Jenny Julia Eleanor Marx (16 January 1855 – 31 March 1898), sometimes called Eleanor Aveling and known to her family as Tussy, was the English-born youngest daughter of Karl Marx. She was herself a socialist activist who sometimes worked as a literary translator. In March 1898, after discovering that Edward Aveling, her partner and a prominent British Marxist, had secretly married a young actress in June of the previous year, she poisoned herself at the age of 43.
Eleanor Marx was born in London on 16 January 1855, the sixth child and fourth daughterEnglish-born youngest daughter of Karl Marx. She was herself a socialist activist who sometimes worked as a literary translator. In March 1898, after discovering that Edward Aveling, her partner and a prominent British Marxist, had secretly married a young actress in June of the previous year, she poisoned herself at the age of 43.
While Karl Marx was writing his major work Das Kapital in the family home, his youngest daughter Eleanor played in his study. Marx invented and narrated a story for Eleanor based on an antihero called Hans Röckle. Eleanor reports that this was one of her favourite childhood stories. The story is significant because it offered Eleanor lessons through allegory of Marx's critique of political economy which he was writing in Das Kapital.[6] As an adult, Eleanor was involved in translating and editing volumes of Das Kapital.[7] She also edited Marx's lectures Value, Price and Profit and Wage Labour and Capital, which were based on the same material, into books.[8] Eleanor Marx's biographer, Rachel Holmes, writes: "Tussy's childhood intimacy with [Marx] whilst he wrote the first volume of Das Kapital provided her with a thorough grounding in British economic, political and social history. Tussy and Capital grew up together".[9]
At the age of sixteen, Eleanor became her father's secretary and accompanied him around the world to socialist conferences.[4] A year later, she fell in love with Prosper-Olivier Lissagaray, a journalist and participant of the Paris Commune, who had fled to London after the Commune's suppression.[2] Although he agreed with the man politically, Karl Marx disapproved of the relationship because of the age gap between the two, Lissagaray being 34 years old. In May 1873 Eleanor moved away from home to Brighton working as a schoolteacher; she lived at 6 Vernon Terrace in the Montpelier suburb,[10] returning to London in September 1873.[11]
In 1876 she helped Lissagaray write History of the Commune of 1871, and later translated it into English.[12] Her father liked the book but was still disapproving of his daughter's relationship with its author. By 1880 Karl changed his view of the situation, allowing her to marry him. However, by then Eleanor herself was having second thoughts. She terminated the relationship in 1882.[4]
In the early 1880s, she had to nurse her ageing parents, but her mother died in December 1881. From August 1882 she also cared for her young ne
While Karl Marx was writing his major work Das Kapital in the family home, his youngest daughter Eleanor played in his study. Marx invented and narrated a story for Eleanor based on an antihero called Hans Röckle. Eleanor reports that this was one of her favourite childhood stories. The story is significant because it offered Eleanor lessons through allegory of Marx's critique of political economy which he was writing in Das Kapital.[6] As an adult, Eleanor was involved in translating and editing volumes of Das Kapital.[7] She also edited Marx's lectures Value, Price and Profit and Wage Labour and Capital, which were based on the same material, into books.[8] Eleanor Marx's biographer, Rachel Holmes, writes: "Tussy's childhood intimacy with [Marx] whilst he wrote the first volume of Das Kapital provided her with a thorough grounding in British economic, political and social history. Tussy and Capital grew up together".[9]
At the age of sixteen, Eleanor became her father's secretary and accompanied him around the world to socialist conferences.[4] A year later, she fell in love with Prosper-Olivier Lissagaray, a journalist and participant of the Paris Commune, who had fled to London after the Commune's suppression.[2] Although he agreed with the man politically, Karl Marx disapproved of the relationship because of the age gap between the two, Lissagaray being 34 years old. In May 1873 Eleanor moved away from home to Brighton working as a schoolteacher; she lived at 6 Vernon Terrace in the Montpelier suburb,[10] returning to London in September 1873.[11]
In 1876 she helped Lissagaray write History of the Commune of 1871, and later translated it into English.[12] Her father liked the book but was still disapproving of his daughter's relationship with its author. By 1880 Karl changed his view of the situation, allowing her to marry him. However, by then Eleanor herself was having second thoughts. She terminated the relationship in 1882.[4]
In the early 1880s, she had to nurse her ageing parents, but her mother died in December 1881. From August 1882 she also cared for her young nephew Jean Longuet for several months, easing the burden on her elder sister, Jenny Longuet, who died in January 1883 of bladder cancer. Her father died two months later, in March 1883.[13] After this, Eleanor and Edward Aveling, overseen by Friedrich Engels, prepared the first English language edition of Das Kapital volume I, published in 1887.[14] On Engels' death in 1895, they together sorted and stored her father's extensive papers.[15]
In 1885, after some bitter polemics, there was a split in the organization. Eleanor Marx and some others left SDF, and founded the rival Socialist League.
The split had two root causes: personality problems, as Hyndman was accused of leading the SDF in a dictatorial fashion,[4] and disagreements on the issue of internationalism. In this point Hyndman was accused by Marx among others of nationalist tendencies. He was, for example, opposed to Marx's idea of sending delegates to the French Workers' Party calling the proposal a "family manoeuvre", since Eleanor Marx's sister Laura and her husband Pa In 1885, after some bitter polemics, there was a split in the organization. Eleanor Marx and some others left SDF, and founded the rival Socialist League.
The split had two root causes: personality problems, as Hyndman was accused of leading the SDF in a dictatorial fashion,[4] and disagreements on the issue of internationalism. In this point Hyndman was accused by Marx among others of na The split had two root causes: personality problems, as Hyndman was accused of leading the SDF in a dictatorial fashion,[4] and disagreements on the issue of internationalism. In this point Hyndman was accused by Marx among others of nationalist tendencies. He was, for example, opposed to Marx's idea of sending delegates to the French Workers' Party calling the proposal a "family manoeuvre", since Eleanor Marx's sister Laura and her husband Paul Lafargue were members of that party. Therefore, both Marx and Aveling became founding members of the Socialist League, whose most prominent member was William Morris.[2]
Other leaders of the Socialist League were Ernest Belfort Bax, Sam Mainwaring, and Tom Mann, the latter two being representatives of the working class. Annie Besant was also an active member.
Marx wrote a regular column called "Record of the Revolutionary International Movement" for the Socialist League's monthly newspaper, Commonweal.[17]
In 1884, Marx met Clementina Black, a painter and trade unionist, and became involved in the Women's Trade Union League. She would go on to support numerous strikes including the Bryant & May strike of 1888 and the London Dock Strike of 1889. She spoke to the Silvertown strikers at an open meeting in November 1889 alongside her friends Edith Ellis and Honor Brooke. She helped organise the Gasworkers' Union and wrote numerous books and articles.[4]
In 1885, she helped organise the International Socialist Congress in Paris.[4] The following year, she toured the United States along with Aveling and the German socialist Wilhelm Liebknecht, raising money for the Social Democratic Party of Germany.[3]
By the late 1880s, the Socialist League was deeply divided between those advocating political action and its opponents – who were themselves split between those like William Morris who felt that parliamentary campaigns represented inevitable compromises and corruptions, and an anarchist wing which opposed all electoral politics as a matter of principle. Marx and Aveling, as firm advocates of the principle of participation in political campaigns, found themselves in an uncomfortable minority in the party. At the 4th Annual Conference of the Socialist League the Bloomsbury branch, to which Marx and Aveling belonged, moved that a meeting of all socialist bodies should be called to discuss the formation of a united organisation. This resolution was voted down by a substantial margin, as was another put forward by the same branch in support of contesting seats in both local and parliamentary elections. Moreover, the Socialist League at this occasion suspended the 80 members of the Bloomsbury branch on the grounds that the group had put up candidates jointly with the SDF, against the policy of the party. The Bloomsbury branch thus exited the Socialist League for a new, albeit brief, independent existence as the Bloomsbury Socialist Society.[18]
Along with many other leading Socialists, Eleanor took active role in organizing the London demonstration of 13 November 1887 that resulted in the suppression of the Bloody Sunday (1887).[19] Several other demonstrations followed in the aftermath, with Eleanor urging the radical line.[20] In the aftermath of Bloody Sunday, Marx wrote a report on the brutal treatment of women activists and protestors at the hands of police, decrying their actions of targeting women.[21]
In 1893, Keir Hardie founded the Independent Labour Party (ILP). Marx attended the founding conference as an observer, while Aveling was a delegate. Their goal of shifting the ILP's positions towards Marxism failed, however, as the party remained under a st In 1893, Keir Hardie founded the Independent Labour Party (ILP). Marx attended the founding conference as an observer, while Aveling was a delegate. Their goal of shifting the ILP's positions towards Marxism failed, however, as the party remained under a strong Christian socialist influence. In 1897, Marx and Aveling re-joined the Social Democratic Federation, like most former members of the Socialist League.[2]
After acquiring admission into the Reading Room of the British Museum, Eleanor first began work as a paid translator during the late 1870s. She spent many days here, taking information and working on her translations.[22] In the late 1880s, Eleanor accomplished the first English translation of Madame Bovary.[23] Additionally, Eleanor translated Reuben Sachs by Amy Levy to German.[24] Eleanor was involved as a translator or editor in 14 known works.[25]
Involvement in theatre