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Marx to Lincoln

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Great open letter from Marx (on behalf of the International Working Men's Association) to Lincoln in 1864,

We congratulate the American people upon your re-election by a large majority. If resistance to the Slave Power was the reserved watchword of your first election, the triumphant war cry of your re-election is Death to Slavery.

From the commencement of the titanic American strife the workingmen of Europe felt instinctively that the star-spangled banner carried the destiny of their class. The contest for the territories which opened the dire epopee, was it not to decide whether the virgin soil of immense tracts should be wedded to the labor of the emigrant or prostituted by the tramp of the slave driver?

and here's more by Marx on the Civil War.

Comments

  1. avrdsMay 15, 2009 at 12:01 AM

    This site was down earlier, but I'm able to open it now. Look forward to reading some of Marx's dispatches to America. From what I have read so far, he has a good understanding of what was going on in the war.

    Miller parses the Emancipation Proclamation in his book, but then I think he's the one who quotes Marx's comment about how it's nothing but more than pettifogging legaleze.

    This should be a great discussion when everyone is ready for it.

    ReplyDelete

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