Hawk1981
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- Apr 1, 2020
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With a circulation of about 200,000 during the 1850s, Horace Greeley's New-York Daily Tribune had the largest daily circulation of any newspaper in New York and possibly in the nation. It was the dominant paper supporting the Whig Party and then the Republican Party in the United States.
The Tribune reflected the varied interests of its owner. Horace Greeley was always inquiring and imaginative. His paper promoted a variety of causes and assembled around itself an unconventional array of talent. The paper came out in favor of free homesteading and labor unions when these were drastic new ideas. Greeley's Tribune backed socialist community experiments, the graham bread cult, pacifism, vegetarianism, and clothing reform.
From 1851 to 1862 Karl Marx contributed at least 500 pieces to the Tribune. The exact number is not known. Many of Marx's pieces were not published with his byline, and indeed some appear to have been published as part of Greeley's editorials. Promoting his foreign correspondent in London, Greeley wrote "Mr. Marx has very decided opinions of his own, with some of which we are far from agreeing, but those who do not read his letters are neglecting one of the most instructive sources of information on the great questions of current European politics."
In an example published in the Tribune at the end of 1853, Marx noted that "Western Europe is feeble...because her governments feel they are outgrown and no longer believed by their people. The nations are beyond their rulers...But there is a new wine working in the old bottles. With a worthier and more equal social state, with the abolition of caste and privilege, with free political constitutions, and unfettered industry, and emancipated thought, the people of the West will rise again to power and unity of purpose, while the Russian colossus itself will be shattered by the progress of the masses and the explosive force of ideas."
Based on the considerable correspondence that exists between Marx and his acolyte and financial benefactor Friedrich Engels, many of the articles that the Tribune bought from Karl Marx were really ghost-written by Engels. Marx and Engels worked out an arrangement where Engels would write a series of articles that Marx sent to the Tribune under his name so that he could continue work, uninterrupted, on his book Das Kapital. In a note to Engels, Marx wrote "You must, at this moment when I am entirely absorbed in political economy, come to my aid. Write a series of articles on Germany since 1848. Spirited and outspoken. These gentlemen [referring to Dana and Greeley] are very free and easy when it comes for foreign affairs."
Over the course of the ten year relationship with the Tribune, Marx and Engels often lamented about having to lower themselves to write for the mass-circulation daily. Particularly after being denied additional compensation for their contributions, Marx and Engels referred to the newspaper as a "blotter" and a "lousy rag". The Tribune's owner and editors were frequently referred to as "bums" and "jackasses".
The Tribune reflected the varied interests of its owner. Horace Greeley was always inquiring and imaginative. His paper promoted a variety of causes and assembled around itself an unconventional array of talent. The paper came out in favor of free homesteading and labor unions when these were drastic new ideas. Greeley's Tribune backed socialist community experiments, the graham bread cult, pacifism, vegetarianism, and clothing reform.
From 1851 to 1862 Karl Marx contributed at least 500 pieces to the Tribune. The exact number is not known. Many of Marx's pieces were not published with his byline, and indeed some appear to have been published as part of Greeley's editorials. Promoting his foreign correspondent in London, Greeley wrote "Mr. Marx has very decided opinions of his own, with some of which we are far from agreeing, but those who do not read his letters are neglecting one of the most instructive sources of information on the great questions of current European politics."
In an example published in the Tribune at the end of 1853, Marx noted that "Western Europe is feeble...because her governments feel they are outgrown and no longer believed by their people. The nations are beyond their rulers...But there is a new wine working in the old bottles. With a worthier and more equal social state, with the abolition of caste and privilege, with free political constitutions, and unfettered industry, and emancipated thought, the people of the West will rise again to power and unity of purpose, while the Russian colossus itself will be shattered by the progress of the masses and the explosive force of ideas."
Based on the considerable correspondence that exists between Marx and his acolyte and financial benefactor Friedrich Engels, many of the articles that the Tribune bought from Karl Marx were really ghost-written by Engels. Marx and Engels worked out an arrangement where Engels would write a series of articles that Marx sent to the Tribune under his name so that he could continue work, uninterrupted, on his book Das Kapital. In a note to Engels, Marx wrote "You must, at this moment when I am entirely absorbed in political economy, come to my aid. Write a series of articles on Germany since 1848. Spirited and outspoken. These gentlemen [referring to Dana and Greeley] are very free and easy when it comes for foreign affairs."
Over the course of the ten year relationship with the Tribune, Marx and Engels often lamented about having to lower themselves to write for the mass-circulation daily. Particularly after being denied additional compensation for their contributions, Marx and Engels referred to the newspaper as a "blotter" and a "lousy rag". The Tribune's owner and editors were frequently referred to as "bums" and "jackasses".
