Joden en Christenen in de maatschappijkritiek van Karl Marx

I. ‘Zur Judenfrage’ : origin and contents* In the works of the classics of sociology we find evidence of an interest in Jewry and the persecution of the Jews. Marx’s ideas about the Jews are brought to light in his essay ‘Zur Judenfrage’, written in the autumn of 1843 and published in February 1844 in the Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher. The first part of the present article opens with a discussion of the place of ‘Zur Judenfrage’ in the biography and the intellectual development of Karl Marx. The foundation of the short-lived periodical Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher by Marx and Arnold Ruge is very important in this respect. Then we look into the state of the Jewish ‘problem’ at the beginning of the 19th century. Finally a summary is given of the contents of the famous essay by the young Marx. II. ‘Zur Judenfrage’ : interpretation and influence In the second part of the article it is demonstrated that the text of Marx’s ‘Zur Judenfrage’ can be considered from two connected points of view, namely within the context of his developing criticism of bourgeois society and as a reflection on the social position of the Jews in comparison with that of the Christians. We also retrace the influence of ‘Zur Judenfrage’ up to the present day. It becomes apparent that Marx cannot be viewed as a founder of an antisemitic tradition within the German social democratic party and modern socialism. In a concluding paragraph we offer a summary of the results of our investigation. Attention is paid to Marx’s conception of the relation between sociology and theology, to his impact on the sociology of religion, to his methodology and, finally, to his idealistic ideas about the relation between man and society.