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 The Spartacus League (German: ''Spartakusbund'') was a Marxist revolutionary movement organized in Germany during World War I. It was founded in August 1914 as the "International Group" by Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht, Clara Zetkin, and othe ...

during the

German Revolution of 1918–1919 The German Revolution or November Revolution (german: Novemberrevolution) was a civil conflict in the German Empire at the end of the First World War that resulted in the replacement of the German federal constitutional monarchy with a d ...

Biography

Early years

Mehring was born 27 February 1846 in Schlawe,

Pomerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...

, the son of a retired military officer and senior tax official. He studied classical philology at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...

and received his doctorate in 1882 with the dissertation: "The German social democracy, their history and their teaching".

Political career

Mehring worked for various daily and weekly newspapers and over many years wrote lead articles for the weekly magazine . He was initially a supporter of bourgeois-democratic ideas however after being acquainted with working-class leaders such as

August Bebel Ferdinand August Bebel (22 February 1840 – 13 August 1913) was a German socialist politician, writer, and orator. He is best remembered as one of the founders of the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany (SDAP) in 1869, which in 1875 mer ...

and

Wilhelm Liebknecht Wilhelm Martin Philipp Christian Ludwig Liebknecht (; 29 March 1826 – 7 August 1900) was a German socialist and one of the principal founders of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).Oldenburg, writing reports on sessions of the '' Reichstag'' and the local parliament. He became a well-known parliamentary reporter, working for the newspaper and , a newspaper published by Leopold Sonnemann (1831–1909). From time to time Mehring spoke in support of the labor movement, his views were initially close to

Ferdinand Lassalle Ferdinand Lassalle (; 11 April 1825 – 31 August 1864) was a Prussian-German jurist, philosopher, socialist and political activist best remembered as the initiator of the social democratic movement in Germany. "Lassalle was the first man in G ...

. In 1880, Mehring began to study the works 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 ...

. Mehring left after an argument with Sonnemann and in 1884 became chief editor of the newspaper. He spoke out against

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of ...

’s

Anti-Socialist Laws The Anti-Socialist Laws or Socialist Laws (german: Sozialistengesetze; officially , approximately "Law against the public danger of Social Democratic endeavours") were a series of acts of the parliament of the German Empire, the first of which was ...

, although he was himself a member of the bourgeoisie. In 1891, Mehring joined the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been ...

(SPD). In 1893, Mehring was the recipient of a letter from

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' False consciousness In Marxist theory, false consciousness is a term describing the ways in which material, ideological, and institutional processes are said to mislead members of the proletariat and other class actors within capitalist societies, concealing the ...

. Between 1902 and 1907, Mehring was the chief editor of the Social Democratic newspaper. From 1906 to 1911, Mehring taught at the SPD's party school and was a member of the

Prussian parliament The Landtag of Prussia (german: Preußischer Landtag) was the representative assembly of the Kingdom of Prussia implemented in 1849, a bicameral legislature consisting of the upper House of Lords (''Herrenhaus'') and the lower House of Representa ...

from 1917 to 1918. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, Mehring began to distance himself from the SPD, along with other members who believed the party was abandoning its Socialist Agenda by passing a bill to send more troops to war. In 1916, the left-wing

Marxist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...

revolutionary

was founded and Mehring was one of its main leaders alongside

Karl Liebknecht Karl Paul August Friedrich Liebknecht (; 13 August 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a German socialist and anti-militarist. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) beginning in 1900, he was one of its deputies in the Reichstag fro ...

and

Rosa Luxemburg Rosa Luxemburg (; ; pl, Róża Luksemburg or ; 5 March 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a Polish and naturalised-German revolutionary socialism, revolutionary socialist, Marxism, Marxist philosopher and anti-war movement, anti-war activist. Succ ...

. Mehring was sympathetic to the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

organization in Russia and to the cause of the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mom ...

. Mehring wrote a Marxist analysis of the actions of King

Gustavus Adolphus Gustavus Adolphus (9 December Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">N.S_19_December.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/now ...

of Sweden which rejected the official explanation of the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of batt ...

as having been rooted in religion, arguing instead that the economic and social interests of various classes were the actual spurs to action. After "long and irritating delays owing to the military censorship" (according to the English translator Edward Fitzgerald, 1935 U.S. edition), Mehring's '' Karl Marx: The Story of His Life'' was published in 1918. The classical biography of Marx, it was dedicated to fellow Spartacist

Clara Zetkin Clara Zetkin (; ; ''née'' Eißner ; 5 July 1857 – 20 June 1933) was a German Marxist theorist, communist activist, and advocate for women's rights. Until 1917, she was active in the Social Democratic Party of Germany. She then joined the ...

. The book was later translated into many languages, including Russian (1920), Swedish (1921–1922), Danish (1922), Hungarian (1925), Japanese (1930), Spanish (1932), and English (1935).

Death and legacy

Already in ill health, Mehring was deeply affected by the death of his comrades

and

in January 1919. He died just under two weeks later on 28 January 1919 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

at the age of 73. Mehring's papers reside as fond 201 at the Russian Center for Preservation and Research of Modern Historical Documents (RCChIDNI) in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

.Franz Mehring Papers
at the

International Institute of Social History The International Institute of Social History (IISH/IISG) is one of the largest archives of labor and social history in the world. Located in Amsterdam, its one million volumes and 2,300 archival collections include the papers of major figu ...

, see line "Location of Originals" in tab "Content and Context" This material is also available for use by scholars on three reels of microfilm, with permission required by the center before extensive extracts may be published. Mehringdamm,

Mehringplatz Mehringplatz is a round plaza (or circus)A circus is "circular open space at a street junction" at the southern tip of the Friedrichstadt neighborhood of Kreuzberg district, Berlin. It marks the southern end of Friedrichstraße. Until 1970 bo ...

, and the NVA Air Force Officer's Academy that was located in

Kamenz Kamenz () or Kamjenc ( Sorbian) is a town (''Große Kreisstadt'') in the district of Bautzen in Saxony, Germany. Until 2008 it was the administrative seat of Kamenz District. The town is known as the birthplace of the philosopher and poet Gott ...

were all named after him.

References

External links

*
Franz Mehring Internet Archive
at Marxists Internet Archive. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mehring, Franz 1846 births 1919 deaths People from Sławno Members of the Prussian House of Representatives People from the Province of Pomerania Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Leipzig University alumni Humboldt University of Berlin alumni German opinion journalists German male non-fiction writers 20th-century German historians German Marxist historians Leipziger Volkszeitung editors German literary critics 20th-century German philosophers German Marxists