Moses (Moritz) Hess (21 January 1812 – 6 April 1875) was a

German-Jewish The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...

philosopher, early

communist 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 s ...

and

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

thinker. His socialist theories led to disagreements with

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

and

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' He is considered a pioneer of Labor Zionism.

Biography

Moses Hess was born in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

, which was under French rule at the time. In his French-language birth certificate, his name is given as "Moïse"; he was named after his maternal grandfather. His father was an ordained rabbi, but never practiced this profession. Hess received a Jewish religious education from his grandfather, and later studied philosophy at the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...

, but never graduated. He married a poor Catholic seamstress, Sibylle Pesch, "in order to redress the injustice perpetrated by society". Although they remained happily married until Hess' death, Sibylle may have had an affair with

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' socialism 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 e ...

, and a precursor to what would later be called

Zionism Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a Nationalism, nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is ...

. As correspondent for the ''

Rheinische Zeitung The ''Rheinische Zeitung'' ("Rhenish Newspaper") was a 19th-century German newspaper, edited most famously by Karl Marx. The paper was launched in January 1842 and terminated by Prussian state censorship in March 1843. The paper was eventually su ...

'', a radical newspaper founded by liberal Rhenish businessmen, he lived in Paris. He was a friend and important collaborator of

, who was the editor of the , following his advice, and befriended also with

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' Hess initially introduced Engels to

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 s ...

, through his theoretical approach. Marx, Engels and Hess took refuge in Brussels, Belgium, in 1845, and used to live in the same street. By the end of the decade, Marx and Engels had fallen out with Hess. The work of Hess was also criticized in part of ''

The German Ideology ''The German Ideology'' (German: ''Die deutsche Ideologie'', sometimes written as ''A Critique of the German Ideology'') is a set of manuscripts originally written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels around April or early May 1846. Marx and Engels ...

'' by Marx and Engels. Hess fled to

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

temporarily following the suppression of the 1848 commune. He would also go abroad during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71. During the 1850s Hess immersed himself into studying the natural sciences and gaining, in an autodidactic fashion, a scientific foundation for his thoughts. Hess died in Paris in 1875. As he requested, he was buried in the Jewish cemetery of

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

. In 1961, he was re-interred in the Kinneret Cemetery in Israel along with other Socialist-Zionists such as

Nachman Syrkin , birth_date = , birth_place = Mogilev, Russian Empire (now Belarus) , death_date = , death_place = New York City, U.S. , spouse = Bassya Syrkin (née Osnos) , partner = , party = , ...

, Ber Borochov, and Berl Katznelson. Moshav

Kfar Hess Kfar Hess ( he, כְּפַר הֶס, , Hess Village) is a moshav in central Israel. Located in the Sharon plain to the south-east of Tel Mond and covering 3,800 dunams, located 262.5 feet (80 meters) above sea level and it falls under the jurisd ...

was named in his honour.

Views and opinions

Hess became reluctant to base all history on economic causes and

class struggle Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor. The forms ...

(as Marx and Engels did), and he came to see the struggle of races, or nationalities, as the prime factor of history. According to George Lichtheim, Hess, who differed from Marx on a number of issues, still testified in a letter to

Alexander Herzen Alexander Ivanovich Herzen (russian: Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Ге́рцен, translit=Alexándr Ivánovich Gértsen; ) was a Russian writer and thinker known as the "father of Russian socialism" and one of the main fathers of agra ...

that what he and Herzen were writing about "resembles a neat sketch drawn on paper, whereas Marx's judgment upon these events uropean upheavalsis as it were engraved with iron force in the rock of time" (Paraphrased by George Lichtheim, ''A Short History of Socialism'', 1971 p. 80). From 1861 to 1863, he lived in Germany, where he became acquainted with the rising tide of German

antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

. It was then that he reverted to his Jewish name Moses (after going by Moritz Hess) in protest against

Jewish assimilation Jewish assimilation ( he, התבוללות, ''hitbolelut'') refers either to the gradual cultural assimilation and social integration of Jews in their surrounding culture or to an ideological program in the age of emancipation promoting conform ...

. He published ''

Rome and Jerusalem ''Rome and Jerusalem: The Last National Question'' (german: Rom und Jerusalem, die Letzte Nationalitätsfrage) is a book published by Moses Hess in 1862 in Leipzig. It gave impetus to the Labor Zionism movement. In his ''magnum opus'', Hess argue ...

'' in 1862. Hess interprets history as a circle of

race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

and national struggles. He contemplated the rise of

Italian nationalism Italian nationalism is a movement which believes that the Italians are a nation with a single homogeneous identity, and therefrom seeks to promote the cultural unity of Italy as a country. From an Italian nationalist perspective, Italianness is ...

and the German reaction to it, and from this he arrived at the idea of Jewish national revival, and at his prescient understanding that the Germans would not be tolerant of the national aspirations of others and would be particularly intolerant of the Jews. His book calls for the establishment of a Jewish socialist commonwealth in

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

, in line with the emerging national movements in Europe and as the only way to respond to antisemitism and assert Jewish identity in the modern world. Hess grave

Scholarly work

Hess's '' Rome and Jerusalem: The Last National Question'' went unnoticed in his time, as most German Jews preferred

cultural assimilation Cultural assimilation is the process in which a minority group or culture comes to resemble a society's majority group or assume the values, behaviors, and beliefs of another group whether fully or partially. The different types of cultural assi ...

. His work did not stimulate political activity or discussion. When

Theodor Herzl Theodor Herzl; hu, Herzl Tivadar; Hebrew name given at his brit milah: Binyamin Ze'ev (2 May 1860 – 3 July 1904) was an Austro-Hungarian Jewish lawyer, journalist, playwright, political activist, and writer who was the father of modern p ...

first read ''Rome and Jerusalem'' he wrote that "since

Spinoza Baruch (de) Spinoza (born Bento de Espinosa; later as an author and a correspondent ''Benedictus de Spinoza'', anglicized to ''Benedict de Spinoza''; 24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, b ...

Jewry had no bigger thinker than this forgotten Moses Hess." He said he might not have written (''The Jewish State'') if he had known ''Rome and Jerusalem'' beforehand. Vladimir Ze'ev Jabotinsky honored Hess in ''The Jewish Legion in the World War'' as one of the people that made the Balfour declaration possible, along with Herzl,

Walter Rothschild Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, Baron de Rothschild, (8 February 1868 – 27 August 1937) was a British banker, politician, zoologist and soldier, who was a member of the Rothschild family. As a Zionist leader, he was presen ...

and

Leon Pinsker yi, לעאָן פינסקער , birth_date = , birth_place = Tomaszów Lubelski, Kingdom of Poland, Russian Empire , death_date = , death_place = Odessa, Russian Empire , known_for = Zionism , occupation = Physician, political activ ...

Published works

*'' Holy History of Mankind'' (1837) *'' European Triarchy'' (1841) *
Socialism and Communism
' (1842) * ''Die Philosophie der Tat'' (''The Philosophy of Action'', 1843) *'' On the Monetary System'', also translated as ''On the Essence of Money'' (Über das Geldwesen, 1845) *'' Communist Confession of Faith'' (London, 1846) *'' Consequences of a Revolution of the Proletariat'' (1847) *''

'' Leipzig: Eduard Mengler (1862) *'' Letters on the Mission of Israel'' (1864) *'' High Finance and the Empire'' (1869) *'' Les Collectivistes et les Communistes'' (1869) *'' The Dynamic Theory of Matter'' (1877) *
Jüdische Schriften
' (anthology edited by Theodor Zlocisti; Berlin: Louis Lamm, 1905)

Translations

*'' The Holy History and Mankind and Other Writings''. ed. Shlomo Avineri (Cambridge University Press, 2005). *'' The History of the Jews'', Volume III, Graetz (1866–1867, into French)

References

External links

* * *
Hess: The Holy History of Mankind and Other Writings (Frontmater of the book)
ed. & trans by Shlomo Avineri (2004)

at marxists.org
Moses Hess (1812-1875)
from the

Jewish Agency for Israel The Jewish Agency for Israel ( he, הסוכנות היהודית לארץ ישראל, translit=HaSochnut HaYehudit L'Eretz Yisra'el) formerly known as The Jewish Agency for Palestine, is the largest Jewish non-profit organization in the world. ...

* Archive o
Moses Hess Papers
at the

International Institute of Social History The International Institute of Social History (IISH/IISG) is one of the largest archives of labor and social history in the world. Located in Amsterdam, its one million volumes and 2,300 archival collections include the papers of major figu ...

Kalonymos, Gregor Pelger: About the restoration of the Jewish state. Moses Heß (1812-1875)
Kalonymos, Gregor Pelger: "Zur Restauration des jüdischen Staates. Moses Heß (1812-1875)"] (in German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hess, Moses 1812 births 1875 deaths 19th-century German philosophers German communists 19th-century German Jews German socialists Jewish philosophers Jewish socialists Pantheists Writers from Bonn People from the Rhine Province Philosophers of Judaism Labor Zionists Forerunners of Zionism