"I, myself, am not a Marxist"

[RedGuevara]

I have heard that Karl Marx once uttered this quote but I have never been able to find the original document or any kind of confirmation he ever said it. If he did say those words then what is the reasoning he said such a statement? What did it mean in context?

Thanks.

[The Feral Underclass]

"All I know is that I am not a Marxist" is a quote from a letter he wrote when referring to a group of French socialists who called themselves Marxists.

http://libcom.org/forums/theory/context-marxs-i-am-not-marxist-quote-09062009

[Per Levy]

he did say that yes, the context is that there were people who called themselfs marxists while marx was still allive, marx didn agree with the politics of these marxists and declared pretty much: if these people are marxists than i am not a marxist. i think he did wrote that to engels but i dont know.

edit: there you go, tat, gives you all you need to know.

[Conscript]

It was said in reference to french utopian socialists who started calling themselves marxists.

It's probably the most taken out of context, ever.

[synthesis]

I believe it referred to people who denied the revolutionary potential of reformist struggles, which has to be considered in the specific context that Marx was writing in - to me, in the context that bourgeois democracy was perhaps adolescent at that point, past puberty but still not "matured."

edit: Here's a discussion I had with the author of that LibCom article; the article is from 2009, this exchange is from 2010. It's not letting me quote the actual posts, so here's the link (http://www.revleft.com/vb/www.revleft.com/vb/up-liberals-being-t140403/index4.html).


I have noticed that a lot of the new posters have been somewhat liberal. Some even advocating reformist measures as a staple of leftist politics.


Wait... can someone please remind me why (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Guesde) Marx said, "I am not a Marxist"?


Yes. (http://libcom.org/forums/theory/context-marxs-i-am-not-marxist-quote-09062009) Hint: It was not because he thought of a group as too dogmatic, but to disassociate himself with their ideas, so pretty much the exact opposite. It was also not an objection to a term, but to a specific group.


I'm not sure one way or another - you've obviously researched this far more than I - but MIA cites Origins of the French Labour Movement, by Bernard Moss, as the origin of the Guesde/reformism interpretation, and your thread on LibCom doesn't seem to indicate that you've read it.

It's available on Google Books. Of particular interest is Chapter 4, which primarily deals with the Parti Ouvrier. The passage in question is on page 116; MIA must be using a different publication of Moss's book.
Though Guesde and Lafargue represented the rudiments of Marxism in France, they were severely chastised by Marx for their practical errors, for indulging in "revolutionary phrase-ology," denying the revolutionary value of reformist struggles and ignoring the progressive role of Radicalism. If this was Marxism, Marx told his "Bakuninist" son-in-law, he was not a Marxist. I'm not saying that this takes precedence over your interpretation - but it does seem that way.

I never got a response, but I'm sure there's a good answer to my counterpoint; I just don't know what it is.

[RedGuevara]

Thank you everyone and especially TAT.

[Red Commissar]

It was quoted by Engels in correspondence with Bernstein as something Marx said to Lafargue (also his son-in-law) over his differences with the positions of the French Marxists when the French Worker's Party was first founded.

You can view that original letter here, though AFAIK the original quote was either said in conversation or if it was written in a letter it was not archived.

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1882/letters/82_11_02.htm


Nor have you any other source, i.e. other than Malon at second hand, for your reiterated assertion that in France ‘Marxism’ suffers from a marked lack of esteem. Now what is known as ‘Marxism’ in France is, indeed, an altogether peculiar product — so much so that Marx once said to Lafargue: ‘Ce qu'il y a de certain c'est que moi, je ne suis pas Marxiste.’ [If anything is certain, it is that I myself am not a Marxist]

[The Idler]

It was said in reference to french utopian socialists who started calling themselves marxists.

It's probably the most taken out of context, ever.
Pretty sure neither Marx nor Engels were criticising Guesde and Lafargue as utopian.

[Brandon's Impotent Rage]

It wasn't the only time he said it.

There's another story that relates to an individual named Pieper (I didn't hear about this guy until Howard Zinn's Marx in Soho, but he shows up ALOT in Marx's correspondence)

Pieper was a german rogue who showed up on Marx's doorstep. According to Marx he was the worst kind of syncophant, who latched on to Marx like a parasite and slavishly devoted himself to Marx's every word uncritically (and then repeat it dogmatically), even quoting Marx directly to himself (sidenote: The quickest way to piss off a philosopher is to quote their own works back at them). The only reason Marx tolerated his presence was because Marx's wife Jenny felt sorry for him. Eventually, Pieper announced that he was forming the 'Karl Marx society of london", in which they would read and interpret every single word Marx had published. Pieper asked Marx to address the group.

Marx's reply? He turned down the invitation because 'he was not a marxist'.