The Young Karl Marx Page #2

You think that without Paris...

I'm happy, Karl.

If they don't accept the fact

That we love each other

Then good night!

Even if it annoys people

Even if it annoys people

I love you all the same...

You have to introduce your mother

to her granddaughter one day.

I should return to Trier?

- Not for long.

Perhaps I could obtain

some money from Mother.

Yes.

- Why not? It's an idea.

Karl...

If Jennychen and I

are too much of a burden...

Now you're being unfair.

- No.

It's a wonderful idea.

My reactionary brother will be delighted

to see me come home to beg.

Forget what I said.

I can already hear his sermons

on his sister's misalliance

with that damn socialist atheist Jew

who cannot even feed his family

with his subversive writings.

I shall tell you everything!

You'll hear every last bitter word.

All right.

You win.

I'm working on two books.

Plus my articles.

You should tidy up.

Here.

As for Ruge...

You're too patient.

He isn't poor.

He has shares

in the Cologne-Antwerp railway.

Rugs?

Yes, everyone knows.

I didn't know.

Try my cigars! Toscanis!

Londres! Coronas!

Cigars!

Cigars!

A cigar.

Choose, citizen.

Robusta, Corona, Londres...

Cheaper...

This one.

Three sous, if you can smoke it.

Two for five?

Citizens!

I shall give the floor

to a man from Lyons

who honours us with his presence.

Our dear and great Proudhon!

Friends, comrades, citizens!

I'm delighted to be here with you

at this republican banquet.

Long live Proudhon!

They wanted to ban these banquets

for they fear your anger,

and so they should!

That's true!

For the people

always outnumber the police,

just as the thirst for freedom

exceeds repression!

Down with Guizot!

- Up with craftsmen!

It's you!

You are the craftsmen,

the weavers, the cobblers,

the tailors, the carpenters,

who create this country's wealth!

What about the workers?

The navvies, the mechanics,

the smelters!

I'm not forgetting them!

Those men, women and children

chained to the new machines

of fire and brimstone

without enough bread at times

to keep up their strength...

I'll say it clearly and simply!

They're being murdered!

And now to my subject...

What is slavery?

If I reply that it's murder,

you immediately agree.

So when I ask,

"What is property?",

if I reply that it's theft,

must I continually explain myself?

Property? But which property?

Private, bourgeois property?

I know that man. He's Karl Marx.

Property in general,

given as a natural right like liberty,

equality or security.

They're abstractions.

They're rights!

Natural rights!

The liberty, equality and security

of each citizen,

do not affect those of all

but strengthen them!

They are natural social rights!

Property, on the other hand,

necessarily hampers

the liberty, equality and security

of others.

As a natural right, it is antisocial!

Therefore I do not demand

its extension to all,

but simply its abolition!

Bravo! Viva!

Down with property, the king, the state!

Long live anarchy!

Yes, Mikhail, I agree with you.

But, careful,

enemy ears are listening.

Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin.

You found fault with the Master.

They call him the Master.

I know no master, no god, no king.

Karl Marx. I'm no anarchist.

I thought as much.

1 read The German-French Annals.

Your hand.

I sense the blood

stirring in a man's veins.

And it stirs in the veins

of your writing.

You read The Annals?

Why not write for them?

Proudhon, allow me to introduce Marx

of The German-French Annals.

Hello.

- Marx!

Delighted.

My wife, Jenny.

Delighted.

- Hello.

Grun translates The Annals for me.

He must betray them then.

You enjoy argument, young man.

- Contradiction, rather.

True, you're a Hegelian.

- A materialist above all.

You didn't answer me about property.

I defined it, I believe.

And theft?

How do you define that?

Do we need to?

We all know it's the violation

of another's goods.

I'm sorry, my French...

- Your French is good.

Thank you. So...

property is the same thing?

You say property is theft.

When I steal someone's property,

what am I stealing from?

Theft?

You pretend not to understand,

I presume.

Karl never pretends.

He is saying

that your phrase is an image.

A fine image, but, as you French say,

an image chasing its own tail.

You both speak truly excellent French.

Don't they, Grun?

Excellent news, my friends!

The Faubourg St-Antoine is in flames!

What happened?

It all began with one cobbler.

He took a three-franc piece to his boss.

The boss found it shabby

and offered him fifty sous.

But the fellow refuses.

The bastard throws him out.

The cobbler returns with his comrades

to smash everything.

Now the police, the league

and the National Guard are involved!

It's a riot!

Weitling, calm down.

The Faubourg riots every clay.

It's no revolution.

No, but it's heating up.

I'm looking for Arnold Ruge...

He lives next door.

Take that door.

You know there's a spy outside?

The man in the filthy scarf?

- Yes.

Hard not to spot him.

A compatriot of yours?

You know that boy?

No.

What will you do

about the spy opposite?

He notes entries and exits.

What can I do about it?

I could go and beat him up.

It wouldn't bother me.

Certainly not!

We're tolerated here,

but must not make waves.

Shall I serve you too, darling?

Just a finger, darling, just a finger.

Excellent.

Truly excellent.

However, I can't pay you right away.

I'm sorry.

- I have enough to keep going.

That's good.

May I?

- Of course.

It's a pleasure working with you.

Unlike others.

Who are you thinking of?

Feuerbach?

Feuerbach?

He owes me an article.

No...

Marx.

Ah, him...

Do you know him?

We met in Berlin.

Doing a paper with that fellow!

Impossible, isn't he?

- You said it!

His articles are never ready.

He always wants to improve them.

The man is a lout too.

To think I said

I'd put him and his wife up...

His wife. My God, his wife!

A fury or a fishwife?

Who are you talking about?

You know there's a spy outside?

So it seems.

Karl, allow me to introduce

Friedrich Engels.

Haven't we met before?

My kitchen...

Berlin!

At Bettina von Arnim's salon!

- Precisely.

You were arrogant.

Perhaps. I was young.

- And rich.

And you showed it.

I don't remember that.

- I do.

You spoke

as if you invented Communism,

with your officer's epaulettes

and gold buttons...

It was risible!

Why brood on the past?

Let's turn to the future.

- Indeed.

You know why I'm here.

I told you, my situation...

Spare me that!

I have a sick child

and a family to feed.

You owe me for two articles.

Listen to me...

- And your railway shares?

The price has dropped.

- Too bad, sell at a loss!

I gave you two fundamental articles,

pay what you owe me.

Ruge, do you need a loan?

Who asked you?

- I spoke to Ruge.

I won't take a single sou from a...

- From a...?

From some wealthy amateur

who seeks amusement

by frequenting those worse off.

Please... Wait here for me.

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