The Last Decade

Abstract

During the 1870s Marx’s life became much calmer. His house was no longer the venue for refugees from the Commune or British trade union officials. Although he was increasingly wary of strangers — and any German had to produce written evidence of legitimate business before being let through the door by Helene Demuth — Marx was still interested to receive visits from foreigners sympathetic to socialism. Regular visits, however, were limited to those made by his family and by the small circle of what Marx liked to call his ‘scientific friends’. He steadfastly refused the numerous invitations to give public lectures.¹ His temper, too, was much more equable and his appetite for public controversy considerably dampened.

The more one lives, as I do, cut off from the outside world, the more one is involved in the emotions of one’s closest circle.

Marx to Kugelmann, 1874