Karl Marx’s

“Confession”

Zalt-Bommel, 1 April 1865

First Published: in the original English in the International Review of Social History, 1956.

Transcribed: by Andy Blunden.

“Confessions” were semi-jocular questionaires that were very popular in Victorian England, and filling them out a common passtime in many families, including Marx's, where friends and relatives particpated. A number of versions of Confessions belonging to Marx have been preserved.

In the Spring of 1865 Marx stayed with his uncle, Lion Philips in Zalt Bommel (Holland), and his answers to the Confession he completed here is shown in the middle column below. His daughter Jenny kept an album, an image of which is shown, and the answers shown in the right hand column are in Laura Marx's hand. Where the answers are the same, it is shown only once.

Netchen, or Nannette, was Antoinette Philips, aged 28 at the time, Marx's cousin and a member of the Dutch section of the Internatrional. Martin Tupper was an English poet who penned trivial moralistic verses. Gretchen is the tragic heroine of Goethe’s Faust. “Keppler” refers to the great German astronomer, Johannes Kepler, and Spartacus was the leader of the slaves’ revolt in ancient Rome.

Question Answer in 1865 in Jenny’s album The Quality you like best Simplicity In man Strength In Woman Weakness Your chief characteristic Singleness of purpose Your favourite occupation Glancing at Netchen Bookworming The vice you hate most Servility The vice you excuse most Gullibility Your idea of happiness To fight Your idea of misery To submit Your aversion Martin Tupper Martin Tupper, violet powder Your hero Spartacus, Keppler Your heroine Gretchen The poet you like best Aeschylus, Shakespeare Dante, Aeschylus, Shakespeare, Goethe The prose writer you like best Diderot Diderot, Lessing, Hegel, Balsac Your favourite flower Daphne Laurel Your favourite dish Fish Your Maxim Nihil humani a me alienum puto [Nothing human is alien to me] Your motto De omnibus dubitandum [doubt everything] Your favourite colour Red Your favourite Colour of eyes & hair Black Your favourite Names Jenny, Laura The character in history you most dislike

Karl Marx