Louise Leah Juta, born Louise (or Luise) Marx (14 November 1821 – 3 July 1893) was a German bookseller and the sister of communist philosopher

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

Life

Louise Marx was the sixth child of Heinrich Marx, a lawyer, and Henriette Pressburg, of

Trier Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...

in the Prussian Rhineland. Growing up, her elder brother Karl was clearly the dominant child in the family. Louise's niece

Eleanor Marx Jenny Julia Eleanor Marx (16 January 1855 – 31 March 1898), sometimes called Eleanor Aveling and known to her family as Tussy, was the English-born youngest daughter of Karl Marx. She was herself a Socialism, socialist activist who sometimes ...

later recorded that Karl was “‘a unique and unrivaled storyteller. I have heard my aunts say that as a little boy he was a terrible tyrant to his sisters, whom he would ‘drive’ down the Markusberg at Trier full speed as his horses and, worse, would insist on their eating the ‘cakes’ he made with dirty dough and dirtier hands. But they stood the ‘driving’ and ate the ‘cakes’ without a murmur for the sake of the stories Karl would tell them as a reward for their virtue.” Heinrich, a

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

and the son of a

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

, was baptized in about 1817.David McLellan. Karl Marx: A biography, page 4. With her siblings, Louise was baptized on 26 August 1824 by the Protestant military pastor Mühlenhoff. Shortly after a bout of scarlet fever, she was summoned with her sister Emilie on April 8, 1838 to Trier, because her father was seriously ill with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. Heinrich Marx died on 10 May 1838 in Trier. She received, like all underage siblings, a guardian. Therefore, not much could be invested in their education. She was given special consideration in her mother's various wills. She met Jan Carel Juta in

Zaltbommel Zaltbommel (), also known, historically and colloquially, as Bommel, is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. History The city of Zaltbommel The town of Zaltbommel was first mentioned as "Bomela" in the year 850. Zaltbommel received ...

and they married on 5 June 1853 in a civil ceremony in Trier. On the 7 June a church wedding took place in Traben, in the presence of her mother Henriette Marx and her uncle

Lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...

and aunt Sophie

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

. On 15 June 1853, a notarised contract was concluded in Zaltbommel, in order to regulate the difficult travel conditions for the long journey to South Africa. On the way to the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

, the newly wed couple visited Karl Marx and his family in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on 29 June. Dining with him at his Dean Street home,David McLellan. Karl Marx: A biography, page 247. Louise was demonstrably unsympathetic to Karl's views, a fellow guest noting that “she could not countenance her brother being the leader of the socialists, and insisted in my presence that they both belonged to the respected family of a lawyer, who had sympathy of everyone in Trier.” Later, Juta, his wife and children visited Marx and his family and

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, and sold textbooks, government documents and scientific works. In 1883 she sold part of the company to her authorized signatories Jacobus Cuypers and Thomas Mullins Duncan. She died in Rondebosch, Cape Town in 1893. Louise and Jan Carel had seven children, including the future Sir Henry Juta QC, a barrister and senior Judge in the South African courts, who also served as Speaker of the Parliament of Cape Colony. Juta Publishing is still trading, and is one of South Africa's leading academic and law publishers.

Literature

*SA Rochlin: A link between Karl Marx and Cape Town. In: Africana Notes and News. Vol. II. Johannesburg 1944, pp. 23–24 *Juta & Company. A note on Juta's history in Cape Town. Cape Town o. J. *Werner Blumenberg : An Unknown Chapter from Marx's Life. Letters to the Dutch relatives. In: International Review of Social History, 1, 1956, No. 1, pp. 54–111 *SA Rochlin: JC Juta, bookseller and publisher. In: Africana Notes and News. Johannesburg 1957, pp. 222–228 *Mohr and General. Berlin 1964, p. 272 f. *Heinz Monz: Karl Marx and Trier. Relationships relationships influences. New publishing house, Trier 1964 *Heinz Monz: Karl Marx. Basics of life and work. NCO-Verlag, Trier 1973, pp. 235–236 *Olga Meier (ed.): The Daughters of Karl Marx. Unpublished letters. From French and English by Karin Kersten and Jutta Prasse. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1981 *Manfred Schoenecke: An unexpected inheritance. In: Yearbook of the IMSF 12th International Marx-Engels-Research, Frankfurt / M. 1987, p. 181 ff. *Juta Publishing into the Nineties. 1853–1990. 137 Years of publishing. Cape Town 1990 *Manfred Schoenecke: Karl and Heinrich Marx and their siblings. Cologne 1993, pp. 590–726 *Jan Gielkens: Karl Marx and his Dutch relatives. An annotated source edition, Trier 1999 ather April 2000(= writings from the Karl Marx house 50) *Family Marx private. The photo and questionnaire albums of Marx's daughters Laura and Jenny. An annotated facsimile edition. Ed. V. Izumi Omura, Valery Fomičev, Rolf Hecker and Shun-ichi Kubo. With an essay by *Iring Fetscher, Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 2005 *David McLellan: Karl Marx: A Biography. Macmillan, London. 1973/1995. *Francis Wheen: Karl Marx. Published by Fourth Estate, London. 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Juta, Louise Karl Marx People from Trier South African booksellers Cape Colony people People from Cape Town German people of Dutch-Jewish descent 1821 births 1893 deaths 19th-century German businesspeople 19th-century German businesswomen German booksellers