Karl Marx: A Biography

82 KARL MARX: A BIOGRAPHY

will be equal to her principles, i.e. can she achieve a revolution that will

not only raise her to the official level of modern peoples but to the

human level that is the immediate future of these peoples?'^75 By way of

a preliminary answer, Marx recapitulated his previous conclusion:

The weapon of criticism cannot, of course, supplant the criticism of

weapons; material force must be overthrown by material force. But

theory, too, will become material force as soon as it seizes the masses.

Theory is capable of seizing the masses as soon as its proofs are ad

htrminem and its proofs are ad hominem as soon as it is radical. To be

radical is to grasp the matter by the root. But for man the root is man

himself. The manifest proof of the radicalism of German theory and

its practical energy is that it starts from the decisive and positive

abolition of religion. The criticism of religion ends with the doctrine

that man is for himself the highest being - that is, with the categorical

imperative to overthrow all systems in which man is humiliated,

enslaved, abandoned and despised.^74

The importance of the 'weapon of criticism' for Germany was shown by
Luther's revolution of theory - the Reformation. Of course this revolution
was an incomplete one: Luther had merely internalised man's religious
consciousness; he had 'destroyed faith in authority by restoring the
authority of faith'.^75 But although Protestantism had not found the true
solution, at least its formulation of the problem had been correct. The
present situation of Germany was similar to that which preceded the
Reformation; the only difference was that philosophy took the place of
theology and the result would be a human emancipation instead of one
that took place entirely within the sphere of religion.

In the final, pregnant pages of the article Marx drew from his sombre
review of the German scene the optimistic conclusion that the revolution
in Germany, as opposed to France, could not be partial and had to be
radical; and only the proletariat, in alliance with philosophy, would
be capable of carrying it out. Marx began with the difficulties that seemed
to stand in the way of a radical German revolution. 'Revolutions need a
passive element, a material basis. A theory will only be implemented
among a people in so far as it is the implementation of what it needs.'^76
And 'a radical revolution can only be a revolution of radical needs whose
presuppositions and breeding-ground seem precisely to be lacking'.^77 But
the very fact that Germany was so deficient politically indicated the sort
of future that awaited her: 'Germany is the political deficiencies of the
present constituted into a world of their own and as such will not be able
to break down specifically German barriers without breaking down the
general barriers of the political present.'^78 What was Utopian for Germany
was not a radical revolution that would achieve the complete emancipation