Today is the anniversary of the death of Friedrich Engels, who, along with his comrade Karl Marx, was one of the fathers of scientific socialism.
Engels dedicated his life to the communist cause, and contributed immensely to the development of scientific socialism with invaluable works such as Anti-Dühring, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, Dialectics of Nature, and The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State.
He also participated in the revolutionary uprisings against the Prussian state in 1848-49, writing incendiary articles and supplying arms.
Although an intellectual giant in his own right, Engels is best known for his lifelong support of and collaboration with Marx, co-authoring the Communist Manifesto, editing Capital, and promoting communism in the First International.
Despite the best efforts of the bourgeoisie to misinterpret and manipulate his work, one simply has to read Engel’s own words to understand his ideas:
“A revolution is certainly the most authoritarian thing there is; it is the act whereby one part of the population imposes its will upon the other part by means of rifles, bayonets and cannon — authoritarian means, if such there be at all; and if the victorious party does not want to have fought in vain, it must maintain this rule by means of the terror which its arms inspire in the reactionists. Would the Paris Commune have lasted a single day if it had not made use of this authority of the armed people against the bourgeois?”
– On Authority, 1872
Do yourself and the working class a favour: read Engels!
