Paul Lafargue facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Paul Lafargue
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| Born | 15 January 1842 |
| Died | 25 November 1911 (aged 69) |
| Occupation | Physician |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Children | 3 |
Paul Lafargue (born January 15, 1842 – died November 25, 1911) was a French writer, journalist, and activist. He was born in Cuba but spent most of his life in France, England, and Spain. Paul Lafargue is famous for being the son-in-law of Karl Marx, a very important thinker. He married Marx's second daughter, Laura Marx.
One of Lafargue's most well-known writings is called The Right to Be Lazy. This book shared his ideas about work and society. Paul and Laura Lafargue died together in 1911.
Karl Marx once made a famous comment about Paul Lafargue. Before Marx passed away in 1883, he wrote a letter to Lafargue. Marx said that Lafargue and another leader were using "revolutionary words" but not focusing on important changes. This led to Marx's famous quote, "If one thing is certain, I am not a Marxist."
Contents
Paul Lafargue's Early Life
Paul Lafargue was born in 1842 in Santiago de Cuba. His father owned coffee farms in Cuba. This family wealth allowed Paul to study in Cuba and later in France. His family background was very diverse. His grandparents came from different places and had different backgrounds.
His family included French, Haitian, and Jewish ancestors. His grandmother was from Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) and had fled to Cuba. His other grandmother was from Jamaica and said she had Taíno (Native American) roots. Lafargue once said he was "international by blood" before he was "international by ideas." He was proud of his mixed heritage.
Studying and Activism in France
In 1851, Paul Lafargue's family moved back to Bordeaux, France. He went to school there and later studied medicine in Paris. In Paris, Lafargue started his journey into politics and ideas. He supported a philosophy called Positivism. He also connected with groups that were against the ruler, Napoleon III.
Lafargue joined the French section of the International Workingmen's Association. This was a group that brought together workers from different countries. He soon met two important revolutionaries: Karl Marx and Auguste Blanqui. Their ideas greatly influenced Lafargue.
In 1865, Lafargue was not allowed to attend French universities anymore. He moved to London to continue his studies and career. In London, he often visited Karl Marx's home. There, he met Marx's daughter, Laura, and they married in April 1868. They had three children, but sadly, all of them died when they were very young.
Lafargue became a member of the main council of the International Workingmen's Association. He was also a secretary for Spain. He wrote many articles criticizing some ideas that were popular among French workers. This marked the start of his long career as a political journalist.
Time in Spain
After a big event called the Paris Commune in 1871, Paul Lafargue had to leave France. He went to Spain and settled in Madrid. There, he met members of the International's Spanish group. In Spain, many workers followed anarchist ideas, which were different from Marx's ideas.
Lafargue worked to spread Marx's ideas in Spain. He wrote articles for a newspaper called La Emancipación. In these articles, he argued that workers needed to create their own political party. He also wrote about the idea of greatly reducing the number of hours people worked each day.
In 1872, Lafargue represented a small group of Marxists at a big meeting in Hague. This meeting was important because it marked the end of the International Workingmen's Association as a single, united group.
Return to France and Political Career
From 1873 to 1882, Paul Lafargue lived in London. He stopped practicing medicine because he had lost faith in it after his children passed away. He started a workshop for making copies of images, but it didn't make much money. He often received help from Friedrich Engels, a close friend of Karl Marx.
With Engels' help, Lafargue started to connect with the French workers' movement again. In 1880, he became an editor for a French socialist newspaper called L'Égalité. It was in this newspaper that he first published parts of his famous work, The Right to Be Lazy.
In 1882, Lafargue began working for an insurance company. This allowed him to move back to Paris. He became very involved in French socialist politics. He helped lead the new French Workers' Party (POF). He worked to make sure the party followed Marx's original ideas.
Lafargue took part in public activities like worker strikes and elections. He was put in prison several times for his activism. In 1891, even while in police custody, he was elected to the French Parliament for the city of Lille. He was the first French Socialist to hold such a position. This success encouraged his party to focus more on elections.
Lafargue continued to defend Marxist ideas. He disagreed with those who wanted to make too many changes to the original ideas. He also refused to join any government that he considered "bourgeois" (meaning, representing the wealthy middle class).
Works
- Bourgeois Sentimentalism, L'Egalité (1881)
- Le droit à la paresse, 1880 (revised 1883)
- The Right to Be Lazy, 1883 (the English translation of Le droit à la paresse by Charles Kerr)
- Le matérialisme économique de Karl Marx, 1883
- Cours d'économie sociale, 1884
- —— (1887). La religion du capital. Paris: Bibliothèque socialiste de l'agglomération parisienne du parti ouvrier. (English translation: The religion of capital, 1918.)
- —— (1890). The Evolution of Property from Savagery to Civilization. London: S. Sonnenschein. https://archive.org/details/evolutionofprope00lafaiala. (many new editions)
- Le socialisme utopique, 1892
- Le communisme et l'évolution économique, 1892
- Le socialisme et la conquête des pouvoirs publics, 1899
- La question de la femme, 1904
- Le déterminisme économique de Karl Marx, 1909
See also
In Spanish: Paul Lafargue para niños
- History of feminism
- Refusal of work
- Strike action
