Edgar Bauer
Encyclopedia
Edgar Bauer was a German political philosopher and a member of the Young Hegelians
. He was the younger brother of Bruno Bauer
. According to Lawrence S. Stepelevich, Edgar Bauer was the most anarchistic of the Young Hegelians, and "...it is possible to discern, in the early writings of Edgar Bauer, the theoretical justification of political terrorism." German anarchists such as Max Nettlau
and Gustav Landauer
credited Edgar Bauer with founding the anarchist tradition in Germany. In the mid-1840s, Marx' and Engels' critique of the Bauer brothers marked the beginning of their collaboration and an important stage in the development of Marxist thought. Edgar Bauer participated in the Revolution of 1848. Subsequently he became a conservative.
, Karl Marx
, Max Stirner
, Friedrich Engels
, Georg Herwegh
, Karl Grün
, Moses Hess
and Mikhail Bakunin
. He was especially close to Engels at that time. Edgar Bauer soon became a regular contributor to a variety of philosophical and political publications, distinguishing himself by a particularly enthusiastic revolutionary ideology. He did not follow the 'materialist turn' in Young Hegelian philosophy inaugurated by Ludwig Feuerbach (as Marx, Engels, Grün and others did), but instead remained true to the Neo-Fichtean idealist 'philosophy of action' propagated by his brother Bruno. Like Bruno, Edgar was a staunch anti-theist and considered the emancipation from religion a necessary precondition of social emancipation. Unlike Bruno, who was sceptical of socialism, Edgar considered himself a socialist and was usually associated with the 'True Socialists' around Hess and Grün. When Bruno Bauer was dismissed from his academic position because of his atheism, it became clear to Edgar that, given his brother's reputation and his own growing track record as a radical publicist, an academic career was closed to him. In 1842 he abandoned his studies and became a free-lance writer and journalist. He contributed to the liberal Rheinische Zeitung, among other publications.
In 1851, facing imminent arrest, he escaped to Denmark and thence to London, England, where he lived in exile for several years. During this time he often met Karl Marx, who was living in London, but the relationship was not one of mutual respect. Disillusioned by the failure of the revolution and alienated from most of his fellow refugees, Bauer became increasingly conservative (as did his brother Bruno). From 1852 to 1861 he worked secretly as an informant for the Danish police. In 1856 he publicly distanced himself from his former revolutionary views.
- Bauer, E., 'The Political Revolution' (1842).
In: Stepelevich, L.S. (ed.), The Young Hegelians. An anthology. Cambridge University Press, 1983 pp.263-274.
https://portal.d-nb.de/opac.htm?query=Woe%3D118507265&method=simpleSearch
http://www.marxists.org/subject/anarchism/bauer/political-revolution.htm
http://www.faqs.org/espionage/Te-Uk/Terrorism-Philosophical-and-Ideological-Origins.html
Young Hegelians
The Young Hegelians, or Left Hegelians, were a group of Prussian intellectuals who in the decade or so after the death of Hegel in 1831, wrote and responded to his ambiguous legacy...
. He was the younger brother of Bruno Bauer
Bruno Bauer
Bruno Bauer was a German philosopher and historian. As a student of GWF Hegel, Bauer was a radical Rationalist in philosophy, politics and Biblical criticism...
. According to Lawrence S. Stepelevich, Edgar Bauer was the most anarchistic of the Young Hegelians, and "...it is possible to discern, in the early writings of Edgar Bauer, the theoretical justification of political terrorism." German anarchists such as Max Nettlau
Max Nettlau
Max Heinrich Hermann Reinhardt Nettlau was a German anarchist and historian. Although born in Neuwaldegg and raised in Vienna he retained his Prussian nationality throughout his life. A student of the Welsh language he spent time in London where he joined the Socialist League where he met...
and Gustav Landauer
Gustav Landauer
Gustav Landauer was one of the leading theorists on anarchism in Germany in the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. He was an advocate of communist anarchism and an avowed pacifist. Landauer is also known for his study and translations of William Shakespeare's works into German...
credited Edgar Bauer with founding the anarchist tradition in Germany. In the mid-1840s, Marx' and Engels' critique of the Bauer brothers marked the beginning of their collaboration and an important stage in the development of Marxist thought. Edgar Bauer participated in the Revolution of 1848. Subsequently he became a conservative.
Young Hegelianism and Radical Politics
Edgar Bauer was born in Charlottenburg. He studied jurisprudence and philosophy at the University of Berlin, where he became a member of the Young Hegelian circle around his brother Bruno Bauer. Other members of his circle were Arnold RugeArnold Ruge
Arnold Ruge was a German philosopher and political writer.-Studies in university and prison:Born in Bergen auf Rügen, he studied in Halle, Jena and Heidelberg. As an advocate of a free and united Germany he was jailed for five years in 1825 in the fortress of Kolberg, where he studied Plato and...
, Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
, Max Stirner
Max Stirner
Johann Kaspar Schmidt , better known as Max Stirner , was a German philosopher, who ranks as one of the literary fathers of nihilism, existentialism, post-modernism and anarchism, especially of individualist anarchism...
, Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels was a German industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, alongside Karl Marx. In 1845 he published The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research...
, Georg Herwegh
Georg Herwegh
Georg Friedrich Rudolph Theodor Herwegh was a German revolutionary poet.-Biography:He was born in Stuttgart on 31 May 1817, the son of an innkeeper...
, Karl Grün
Karl Grün
Karl Grün , also known by his alias Ernst von der Haide, was a German journalist, political theorist and socialist politician. He played a prominent role in radical political movements leading up to the Revolution of 1848 and participated in the revolution...
, Moses Hess
Moses Hess
Moses Hess was a Jewish philosopher and socialist, and one of the founders of Labor Zionism.-Life:Hess was born in Bonn, which was under French rule at the time. In his French-language birth certificate, his name is given as "Moises"; he was named after his maternal grandfather...
and Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin was a well-known Russian revolutionary and theorist of collectivist anarchism. He has also often been called the father of anarchist theory in general. Bakunin grew up near Moscow, where he moved to study philosophy and began to read the French Encyclopedists,...
. He was especially close to Engels at that time. Edgar Bauer soon became a regular contributor to a variety of philosophical and political publications, distinguishing himself by a particularly enthusiastic revolutionary ideology. He did not follow the 'materialist turn' in Young Hegelian philosophy inaugurated by Ludwig Feuerbach (as Marx, Engels, Grün and others did), but instead remained true to the Neo-Fichtean idealist 'philosophy of action' propagated by his brother Bruno. Like Bruno, Edgar was a staunch anti-theist and considered the emancipation from religion a necessary precondition of social emancipation. Unlike Bruno, who was sceptical of socialism, Edgar considered himself a socialist and was usually associated with the 'True Socialists' around Hess and Grün. When Bruno Bauer was dismissed from his academic position because of his atheism, it became clear to Edgar that, given his brother's reputation and his own growing track record as a radical publicist, an academic career was closed to him. In 1842 he abandoned his studies and became a free-lance writer and journalist. He contributed to the liberal Rheinische Zeitung, among other publications.
Imprisonment, Revolution and Exile
In 1843 he published a book titled The Conflict of Criticism with Church and State. This caused him to be charged with sedition. He was imprisoned for four years in the fortress at Magdeburg. While he was in prison, his former associates Marx and Engels published a scathing critique of him and his brother Bruno, titled The Holy Family (1844). They resumed the attack in The German Ideology (1846), which was not published at the time. In spite of this, Edgar Bauer seems to have remained on friendly terms with Marx and Engels. Released on the eve of the Revolution of 1848, Edgar Bauer participated in the revolutionary fighting in Berlin and Hamburg. After the defeat of the revolutionaries he went into hiding and then lived under an assumed name in Altona for several years, working as a journalist. During the German-Danish war over Schleswig-Holstein (1848-51), he supported the Danish side.In 1851, facing imminent arrest, he escaped to Denmark and thence to London, England, where he lived in exile for several years. During this time he often met Karl Marx, who was living in London, but the relationship was not one of mutual respect. Disillusioned by the failure of the revolution and alienated from most of his fellow refugees, Bauer became increasingly conservative (as did his brother Bruno). From 1852 to 1861 he worked secretly as an informant for the Danish police. In 1856 he publicly distanced himself from his former revolutionary views.
Amnesty and Conservatism
In 1861, an amnesty enabled Bauer to return to Germany. By now thoroughly conservative, he had renounced anarchism, socialism, democracy, atheism and critical philosophy. He settled in Hanover, became a Prussian civil servant and in 1870 founded the conservative periodical Kirchliche Blätter. He died on August 18, 1886. His literary remains are in the Archiv der sozialen Demokratie (Archive of Social Democracy) in Bonn.Quote
"‘No private property, no privilege, no difference in status, no usurpatory regime’. So reads our pronunciamento; it is negative, but history will write its affirmation."- Bauer, E., 'The Political Revolution' (1842).
In: Stepelevich, L.S. (ed.), The Young Hegelians. An anthology. Cambridge University Press, 1983 pp.263-274.
Works
- Geschichte Europas seit der ersten französischen Revolution (von Archibald Alison). In: Deutsche Jahrbücher für Wissenschaft und Kunst, 14./15./16. Dezember 1842
- Der Streit der Kritik mit Kirche und Staat (Charlottenburg, 1843)
- Denkwürdigkeiten zur Geschichte der neuern Zeit (1843-1844, 12 Hefte, mit Bruno Bauer)
- Die Geschichte der konstitutionellen Bewegungen im südlichen Deutschland während der Jahre 1831-34 (Charlottenburg, 1845, 3 Bd.)
- Die Kunst der Geschichtsschreibung und Herrn Dahlmanns Geschichte der französischen Revolution (Magdeburg, 1846)
- Geschichte des Luthertums (unter dem Namen Martin von Geismar, Leipzig, 1846-1847)
- Über die Ehe im Sinn des Luthertums (Leipzig, 1847)
- Der Mensch und die Ehe vor dem Richterstuhle der Sittlichkeit. In: Die Epigonen. Fünfter Band (1848), S. 317–343 (anlässlich eines Buches gleichen Titels von Wilhelm MarrWilhelm MarrWilhelm Marr was a German agitator and publicist, who coined the term "antisemitism" .-Life:Marr was born in Magdeburg as the only son of an actor and stage director. He went to a primary school in Hannover, then to a high school in Braunschweig...
) - Das Teutsche Reich in seiner geschichtlichen Gestalt (Altona, 1872)
- Die Wahrheit über die Internationale (Altona, 1873)
- Englische Freiheit (Leipzig, 1857)
- Die Rechte des Herzogtums Holstein (Berlin, 1863)
- Die Deutschen und ihre Nachbarn (Hamburg, 1870)
- Artikel V, der deutsche Gedanke und die dänische Monarchie (Altona, 1873)
- Der Freimaurerbund und das Licht (Hannover, 1877)
- Der Magus des Nordens. Novelle. 1882
Links
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Bauerhttps://portal.d-nb.de/opac.htm?query=Woe%3D118507265&method=simpleSearch
http://www.marxists.org/subject/anarchism/bauer/political-revolution.htm
http://www.faqs.org/espionage/Te-Uk/Terrorism-Philosophical-and-Ideological-Origins.html