The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-12-08
The Dietzgen Centenary

p AT the international congress at the
Hague in 1872, Karl Marx introduced one
of the German delegates with the remark:
"Here is our philosopher" That delegate
was Joseph Dietzgen, who was born near
Cologne, Germany, one hundred years ago
this Sunday-December 8, 1923.
Dietzgen was distinctly product OF the
revolutionary movement. He became class
conscious socialist at 20 years of age, IN
1849. when he became familiar with the
Communist Manifesto of Marx and Engels'
published to the world that year. Partlcl-
pating in the great upheavals OF that year
he like thousands of other German revolt
tionaries, came to the United States, where
he spent two or three years as tramp,
wandering from place to place with othef
migratory workers and securing odd jobs as
tanner and journeyman painter. Returning
to Germany he engaged in his trade as tan
ner and took up the study of philosophlc
nroblems and had a few articles published IN
radical and revolutionary newspapers. In
few years he journeyed back again to the
United States in the hope of establishing a
tanning factory of his own that would give
him leisure to persue his studies which by
that time had completely engrossed him.
Locating in Alabama, he was hardly able to
realize an existence.
The outbreak of the Civil War prevented
him continuing his venture. His openly ex-
pressed sympathies with the North COM
PEELED him to leave the South post haste
when a number of his friends were hanged
by the sIave-owners. Returning to Germany
he devoted as much of his time as possible
- fyc+ rnr,ortan+ work while
working at his trade Being a devoted Marx
list, he sent his work to Marx for criticism.
However, illness prevented Marx immediate
ly replying, but that he was appreciative of
the efforts of Dietzgen in the field of dia
lectic materialism is indicated by letter to
Kugelman, Dec. 5, 1868, in which he said
at is long since Dietzgen sent me his manu-
script which, despite confusion of ideas
and too frequent repetitions, contains many
excellent thoughts, and which is the product
of a worker and worthy of admiration.
Dietzgen's first work entitled "The Ma
ture of Human Brainwork, Discussed by
Workingman," appeared first in 1869, when
he was Al years of age. In the introduc-
ton to the work he signed himself Joseph
Dietzgen, Tanner"
study of the work itself and the letters
on logic" which appear in the English edi-
ton is bound to impress upon the reader
the fact that it is the product of worker
who was so anxious that he be understood
that he used dozens of examples to illustrate
one point
The publication in the United States of
his. chief works some twenty years ago was
of real service to the revolutionary move
ment, surfeited as it was with bourgeois in
tellectuals, spiritualists and christian social
lists of the calibre of George D. Heron, j.
Stitt Wilson, Carl D. Thompson, John Spargo
and others. For more than a decade after
the publication of Dietzgen's works they
were among the textbooks of American OPP
ponents of the official socialist leadership.
For time there threatened to grow up
cult calling themselves "monist-material-
ists," that viewed every word of Dietzgen as
the final utterance on everything. These
elements tried to reconcile all contradictions
in the working class movement and confirm
it with a Dietzgen benediction. This was
particularly pronounced among the syndical-
list element of the movement who preached
reconciliation of socialism with anarchism
and based their ideas upon the action of
Dietzgen when he took over the editorship