![Karl Georg Winkelblech](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Karl_Georg_Winkelblech.jpg)
Karl Marlo, pseudonym of Karl Georg Winkelblech (11 April 1810 – 10 January 1865), was a German professor, scientist,
chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe t ...
and
state socialist.
Life
Marlo was born in
Ensheim
Ensheim is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Wörrstadt, whose ...
near
Mainz
Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...
. After finishing his studies in natural sciences and chemistry in
Giessen
Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univer ...
, he became a private tutor in
Marburg
Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approxima ...
and, from 1839, a Professor of Chemistry at the Higher Trade School at
Kassel,
Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...
.
He became deeply involved in the fate of the working class and became an exponent of
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
ideas. From 1843 on, he spent all his time and all his (considerable) talents to produce just a single book, a comprehensive book in four volumes about
social reform
A reform movement or reformism is a type of social movement that aims to bring a social or also a political system closer to the community's ideal. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary move ...
, which was left unfinished upon his death in
Kassel.
[Cole, G.D.H. ''History of Socialist Thought: Volume II Part II''. London: Macmillan, 1960.]
The four volumes, published between 1849 and 1859, were issued under the general title ''Enquiries concerning the Organisation of Labour, or, System of World Economy'' (''Untersuchungen über die Organisation der Arbeit oder System der Weltökonomie''). This work of this quixotic champion of the
artisan
An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art ...
cause was not widely read. It was not intended to bear immediate consequences. It was published in a period of public
apathy
Apathy is a lack of feeling, emotion, interest, or concern about something. It is a state of indifference, or the suppression of emotions such as concern, excitement, motivation, or passion. An apathetic individual has an absence of intere ...
, following the failed struggle for
constitutional
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these prin ...
liberty
Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom.
In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...
of 1848. This work seemed to have been almost entirely forgotten when the German statesman and economist with socialist tendencies,
Albert Schäffle, made favorable mention of this monumental work in his book ''Kapitalismus und Socialismus'' (''Capitalism and Socialism''), published in 1870.
[
His work has since been the subject of commentaries by the Scottish-Canadian economist John Rae, Hendrik Peter Godfried Quack (1834–1914), and the German economist ]Wilhelm Georg Friedrich Roscher
Wilhelm Georg Friedrich Roscher (; 21 October 18174 June 1894) was a German economist from Hanover.
Biography
Roscher studied at Göttingen, where he became a member of Corps Hannovera, and Berlin, and obtained a professorship at Göttingen in ...
, who described Marlo as 'one of the most solid, moderate and conscientious of the socialists'. In his book ''Marxism: An Historical and Critical Study'', the historian George Lichtheim (1912–1973) describes Karl Marlo as "an utopian socialist
Utopian socialism is the term often used to describe the first current of modern socialism and socialist thought as exemplified by the work of Henri de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier, Étienne Cabet, and Robert Owen. Utopian socialism is often de ...
".
Thought
A conversation between Marlo and a German worker in Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
about the privations and insecurities of working-class life stimulated his interests in socialism
Socialism is a left-wing Economic ideology, economic philosophy and Political movement, movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to Private prop ...
and led him to study working-class conditions himself.[
Marlo's observations of industry and the effects of advancing ]capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
led him to the conclusion that a process of 'proletarianisation' was rapidly taking effect, that the smaller entrepreneurs were being crushed out by the great capitalists, and that under the developing industrial system wages were held down to subsistence
A subsistence economy is an economy directed to basic subsistence (the provision of food, clothing, shelter) rather than to the market. Henceforth, "subsistence" is understood as supporting oneself at a minimum level. Often, the subsistence econo ...
level and the workers subjected to increasing risks of recurrent unemployment.[ These conclusions were apparently reached in isolation, with very little influence by any contemporary thinker.][
Marlo believed that the ]French Revolution of 1789
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
was the starting point of a new era of human progress. Marlo believed that human history could be divided into two periods. The whole history of mankind up to 1789 had been dominated by the principle of ' Paganism' or 'Monopolism'. During this epoch it had been regarded as 'natural' that the many should be sacrificed to the few, and that the few should 'monopolise' the means of production. This regime of monopoly
A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a speci ...
had taken successive forms in the institutions of slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
, serfdom
Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which deve ...
, and wage-labor, which were all forms of exploitation
Exploitation may refer to:
*Exploitation of natural resources
*Exploitation of labour
** Forced labour
*Exploitation colonialism
*Slavery
** Sexual slavery and other forms
*Oppression
*Psychological manipulation
In arts and entertainment
*Exploi ...
of the many by the few. Christ had proclaimed many centuries ago the rival principle of human equality; but it had not been translated into political terms capable of being applied until the French Revolution had proclaimed the 'Rights of Man'. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (french: Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen de 1789, links=no), set by France's National Constituent Assembly in 1789, is a human civil rights document from the French Revolu ...
was, then, to be regarded as the starting-point of the era of true Christianity; and the task of the nineteenth century was to work out the social implications of the Christian principle.[
At the ]Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
General German Workers' Congress (August–September 1848), his views on the federal system for guilds and corporate institutions got endorsement. In these he postulated that there were common interests between masters and journeymen
A journeyman, journeywoman, or journeyperson is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that fie ...
, while the ''monied powers'' were their enemies. He demanded the creation of compulsory guilds and the creation of a ''social ministry'' for the governmental organization of labour. He proposed a comprehensive reform scheme for compulsory social insurance against old age, sickness and financial misfortunes, paid by individual contributions.[Vogel Walter : Bismarcks Arbeiterversicherung; 1951, Georg Westermann Verlag, Braunschweig]
Marlo was in line with the criticism of socialists on industrial capitalism. Therefore, he rejected liberalism
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...
. But on the other hand he also rejected communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...
because it fails to motivate the individual worker. He tried to find a common ground between the two systems, that he called ''panpolism'' (the opposition of monopolism). In industrial states, the means of production should be common property, managed and organized by the state, while the produce of the labour of the individual worker should remain private property. He gave every man the right to dispose of his earnings according to his own wishes.
See also
*Johann Karl Rodbertus
Johann Karl Rodbertus (August 12, 1805, Greifswald, Swedish Pomerania – December 6, 1875, Jagetzow), also known as Karl Rodbertus-Jagetzow, was a German economist and socialist and a leading member of the ''Linkes Zentrum'' (centre-left) i ...
Footnotes
References
*Wilhelm Eduard Biermann, ''Karl Georg Winkelblech (Karl Marlo): Sein Leben und sein Werk'', 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1909).
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Marlo, Karl
1810 births
1865 deaths
German economists
People from Rhenish Hesse
German socialists
People from Alzey-Worms