Jenny Laura Marx (26 September 1845 – 25 November 1911) was a socialist activist. The second daughter of

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 Jenny von Westphalen, she married revolutionary writer

Paul Lafargue Paul Lafargue (; 15 January 1842 – 25 November 1911) was a Cuban- Haitian revolutionary Marxist socialist, political writer, economist, journalist, literary critic, and activist; he was Karl Marx's son-in-law having married his second dau ...

in 1868. The two committed suicide together in 1911.

Life

Laura Marx was born in Brussels and moved with her parents to France, then

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

, before the family settled in London in June 1849. Paul Lafargue, born in Santiago De Cuba, was a young French socialist who came to London in 1866 to work for the

First International The International Workingmen's Association (IWA), often called the First International (1864–1876), was an international organisation which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, communist and anarchist groups and trad ...

. There he became a friend of Karl Marx and got to know Marx's family, especially Laura, who fell in love with him. Lafargue and Laura married at St Pancras registry office in April 1868. During their first three-years of marriage they had three children, two boys and a girl, all of whom died in infancy. They had no other children. They spent several decades in political work together, translating Karl Marx's work into French, and spreading

Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

both in France and Spain. During most of their lives, they were financially supported by

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

, who was one of the speakers at the funeral as representative of

RSDLP The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP; in , ''Rossiyskaya sotsial-demokraticheskaya rabochaya partiya (RSDRP)''), also known as the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party or the Russian Social Democratic Party, was a Socialism , s ...

, later told his wife

Nadezhda Krupskaya Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya ( rus, links=no, Надежда Константиновна Крупская, p=nɐˈdʲeʐdə kənstɐnˈtʲinəvnə ˈkrupskəjə; 27 February 1939) was a Russian revolutionary and the wife of Vladimir Lenin ...

"If one cannot work for the Party any longer, one must be able to look truth in the face and die like the Lafargues."

Ancestry

Works

* Laura Lafargue / Eleanor Marx – Aveling: ''Briefe und Schriften von Karl Marx ... Oktober 1895''. In: ''

Die Neue Zeit ''Die Neue Zeit'' (German: "The New Times") was a German socialist theoretical journal of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) that was published from 1883 to 1923. Its headquarters was in Stuttgart, Germany. History and profile Founded ...

,'' 1895, p. 121 * Karl Marx / Friedrich Engels:''Manifeste du parti communiste. (Traduction de Laura Lafargue)''. V. Giard et E. Brière, Paris 1897 * Karl Marx (das ist Friedrich Engels):''Révolution et contre-révolution en Allemagne. Trad. par Laura Lafargue''. V. Giard et E. Brière, Paris 1900 (''Bibliothèque socialiste internationale 6'') * Friedrich Engels:''Religion, philosophie, socialisme. Trad. par Paul & Laura Lafargue''. Jacques, Paris 1901 (''Bibliothèque d'études socialistes 8'') * Karl Marx:''Contribution à la critique de l'économie politique. Traduit sur la 2e édition allemande de Karl Kautsky par Laura Lafargue''. V. Giard et E. Brière, Paris 1909 (''Bibliothèque socialiste internationale 11'')

Notes

Bibliography

Franz Mehring Franz Erdmann Mehring (27 February 1846 – 28 January 1919) was a German communist historian, literary critic, philosopher, and revolutionary socialist politician who was a senior member of the Spartacus League during the German Revolution of 191 ...

: ''Paul und Laura Lafargue''. In:

, Stuttgart, 30. jg. 1911–1912, 1st Vol., p. 337-343 * ''Friedrich Engels Paul et Laura Lafargue. Correspondance. Textes recueillis, annotés et présentés par Émile Bottigelli. Traductions de l'anglais par Paul Meier''. Tome I.Édition Sociales, Paris 1956 * ''Friedrich Engels Paul et Laura Lafargue. Correspondance. Textes recueillis, annotés et présentés par Émile Bottigelli. Traductions de l'anglais par Paul Meier''. Tome II., Édition Sociales, Paris 1956 * ''Friedrich Engels Paul et Laura Lafargue. Correspondance. Textes recueillis, annotés et présentés par Émile Bottigelli. Traductions de l'anglais par Paul Meier''. Tome III., Édition Sociales, Paris 1959 * Olga Meier (Hrsg.): ''Die Töchter von Karl Marx. Unveröffentlichte Briefe. aus dem Französischen und dem Englischen von Karin Kersten und Jutta Prasse''. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 1981 * Irina Bach / Olga Senekina: "Briefe von Mitgliedern der Familie Marx an Friedrich Engels". In: ''Marx-Engels-Jahrbuch'' 6. Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1983, p. 311-366 * Olga Worobjowa / Irma Senelnikowa: ''Die Töchter von Marx'' 4. ed. Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1984 * Rosie Rudich: "Neue Briefe von Karl Marx und Laura Lafargue". In: ''Marx-Engels-Jahrbuch'' 8. Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1985, p. 283-314 * Inge Werchan: "Engels begutachtete Laura Lafargues überarbeitete französische Übersetzung des "Kommunistischen Manifests" aus dem Jahre 1894". In: ''Beiträge zur Marx-Erngels-Forschung'' 24, Berlin 1988, p. 112-116 * Katharina Raabe (Hrsg): ''Deutsche Schwestern. Vierzehn Porträts''. Rowohlt Berlin, Berlin 1997 * ''Familie Marx privat''. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2005 * Renate Merkel-Melis: "'… that most untranslateable of documents …'. Engels’ Revision der französischen Übersetzung des "Kommunistischen Manifests" von Laura Lafargue". In: ''Marx-Engels-Jahrbuch'' 2006. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 2007 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marx, Laura 1845 births 1911 deaths 1911 suicides 19th-century German women Activists from Brussels Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery German communists German Marxists German people of Jewish descent German people of Scottish descent German socialists Jewish socialists Joint suicides Karl Marx People educated at South Hampstead High School Suicides in France