Jenny Caroline Marx Longuet (1 May 1844 – 11 January 1883) was the eldest daughter of Jenny von Westphalen Marx and

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 ...

. Briefly a political journalist writing under the pen name J. Williams, Longuet taught language classes and had a family of five sons and a daughter before her death to

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

at the age of 38.

Biography

Early years

Jenny Caroline Marx, known to family and close friends as "Jennychen" to distinguish her from her mother, was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

on 1 May 1844, the oldest daughter of

and Jenny von Westphalen Marx. She was a fragile child but was nevertheless the first of the Marx children to survive childhood.Saul K. Padover, ''Karl Marx: An Intimate Biography.'' New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1978; pg. 474. In 1868, at the age of 24, she accepted a position as a French language teacher in order to help her parents financially. She also contributed a number of articles to the socialist press, in 1870 writing under the pen name "J. Williams" on the treatment of the Irish political prisoners by the British government. She met her future husband, the French journalist and radical political activist Charles Longuet in 1871.Padover, ''Karl Marx,'' pg. 476. The pair became engaged in March 1872 and were married on 10 October the same year in a civil ceremony at St Pancras registry office, she taking the name Jenny Longuet. As with her parents, the young couple faced economic hardship in their earliest years.Padover, ''Karl Marx,'' pg. 477. They moved to

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

soon after their marriage, hoping that Charles could find work as a teacher, but he was unable to do so. Jenny earned a meagre income for the pair working as a private tutor, giving lessons in French, German, and singing. The couple's financial lives became more stable in 1874, when Jenny and Charles found work as teachers, with Jenny holding a position as a German teacher at the St Clement Danes School. The minimal salary she earned at the school was supplemented by giving private lessons.Padover, ''Karl Marx,'' pg. 478. Her husband obtained a position teaching French at King's College, together making enough to maintain a small house in London. Jenny Longuet was pregnant in almost every year of her married life.Padover, ''Karl Marx,'' pg. 479. She gave birth to a first son in September 1873, but the child died the following summer of

diarrhea Diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements each day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration due to fluid loss. Signs of dehydration often begin w ...

. A second son, Jean Laurent Frederick "Johnny" Longuet (1876–1938) fared better, surviving to eventually become a leader of the Socialist Party of France. A third son, born in 1878, mentally challenged and sickly, died at the age of 5, while a fourth, Edgar "Wolf" Longuet (1879–1950) lived a full life, becoming a medical doctor as well as an activist in the French Socialist Party.Padover, ''Karl Marx,'' pg. 480.

Return to France

A political amnesty granted by the government of France in July 1880 allowed Charles Longuet the opportunity to return to his native country and he was quick to return, taking a position as an editor of '' La Justice,'' a radical daily newspaper founded by

Georges Clemenceau Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (, also , ; 28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A key figure of the Independent Radicals, he was a ...

.Padover, ''Karl Marx,'' pg. 481. By this time, however, Jenny had begun to suffer from cancer and she for a time remained in London with her three sons, to be near her aging parents. In February 1881 Jenny and the boys moved to France to join her husband.Padover, ''Karl Marx,'' pg. 482. The family settled in the town of Argenteuil, near Paris, where they were regularly visited by the boys' doting grandfather Karl Marx.Padover, ''Karl Marx,'' pg. 484. Despite her ill health, Jenny delivered another son, Marcel Longuet (1881-1949)Padover, ''Karl Marx,'' pg. 485. who later worked as a journalist, including for the Parisian newspaper L'Aurore. A final child, a daughter also named Jenny Longuet, was born in September 1882 and lived until 1952.

Death and legacy

Just four months after the birth of her daughter, Longuet died at Argenteuil on 11 January 1883, at the age of 38, probably from cancer of the bladder, a condition which had afflicted her for some time. Her father was too ill to attend the funeral in France; he died two months later.Francis Wheen. ''Karl Marx: A Life.'' London: W.W. Norton & Company, 1999; pp. 379-381.

Footnotes

External links

Jenny Longuet papers
at IISG

at

Marxists Internet Archive Marxists Internet Archive (also known as MIA or Marxists.org) is a non-profit online encyclopedia that hosts a multilingual library (created in 1990) of the works of communist, anarchist, and socialist writers, such as Karl Marx, Friedrich Eng ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Longuet, Jenny 1844 births 1883 deaths People from Paris French Marxists French activists French women activists Women Marxists People educated at South Hampstead High School French people of German-Jewish descent French people of Scottish descent Karl Marx Deaths from bladder cancer Deaths from cancer in France German emigrants to France 19th-century pseudonymous writers Pseudonymous women writers