The Life, Work and Legacy of Friedrich Engels

Description

As the author of The Condition of the Working Class in England and, along with Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto, Friedrich Engels is a seminal 19th-century figure; the co-founder of Marxism, he left an indelible impression as a philosopher, political theorist, economist, historian and revolutionary socialist. The Life, Work and Legacy of Friedrich Engels is nevertheless the first book to comprehensively explore Engels’ contributions in all of these spheres.
The book sees 13 experts from a range of scholarly backgrounds examine Engels and his writing in relation to topics including the United States and the future of capitalism, European social democracy and the nature of the political economy, with technology, capital, and labor acting as fundamental cross-cutting themes throughout. The volume analyses the intriguing relationship between Engels and Karl Marx, the towering historical figure whose long shadow has obscured the achievements of Engels for so long, and reassesses Engels’ significance in this context. There are 66 images to be found throughout the text, 30 of these in colour, as well as a conclusion which successfully views Engels in the context of the age.
As a journalist, author and communist figurehead, Engels dealt succinctly – and with strong opinions – with the core questions of the developments changing the globe in the 19th century and The Life, Work and Legacy of Friedrich Engels finally shines a light on this in a compelling call for revisionism.

Eberhard Illner is a historian and archivist who worked at the Federal Archives Koblenz, Germany. He was Director of the Engels-Haus Museum in Wuppertal, Germany from 2008 until his retirement in 2018.
Hans A. Frambach is Professor of Economics at the University of Wuppertal, Germany.
Norbert Koubek is Professor Emeritus at the Faculty of Economic Sciences and the Schumpeter School of Business and Economics at the University of Wuppertal, Germany.

List of Illustrations
Preface
Introduction
1. ‘My Immortal Works’: Friedrich Engels as a Journalist and Publicist Jürgen Herres (Independent Scholar, Germany)2. Engels on Marx: Biography as Politics of History Wilfried Nippel (Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany)3. Friedrich Engels and European Social Democracy Günther Chaloupek (Independent Scholar, Austria)4. Man and Machine: Engels, Marx and Ernst Kapp on Technological Ideas Eberhard Illner (University of Wuppertal, Germany)5. ‘The General’ as Admiral: Friedrich Engels and the Debates on Naval Warfare and Tactics Kurt Möser (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany)6. The Promised Land? Engels, the United States and the Future of Capitalism James M. Brophy (University of Delaware, USA)7. The Transformation of the World: Engels and 19th-Century Developments in Productive Forces Werner Plumpe (Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany)8. The Revolution of Labour: Engels and the Change in Working Conditions in Manchester and London Margrit Schulte Beerbühl (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany)9. Engels and the Economic Thinking of the Time Hans A. Frambach (University of Wuppertal, Germany)10. ‘Oh Frederic, Oh Frederic…’: Engels, Marx and the Critique of Political Economy Heinz D. Kurz (University of Graz, Austria)11. The Capital as a Repair Case? Friedrich Engels and the Publication of Volumes 2 and 3 of Karl Marx’s Capital Regina Roth (Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Germany)12. Labour and Companies: Historical and Present Trends Norbert Koubek (University of Wuppertal, Germany)Conclusion: Engels in his Time Jürgen Kocka (WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Germany)Appendix: The Writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels – On Editions
Notes
Bibliography
Index

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