126 KARL MARX: A BIOGRAPHYsubject, Utopian German socialism - which Marx and Engels termed
'true' socialism and which at that time informed almost all socialist think-
ing in Germany. This section was a practical application of the discussion
on Feuerbach - as most of the 'true' socialists were strongly influenced
by his thinking as well as sharing in the anarchism of Stirner. On to
elements of French socialism was grafted the Feuerbachian idea of a
'true', genuine human essence which consisted in the adoption of an
altruistic attitude towards one's fellow men. The 'true' socialists con-
sidered that liberal ideas were already out of date and demanded the
immediate realisation of 'true' human essence. Thus they rejected any
participation in the struggle for 'bourgeois' rights. Their meetings con-
tained a lot of moralising and sentiment - to the detriment, according to
Marx and Engels, of sound historical analysis. 'True socialism', they said,
'is nothing but the transfiguration of proletarian communism, and of its
kindred parties and sects in France and England, within the heaven of
the German mind and ... of true German sentiment.'^48 Inevitably in so
stagnant a country as Germany, they replaced revolutionary enthusiasm
with the universal love of mankind and relied mainly on the petty bour-
geoisie. The comments of Marx and Engels on the 'true' socialists were
contained in three review articles. The first attacked an anonymous essay
which advocated the German philosophical socialism of Feuerbach and
Hess as opposed to the crudeness of French communism and regarded
humanism as the synthesis of both. The second review attacked Karl
Grim, a close disciple of Feuerbach and friend of Marx in his earliest
university days, whom Marx referred to later as 'a teacher of German
philosophy who had over me the advantage that he understood nothing
about it himself.^49 Griin had failed to grasp the essential points of French
socialists (even when he plagiarised them) and concentrated on vague
notions of 'human' consumption as opposed to studying real relationships
of production. The third short essay dealt with a Dr Kiihlmann, who
was not a true socialist at all but a bogus Swiss preacher of messianic
communism.
The section of The German Ideology on Feuerbach was one of the most
central of Marx's works. It was a tremendous achievement in view of the
low level of socialist writing and thought prevalent at the time. Marx
never subsequently stated his materialist conception of history at such
length and in detail. It remains a masterpiece today for the cogency and
clarity of its presentation. Yet it remained unknown for almost a century.
From the beginning of 1846 Marx and Engels made great efforts to
find a publisher for The German Ideology. Weydemeyer and Hess conducted
lengthy negotiations with Rempel and Meyer, two Westphalian business-
men who sympathised with true socialism and had agreed to put up the