels added that the very principles of Hegel were good, and it was to the credit of the Young Hegelians that they preserved them, eliminating completely the teacher's inconsistent conclusions.

In the pamphlet "Schelling and Revelation "for the first time traces of influence on the author L. Feuerbach, his"Essence of Christianity" are revealed. Sharing with B. Bauer the belief in the omnipotence of criticism, which should lead to the infinite progress of universal self-consciousness, Engels, unlike Bauer, did not oppose this self-consciousness in its dialectical development to the concrete world, but, following Feuerbach, argued that such development should be accomplished by uniting man with nature and that its goal is the real liberation of man from all evil. shackles. The pamphlet "Schelling and Revelation" recorded a huge turning point in the consciousness of the young Engels, completing the process of overcoming his religiosity. Having lost faith in a personal god, Engels adopted the Hegelian idea of the deity, on the basis of which painful religious doubts (about individual immortality, etc.) were revived again and again.The discord that had arisen in his soul was removed by Feuerbach's "Essence of Christianity". Rejecting religion, Engels found a new faith-a belief in the infinite capacity of self-consciousness for development. Thus, as a result of the critical work of thought, having destroyed the cult of God, he became an atheist.

35 Cit. by: M. V. Serebryakov. Friedrich Engels in his Youth, L. 1958, p. 80.

36 K. Marx and F. Engels. From early works, p. 393.

37 Ibid., p. 397.

page 138
Engels ' satirical poem "The Bible's Miraculous Deliverance" written in June - July 1842 confirms this conclusion. In it, Engels very sharply opposed religious obscurantism. By calling himself" Oswald-Montagnard", he is thereby taking a place on the extreme left flank of the Young Hegelian trend. Engels ' rapid development was largely aided by his collaboration with the Cologne Rheinische Zeitung, which began in April 1842 and was actively supported by the Berlin circle of Young Hegelians, the Freemen. Marx also collaborated in this newspaper, becoming its co-editor in September 1842. Marx later broke with the " Freemen "because of their penchant for vague reasoning," phraseological communism " and extremism. The future friends and associates met for the first time only at the end of November, when Engels stopped by Cologne on his way to England, and this meeting, according to Engels, was "very cold", since Marx considered him an ally of the "Free". By this time, Engels was already the author of 12 articles and notes published in the newspaper, reflecting his struggle with old Hegelianism and the "historical school of law", his attitude to liberalism and the German nobility, to the Prussian press law and other topical issues. His work at the Rheinische Zeitung opened a new stage in the author's journalism of Letters from Wuppertal.

When Engels realized that the framework of Young Germany had become too narrow for his views, he did not hesitate to part with it, settling accounts with its literary position in the article "Comments and Notes on Modern Texts" published in the Rheinische Zeitung, and in a review of A. Jung's book "Lectures on Modern Literature". Germans", published in the July issue of "Deutsche Jahrbucher". Mercilessly ridiculing in this review the pretentious research of A. Jung, who overlooked that the "Young Germany" was replaced by the Young Hegelian school, Strauss, Feuerbach, Bauer, and that the struggle of principles is in full swing - a life-and-death struggle-Engels resolutely opposes attempts to "lump Hegel in with the Young Germans", it requires evaluating the work of a particular writer by what "all his direction, his literary appearance, and all his work in general" are worth .38 When he is finally convinced that the Young Germans have failed to live up to their expectations, he rejects all condescension, gives a harsh assessment of the most prominent representatives of the obsolete trend and its magazines, pointing out that "their time has passed, they are gradually being absorbed by political newspapers that can quite cope with the little that appears in the field of literature"39 .

This article, as well as the articles published in the Rheinische Zeitung (North German and South German Liberalism, Centralization and Freedom, etc.), are also interesting because Engels openly opposes moderate, timid, half-hearted liberalism. A. Jung's eclecticism and conciliatory attitude are just as unacceptable to him as L. Valesrode's biting humor, his sarcastic ridicule of all sorts of absurdities of German life, which are not supported by a "positive broad worldview" and do not correspond to the "level of philosophy of this era"40 . From a Young Hegelian standpoint, he also criticizes half-hearted South German liberalism, contrasting it with North German liberalism, which, in his opinion, is characterized by unconditional consistency, definiteness of requirements and breadth of views. Noting that North German liberalism (Engels used this term to describe a more radical trend among the German intelligentsia) has "a higher degree of development and versatility, and a more solid historical and national foundation"41. Engels connects its success with the fact that it does not move from practice to theory, but, on the contrary, from theory (i.e., modern German philosophy) to practice, and that its source was not only the July Revolution, but the entire history of the world, and especially German history.

The article "Centralization and Freedom", which until recently was not included in the publications of the Works of Fr. Engels (its publication is being prepared in the 41st additional volume of Works), shows that by the autumn of 1842, he was convinced of the failure of liberal ideology not only in Germany, but also in Europe in general. "Powerlessness"-

38 K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch. Vol. 1, pp. 476, 477.

39 Ibid., p. 481.

40 K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch. Vol. II, p. 236.

41 K. Marx and F. Engels. From early works, p. 498.

page 139
French liberalism" was clearly revealed during the reign of the Guizot ministry, which "crowned reactionary tendencies" in France, openly flouting "the principles of popular sovereignty, a free press, independent justice with the participation of juries, and a parliamentary form of government."42 "The reason for this fact," wrote Engels, " is two things: the first of which the more courageous liberals have repeatedly pointed out in their struggle against the reactionaries is the half - hearted and ambiguous nature of the French constitution, which has never categorically expressed or implemented the principle of freedom; the second is centralization."

Tracing the history of centralization in France, Engels noted that it "developed, as elsewhere, parallel to the history of absolutism"; that by creating a huge chasm between Paris and the whole country, it contributed to the accession of Napoleon, and that the backwardness and apathy of the provinces, which were its consequence, led to the fact that "The July Revolution was produced only in the form of a Paris." Since then, France has lost one after another of the gains of this revolution, because the bourgeoisie, which inherited bureaucratic centralization from absolutism, skillfully uses it for its own narrow-minded purposes. Engels correctly noted in his article "the triumph of Louis Philippe and the bitter humiliation of all those who expected the liberation of Europe from the July Revolution," and Guizot's strong support from the reactionary wing of the Chamber of Deputies, but did not yet see the real reasons for what was happening. Calling centralization a source of regression in French legislation, he argued that in the current form in France, "centralization is unreasonable and therefore causes the above consequences." This transfer of the problem to the sphere of abstract Hegelian categories is very characteristic of the "Free" categories to which Engels then belonged.

However, he still approached the concrete reality much closer than the " Free Ones "and pointed out that"centralization in its extreme form, which now prevails in France, represents the state's going beyond its borders, beyond its essence." Therefore, it damages both the individual and his freedom, as well as world history. Engels explained his position as follows: only history, he wrote, has the right "to dispose of the life, happiness and freedom of individual individuals, because it is the work of all mankind, the life of a given race." The state, on the other hand, cannot "sacrifice the individual for the common," which is exactly what is happening in France. The state is doing an injustice here, sacrificing the provinces for the center, and establishing an oligarchy of the aristocracy of one locality, no more just and reasonable than the aristocracy of the nobility or the aristocracy of money. The regularity of what is happening is not yet clear to Engels; the understanding of the class essence of the state will come to him much later. But even now, within the framework of the still idealistic worldview, he showed a deep intuition in the interpretation of real historical phenomena. Thus, he noticed the connection between bureaucratic centralization and the absolutist system, and, most importantly, the continuity in this respect between absolutism and the supposedly liberal regime of the July monarchy.

Engels rightly pointed out that the gap between the provinces and the center created by the absolutist regime is not only not eliminated, but also deepened in every possible way, because the low level of political development in the provincial electoral districts is in the hands of the ruling party, allowing it to send "deputies who please the ministry"to the chamber. At the same time, he understood the historical inevitability and necessity of centralization. "Centralization is the essence and vital nerve of the state, and this is its justification", no state can do without it, including the federal one. "As long as there are states, each of them will have its own center, and each citizen will perform his civil functions only by virtue of centralization." But since centralization forces the State to encroach on the limits of individual life, one cannot accept the claim that it embodies absolute freedom. "The state is not the realization of absolute freedom, as it is supposed to be," Engels concludes the article, " ... it is only objective freedom. True subjective freedom, which is equal to-

42 Here and below the article is quoted from the Rheinische Zeitung, 18. IX. 1842, Beiblatt.

page 140
It is strong in absolute freedom and requires other forms than the state for its implementation." Engels concluded his last article in Berlin with this condemnation of the state of his day, clothed in a philosophical form, but with a political and revolutionary character.

At the beginning of October 1842, Engels completed his military service, received a bombardier's certificate, and went home to work as a Bartender. On the way, he visited Cologne, the editorial office of the Rheinische Zeitung. But Marx was not in Cologne at the time. Engels ' turn to communism at that time was facilitated by his acquaintance with the works and articles of the Rheinische Zeitung staff and correspondents, and by reading the books of W. Weitling, who played a prominent role in the propaganda of communism in Germany. The influence of these works is quite clearly traced in Engels 'first correspondence from England, which opens a new stage of literary and journalistic activity and a new, most significant stage of Engels' ideological development.

Cooperation F. The publication of Engels ' works in the progressive German periodicals of 1839-1842 played a huge role in shaping his worldview, bringing him face to face with the most important problems of the ideological struggle and social life at that time and providing him with the opportunity to actively participate in their solution. Articles, essays, correspondence of F. Engels (Oswald) clearly reflected both the complexity and the sequence of his spiritual and political development, the tireless work of critical thought, and the fighting temperament of a political fighter. From the pages of newspapers and magazines of those years, we see an attractive image of a daring and intrepid seeker of truth. Full of many profound problems and vivid in form, the young Engels ' journalism is one of the most remarkable pages in the history of the revolutionary-democratic press in Germany.

page 141


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