Another lie by Tristram Hunt's The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels disproven
Engels did not mention Freddy in his will of 29 July 1893, in which there were numerous bequests, nor in his codicil of 26 July 1895 (when he knew he was dying). Eleanor and Laura were asked by Engels in a letter to hold one-third (some £3000) of their combined share in trust for Jenny Longuet’s French children, who could not be named for legal reasons. The two women, in conjunction with their brother-in-law Charles, managed to channel some of the funds from Engels’s estate to Freddy.
In late 1897 and early 1898 – just before she apparently committed suicide on 31 March – Eleanor was in a terrible state about money, her relationship with the philandering socialist Edward Aveling (1851-98) and his deteriorating health. She wrote a series of moving letters, confiding in Freddy as Lenchen’s son: ‘I don’t think you and I have been very wicked people – and yet, dear Freddy, it does seems as if we get all the punishment.’ ‘I say to you what I would not say to anyone now’, she continued, ‘I would have told my dear old Nymmy, but as I have not, I have only you’ (2 K 680-8; 2 H 727-30; DKM 224, 240, 285; 39 MEW 318-19).
Labels: "The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels" "Tristram Hunt" history review bookreview lie disprove facts unture falsification false "bad history"
Frederich Engels was he a racist or orientalist? He writes:
- Upon the whole it is, in our opinion, very fortunate that the Arabian chief has been taken. The struggle of the Bedouins was a hopeless one, and though the manner in which brutal soldiers, like Bugeaud, have carried on the war is highly blamable, the conquest of Algeria is an important and fortunate fact for the progress of civilisation. The piracies of the Barbaresque states, never interfered with by the English government as long as they did not disturb their ships, could not be put down but by the conquest of one of these states. And the conquest of Algeria has already forced the Beys of Tunis and Tripoli, and even the Emperor of Morocco, to enter upon the road of civilisation. They were obliged to find other employment for their people than piracy, and other means of filling their exchequer than tributes paid to them by the smaller states of Europe. And if we may regret that the liberty of the Bedouins of the desert has been destroyed, we must not forget that these same Bedouins were a nation of robbers, — whose principal means of living consisted of making excursions either upon each other, or upon the settled villagers, taking what they found, slaughtering all those who resisted, and selling the remaining prisoners as slaves. All these nations of free barbarians look very proud, noble and glorious at a distance, but only come near them and you will find that they, as well as the more civilised nations, are ruled by the lust of gain, and only employ ruder and more cruel means. And after all, the modern bourgeois, with civilisation, industry, order, and at least relative enlightenment following him, is preferable to the feudal lord or to the marauding robber, with the barbarian state of society to which they belong.
Friedrich Engels & Homosexuality
A new book, “Marx's General: The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels,” Tristram Hunt argues that Engels and Marx were homophobes who believed in all kind of equality except for homosexuals. The author in this instance is laying. Anyone familiar with the works of Marx and Engels knows that the two men's writings on the subject of homosexuality is skin deep.
Engels writes to Marx:
- The Urning you sent me is a very curious thing. These are extremely unnatural revelations. The paederasts are beginning to count themselves, and discover that they are a power in the state. Only organisation was lacking, but according to this source it apparently already exists in secret. And since they have such important men in all the old parties and even in the new ones, from Rosing to Schweitzer, they cannot fail to triumph. Guerre aux cons, paix aus trous-de-cul [war on the cunts, peace to the arse-holes] will now be the slogan. It is a bit of luck that we, personally, are too old to have to fear that, when this party wins, we shall have to pay physical tribute to the victors. But the younger generation! Incidentally it is only in Germany that a fellow like this can possibly come forward, convert this smut into a theory, and offer the invitation: introite [enter], etc. Unfortunately, he has not yet got up the courage to acknowledge publicly that he is ‘that way’, and must still operate coram publico‘ from the front’, if not ‘going in from the front’ as he once said by mistake. But just wait until the new North German Penal Code recognizes the droits du cul [rights of the asshole] then he will operate quite differently. Then things will go badly enough for poor front-side people like us, with our childish penchant for females. If Schweitzer could be made useful for anything, it would be to wheedle out of this peculiar honorable gentleman the particulars of the paederasts in high and top places, which would certainly not be difficult for him as a brother in spirit.
Engles, twice uses the word paederasts which refers to pedophiles not homosexuals. Furthermore, the term Uranian is a nineteenth century word that referred to a person of a third sex — originally, someone with "a female psyche in a male body." Hunt simply ignores the beginning and end of the paragraph and claims that Engels is referring to homosexuals whereas Engels is referring to child molester. If the author of this passage was to employ the same tactics as Hunt, I would have questioned Hunt's view of paederasts.
Furthermore, the Hunt's lack of French language or his manupulative historical narrative ignore the fact that the french phrase
Guerre aux cons, paix aus trous-de-cul reefers to paederasts not homosexuals. In concluding that Engels is writing about homosexuals, Hunt ignores that facts that a German speaking Engels uses a popular French phrase to emphasize the point he is making and demonize the pedophiles. Perhaps the author's lack of knowledge in French language leads him to such conclusion but in that case his history becomes more worthless.
The author also takes Engles' squabbling about 1868 attempt of German government to legalize pedophilia, as a sign of his opposition to homosexuality. Indeed, the powerful pedophiles were attempting to lower the age of consent to 12 for boys only! But in the manipulative world of Hunt, this is another sign of Engle's homophobia.
