I also think the op view kind of dismisses Jenny Marx and her massive contribution. Engles wasn't always there.
Jenny was, read the stuff Marx couldn't, wrote and edited much of his stuff, hustled up money, raised way too many children, kept correspondence up with revolutionaries around the world, and made sure Marx actually stopped drinking and got the work done. And she was a countess, she could have married and never worked a day of her entire life. Failing that, she could have left Marx and gone to her relatives.
I wouldn't call Marx a deadbeat. A bit of an insensitive layabout at times, and his pattern of frenzied short term crunching followed by fallow periods seems to indicate some kind of attention disorder. But his children all remembered him fondly, and the poverty was pretty much entirely due to Marx's political views preventing more well-paid work.
Maybe he could have taken a job, brought in more money. But I can hardly blame him for sticking to his principles, and Jenny seems to have supported his decision.
There's also the often repeated possible illegitimate child of his maid that Engels claimed parentage of, though I point out there's literally no evidence of that aside from Marx's wife being away at the time (which would also have been required for Engles to have a relationship) and a bunch of belated gossip. Could have actually been Engles, could have been Marx, could have been a third party.
I also think the op view kind of dismisses Jenny Marx and her massive contribution. Engles wasn't always there.
Jenny was, read the stuff Marx couldn't, wrote and edited much of his stuff, hustled up money, raised way too many children, kept correspondence up with revolutionaries around the world, and made sure Marx actually stopped drinking and got the work done. And she was a countess, she could have married and never worked a day of her entire life. Failing that, she could have left Marx and gone to her relatives.
Wow. Way to set the relationship bar almost unattainably high. Thanks a lot, Jenny.
Gonna bring up Jenny next time my gf and I argue
...Fuck, forgot Marx was also a deadbeat dad. Remember folks, he was brilliant and insightful but not a role model.
I wouldn't call Marx a deadbeat. A bit of an insensitive layabout at times, and his pattern of frenzied short term crunching followed by fallow periods seems to indicate some kind of attention disorder. But his children all remembered him fondly, and the poverty was pretty much entirely due to Marx's political views preventing more well-paid work.
Maybe he could have taken a job, brought in more money. But I can hardly blame him for sticking to his principles, and Jenny seems to have supported his decision.
There's also the often repeated possible illegitimate child of his maid that Engels claimed parentage of, though I point out there's literally no evidence of that aside from Marx's wife being away at the time (which would also have been required for Engles to have a relationship) and a bunch of belated gossip. Could have actually been Engles, could have been Marx, could have been a third party.