Darwin gave up reading copy of Das Kapital given to him by Marx
KARL MARX presented Charles Darwin with a copy of Das Kapital but the naturalist gave up reading it part way through, it has emerged.
The father of Marxism personally inscribed the book and sent it to Darwin in June 1873, describing himself as a “sincere admirer” of his scientific work.
But it appears that the book did not meet a great reception as most of the pages had not been cut. In the Victorian era, paper pages in books were bound together at the top to prevent them falling out if the spine was damaged and needed to be cut to read them.
The 150-year-old copy of Das Kapital, which sets out the idea that the exploitation of labour is the driving force of capitalism, is going on display at Down House in Kent, Darwin’s former home.
It is the first time the copy has been available to the public in more than five years following conservation work by Cambridge University Library, which owns it, to repair the book’s spine and small tears on the cover.
It was not previously known beyond a small circle of curators and academics that Darwin had not read the full book.
Darwin did not reply to Marx until three months after receiving the book, with a dry note of thanks in October 1873 that was devoid of the evolutionary biologist’s customary warm tone.
This note, which is also now going on display at Down House, read: “Dear Sir: I thank you for the honour which you have done me by sending me your great work on Capital; and I heartily wish that I was more worthy to receive it, by understanding more of the deep and important subject of political Economy.
“Though our studies have been so different, I believe that we both earnestly desire the extension of Knowledge, and that this is in the long run sure to add to the happiness of Mankind. I remain, Dear Sir, Yours faithfully, Charles Darwin.”
Dr Tessa Kilgarriff, a curator at English Heritage, which is putting the book on display, said: “Charles Darwin and Karl Marx are recognised as two of the greatest minds of the late 19th century.
“It is evident from his personal gift and subsequent work that Marx was a follower of Darwin’s theories; however, the uncut pages (and lack of customary pencil marks) suggest Darwin was less enamoured with Marx’s writing – or quite possibly that his German simply wasn’t up to scratch.”
She said it was “an amusing insight into the dynamics between these two prominent intellectuals” and “a fantastic piece of social history, highlighting how Darwin’s theories filtered through Victorian society”.
One explanation for the largely unread Das Kapital could be that Darwin was not interested enough to follow its German prose, as he is known to have struggled reading the language.
His son Francis Darwin once said: “He was convinced that [Germans] could write simply if they chose.”