New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-06-03
LASSALLE
The Man, His Life and HIS
Work.

/ FERDINAND JIhSSAlll>L<.
Brandes. svo, PIP 23p. The Macmillan
Company.
Begun thirty-six years ago in the form
If q series Of articles In an Enghsh
magazine completed in its present form
in 1881. Mr. Brandes's monograph pears
the stamp of that talent which has Won
for him his prominent place in the III
erature of the nineteenth century AS d
character study the book is far more
than brilliant 1t is of sterling consist
ency. so lucidly developed that, having
read it. one returns with fullest appre-
citation TO the brief characterization OF
its subject with which it opens;
Somewhere. in one of his letters when
is full Of impatient outbursts against the
hardness with which events oeyeIop' Ia 10 ,,
sale uses the phrase my ardent SOU.
Thousands use the expression, as the
mere figure of speech II has become Las.
sale perhaps alone could use 1t without
exaggcration, for his innermost being con-
cealed some force akin 10 fire. HIS burn-
ing love for knowledge and science,
his thirst for righteousness and truth MS
enthusiasm, his unresuaned seh-cohh-
dence his deep Self-cOnceit, his courage,
his delight in power-these were charC-
teristics which all found expression in the
same fiery and devouring manner. lie
was a bearer of light and fire to the
as Lucfer himself: torchbearer VINO de-
lighted to stand in the full glare OF the
torch with which he brought enllghten-
ment-grdnd OscHr CT grand poseW
The author holds no brief for socialism
in these pages. His view of Lassalle
the agitator is that of the impartial his
g,lr with hllf
ventures to cast speculative look into
the future. 1t is in the scientific his
toric spirit that he deals with Capital
and Labor" and its relation TO Karl
Marks work. IL is ever the man himself,
his mind. his will, his magnetic person.
atty that are kept in the foreground as
the real causes of his influence
The subject matter Of the volume Is
: divided into two periods Of approximate
; ly equal length. The first deals with
Lassalle's BIRTH environment and early
life. with his pathological studies. his
"Heraklitus." and, above all, with that
feat of modern chivalry. his eight years
struggle in the Prussian courts Of law
[
Homcric battle won by needy young
enthusiast for a penniless woman In the
face Of all the resources Of Prussian aris-
tocracy and wealth. This was the time
also Of his first entrance upon the field
of politics.
The second period is that Of the years
1s62-'64, and embraces the whole of
that part Of his work that has made his
name known throughout the world in
Guiding the closing episode, most widely
known OF all-his fatal duel and its
cause. The author shows us here a new,
an unforeseen. an incalculable Lassalle,
blunderer, despairing in the profundi-
Is of his feeling. but withal acutely con-
scious OF the ridicule which the failure
Of his suit must pour upon his colossal
vanity. But there was more. DR..
Brardes holds, breakup of the vital
power within him, and the consequent
rise to the surface of coarser elements
I'm his disposition. hitherto perhaps I'M
known even TO himself
That was the end. but his allotted task
had already been completed. These two
years were a period of achievement. of
amazing activity and agitation. Of tri-
umph and popularity. Between March.
1862, and June, 1864. he wrote twenty
works, three or four of which attained
the length of books; he delivered nu-
merous speeches, was constantly nego-
tiatinS with Populations of laborers.
founded and organized the General
Union of German Workmen and carried
on an enormous correspondence. while at
the same time entangled i'm at least ten
political lawsuits. The author traces the
theoretical foundations upon which Las
sale built his agitation, the basis of his
whole activity, 10 the ideas of the Ger
man democracy OF lS4S.