Brussels

Abstract

Brussels was to be Marx’s home for the next three years. It was still in many ways a provincial city, capital of a very rapidly industrialising country independent only since 1830, with a Catholic-conservative government and a vocal liberal opposition. Belgium was something of a political haven for refugees as it enjoyed greater freedom of expression than any other country on the continent of Europe. Marx arrived with a list of instructions written in his notebook by Jenny: the children’s room and his study were to be ‘very simply furnished’; the kitchen did not need to be furnished at all and Jenny would get the utensils herself, as also the beds and linen. She finished: ‘The rest I leave to the wise judgement of my noble protector; my only remaining request is to have particular regard for some cupboards; they play an important role in the life of a housewife and are extremely valuable objects, never to be overlooked. How should the books best be stored? And so amen!’¹ At first it was impossible to find a satisfactory lodging. Jenny arrived about ten days after Marx and the family lived for a month in the Bois Sauvage guest house. Then they moved into Freiligrath’s old lodging on his departure for Switzerland. Finally in May they rented a small terraced house in the rue de l’Alliance in a Flemish-speaking, countrified area at the eastern edge of the city, where they stayed for more than a year.

When in the spring of 1845 we met again, this time in Brussels, Marx had already advanced to the main aspects of his materialist theory of history. Now we set about the task of elaborating the newly gained theory in the most different directions.

F. Engels, ‘History of the Communist League’, MEW XXII 212.