El Dieciocho Brumario ...

by
Karl Marx

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

El Dieciocho Brumario de Luis Bonaparte

by Karl Marx

4.05 of 5 stars 4.05 · rating details · 892 ratings · 42 reviews

El Dieciocho Brumario de Luis Bonaparte nos liga con los ms ntimos pensamientos de Karl Marx acerca de cmo enfocar los fenmenos polticos de aquella poca, los cambios sociales destacadas en las luchas entre la burguesa y el proletariado, conflicto que el autor describe detalladamente y los procesos histricos. La movida revolucin de la Segunda Repblica francesa (1848-1852) q...more

Paperback

Published by Andromeda Publications (first published 1852)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 1,402)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Oct 27, 2012 Arfhanius Juanda rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Manusia membuat sejarahnya sendiri, tetapi mereka tidak membuatnya tepat seperti yang mereka sukai; mereka tidak membuatnya dalam situasi-situasi yang dipilih mereka sendiri, melainkan dalam situasi-situasi yang langsung dihadapi, ditentukan dan ditransmisikan dari masa lalu. Tradisi dari semua generasi-yang mati membeban bagaikan sebuah impian impian-buruk atas benak yang hidup. Dan tepat manakala mereka tampak terlibat dalam merevolusionerkan diri mereka sendiri dan segala sesuatu, dalam menc...more "Manusia membuat sejarahnya sendiri, tetapi mereka tidak membuatnya tepat seperti yang mereka sukai; mereka tidak membuatnya dalam situasi-situasi yang dipilih mereka sendiri, melainkan dalam situasi-situasi yang langsung dihadapi, ditentukan dan ditransmisikan dari masa lalu. Tradisi dari semua generasi-yang mati membeban bagaikan sebuah impian impian-buruk atas benak yang hidup. Dan tepat manakala mereka tampak terlibat dalam merevolusionerkan diri mereka sendiri dan segala sesuatu, dalam menciptakan sesuatu yang belum pernah ada, justru pada periode-periode krisis revolusioner seperti itu mereka dengan cemas membangkitkan roh-roh masa lalu untuk melayani mereka dan meminjam darinya nama-nama, teriakan-teriakan dan busana-busana perang untuk menyajikan adegan baru sejarah dunia dalam samaran lama dan bahasa pinjaman ini." —Karl Marx, Brumaire XVIII Louis Bonaparte (Hasta Mitra, 2006, Hlm 15)

Kenyataan bahwa suatu edisi baru dari The Eighteenth Brumaire telah diperlukan, tigapuluh tahun sejak penerbitannya yang pertama, membuktikan bahwa hingga sekarang buku kecil ini tidak sedikitpun kehilangan nilainya.

Sesungguhnyalah, buku itu sebuah karya zenial. Seketika setelah peristiwa yang menggetarkan seluruh dunia politik bagaikan suatu halilintar di siang bolong, yang dikutuk sementara pihak dengan teriakan-teriakan lantang kejengkelan moraldan diterima oleh pihak-pihak lain sebagai penyelamatan revolusi dan sebagai hukuman atas kesalahan-kesalahannya, namun dipertanyakan oleh semua orang dan tidak dipahami oleh tidak seorangpun—seketika setelah peristiwa itu Marx tampil dengan suatu pemaparan ringkas, epigramatik yang membuka tabir seluruh perjalanan sejarah Prancis sejak hari-hari Februari dalam antarhubungan-internalnya, mereduksi keajaiban 2 Desember menjadi suatu akibat wajar dan niscaya dari antar-hubungan ini dan begitu bahkan tidak perlu memperlakukan pahlawan coup d'etat secara lain daripada kenistaan yang memang sangat layak diterimanya.

Dan gambaran itu dilukiskan dengan tanda tangan sedemikian ahli sehingga setiap pengungkapan baru dibuat sejak itu hanya memberikan bukti-bukti baru betapa setia pengungkapan itu mencerminkan realitas. Pemahaman nyata mengenai sejarah hidup jamannya, apresiasi yang jernih mengenai peristiwa-peristiwa pada saat kejadiannya, sungguh tiada bandingnya.—Frederick Engels(less)

like · see review

Jul 23, 2011 Yann rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: xixème, histoire, france, germanie, politique

Très éclairant sur une période de l'histoire de France que je ne connaissais que fort mal. Karl Marx raconte avec beaucoup de détails les différentes étapes de la prise du pouvoir par Napoléon III, et la chute de la seconde république née de la révolution de 1848. Sans vouloir rien retirer aux mérites de l'auteur, j'ai un peu regretté que les actions des protagonistes ne soient éclairées que du point de vue de l’intérêt. L'indignation, pierre sur laquelle s'aiguise la vertu, et parfois très part...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 14, 2012 Gregory Sadler rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: philosophy, changed-me

I'd like to specify before launching into my review of this excellent work of analysis that I'm neither a Marxist nor even someone on the Left (though I once was). I do still grant and appreciate the role of economic conditions and relations in conditioning what occurs in politics, culture, law, and religion, but I don't see the economic sphere as determining, or even as predominating, the other dimensions of human existence.

That's actually one of the lessons that comes through in this brilliant...more I'd like to specify before launching into my review of this excellent work of analysis that I'm neither a Marxist nor even someone on the Left (though I once was). I do still grant and appreciate the role of economic conditions and relations in conditioning what occurs in politics, culture, law, and religion, but I don't see the economic sphere as determining, or even as predominating, the other dimensions of human existence.

That's actually one of the lessons that comes through in this brilliant little text: economics, class interests, and class consciousness play roles in - but don't fully explain or predict - what happens in politics. What I particularly like about the mind of Marx seen in this essay is that history, economics, struggle, etc. are NOT deterministic. There is some room for individual decisions and motivations, for the person just as much as a political community to be a place of competing interests which have to make their claims.

In fact, you could say that there's three main lessons Marx teaches here. If the first is the one just noted, the second is that it is inherent to human beings and culture that when they are launching forth into something new, something radical, something revolutionary, they inevitably grope around for historical analogies, idealized precedents, dramatic roles, as it were, within which to locate themselves, their own actions and intentions, their rivals, allies, or enemies, even the basic situation being faced.

The third lesson is one about liberal democracies, the workings of politics in them, and a particular danger always lurking unrealized (or in our own time, usually misfigured) in the play of power and ideology. Put very succinctly, it is that when ideologically-driven interests are fully engaged in the sort of conflict that pulls at the very fabric of society, becoming plays and ploys for power, carried out to implement this or that set of goals beyond mere power, all of the competing factions are at a disadvantage with respect to the party or person which fundamentally just aims after power.

The story that Marx narrates exemplifies these lessons. A word of warning, though: without some understanding of post-Revolutionary French politics and culture, it can be quite difficult to make sense out of some of the developments and parties within the story. For example, the "Radicals" in French parlance are really those who are still trying to continue the several-decades-past program of the French Revolution, essentially a party of bourgeois interests, looking for political change, but focused on rights of property, commerce, production, anti-clerical and anti-monarchic, but certainly not "radical" in the sense that an American reader might expect.

The situation as Marx depicts it is one in which competing parties, each driven by their own class-interests and class-consciousness -- which will keep them, of course, from engaging in anything more than alliances of expediency, unable to seek any genuinely common good together -- are engaged in struggle with each other, carried out partly through elections and the power that electoral victories bring, through their involvements with important institutions or significant portions of French society, through public opinion and at times through force.

Each group is willing -- indeed at times eager -- to use what power they have against their perceived opponents and for the remaking of a society in clear crisis along their ideal lines. Put very bluntly, each group wants to gain power, in order to use power to attain ends which are themselves beyond power. They regard power instrumentally. And, this struggle opens the door for someone who sees things quite differently, Napoleon III -- who Marx depicts as interested in power for its own sake, not laboring under the sorts of restraints or illusions holding back the other players on the political stage.

Gaining the support of the Army, itself an venerable French institution with multiple roles, different ideological resonances, but also a keen conception of the need for some social order in the face of external threats, Bonaparte steers the different political factions against each other -- none of them realizing that what he intends not only does not align with their interests but ultimately entirely negates them -- preparing the way for his rise to complete power, a military-backed autocracy.

Bonaparte and the Army themselves were not immune to the temptation of historical mimesis Marx points out -- numerous enough parallels suggested themselves. You might say that one of the ways the various competing parties went wrong was in not seeing what historical analogy they were actually acting within -- they thought they were involved in a very different game than the one it turned out they were in fact playing.

A last note: One of my areas of work is study of totalitarian movements. The standard Marxist interpretation of Fascism and National Socialism -- long acknowledged as oversimplistic and on some counts just dead-wrong -- has been to see the Facist/NS organizations as coming from the "naturally conservative" petit bourgeoisie and as being essentially tools of big capital, tools which then turned on their makers or handlers. When reading the 18th Brumiare, it is hard not to see parallels that could have led to a much better, more accurate understanding of Fascism/NS if orthodox Marxists had thought through this rich work.

But this is, and has been, one of those works by Marx that does present problems for Marxists and Marxism -- perhaps that's why it's one of his best.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Feb 20, 2010 Alex rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The 18th Brumaire is off the hook; in the key of multiplicity where previous work was in the key of singularity or duality; in the key of tragedy whereas the rest of the work is comedy; in the key of rage instead of science; in the key of history rather than structure. Yes, the relations of production, yes class interests still run the game, but doesn't it seem like the political sphere is its own beast in this story? Don't you get the sense that the struggle between capital/proletariat only hap...more

like · see review

Feb 08, 2013 Joshua rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history, marxism, politics, revolution, social-science

This is a political analysis of the stages of the French revolution of 1848. The revolution was initiated in February 1848 by the industrial capitalists who were in rebellion against the financial capitalists. The workers rose up in revolt as the political dam burst open. The proletariat of Paris was the most radical element of the revolution but their uprising was crushed during June 1848. After the workers were crushed the revolution went through various stages where more and more right wing e...more

like · see review

Nov 14, 2010 Jacques le fataliste et son maître rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: storia, saggistica

Cronaca serrata e analisi illuminante del processo di dissoluzione che colpì la Seconda Repubblica francese (nata nel 1848) e ne provocò la morte sotto il colpo di Stato del dicembre 1851 di Luigi Bonaparte (l’impero sarà proclamato solo nel 1852).
Marx descrive le forze in campo – “partito dell’ordine” (monarchici legittimisti e orleanisti: repubblicani controvoglia), borghesi repubblicani “puri”, Montagna democratica, proletariato… –, i loro conflitti, le fughe in avanti, i voltafaccia, le alle...more Cronaca serrata e analisi illuminante del processo di dissoluzione che colpì la Seconda Repubblica francese (nata nel 1848) e ne provocò la morte sotto il colpo di Stato del dicembre 1851 di Luigi Bonaparte (l’impero sarà proclamato solo nel 1852).
Marx descrive le forze in campo – “partito dell’ordine” (monarchici legittimisti e orleanisti: repubblicani controvoglia), borghesi repubblicani “puri”, Montagna democratica, proletariato… –, i loro conflitti, le fughe in avanti, i voltafaccia, le alleanze, le contraddizioni; le tensioni fra i rappresentanti parlamentari e le classi sociali che li hanno eletti, animate dai loro concreti interessi economici; e poi lo scontro fra potere legislativo e potere esecutivo.
Il tutto incorniciato da ironia, immagini vivaci, battute e animato dalla straordinaria capacità di scolpire i protagonisti – singoli o gruppi – nei loro tratti essenziali (e talvolta caricaturali).

Davvero affascinante la descrizione dello sviluppo in Francia dell’apparato di governo (esecutivo, pubblica amministrazione ecc.) e dell’importanza che esso acquista nella lotta per il potere.
«Questo potere esecutivo, con la sua enorme organizzazione burocratica e militare, col suo meccanismo statale complicato e artificiale, con un esercito di impiegati di mezzo milione accanto a un altro esercito di mezzo milione di soldati, questo spaventoso corpo parassitario che avvolge come un involucro il corpo della società francese e ne ostruisce tutti i pori, si costituì nel periodo della monarchia assoluta […]. Ogni interesse comune veniva subito staccato dalla società e contrapposto a essa come interesse generale, più alto, strappato all’iniziativa individuale dei membri della società e trasformato in oggetto di attività del governo, a partire dai ponti, dagli edifici scolastici e dai beni comunali del più piccolo villaggio, sino alle ferrovie, al patrimonio nazionale e all’Università nazionale di Francia. […] Tutti i rivolgimenti politici non fecero che perfezionare questa macchina, invece di spezzarla. I partiti che successivamente lottarono per il potere considerarono il possesso di questo enorme edificio dello Stato come il bottino principale del vincitore».
Nella persona di Luigi Bonaparte sarà proprio il potere esecutivo a trionfare sul parlamento.
«Ma la rivoluzione va fino al fondo delle cose. Sta ancora attraversando il purgatorio. Lavora con metodo. Fino al 2 dicembre 1851 non ha condotto a termine che la prima metà della sua preparazione; ora sta compiendo l’altra metà. Prima ha elaborato alla perfezione il potere parlamentare, per poterlo rovesciare. Ora che ha raggiunto questo risultato, essa spinge alla perfezione il potere esecutivo, lo riduce alla sua espressione più pura, lo isola, se lo pone di fronte come l’unico ostacolo, per concentrare contro di essa tutte le sue forze di distruzione. E quando la rivoluzione avrà condotto a termine questa seconda metà del suo lavoro preparatorio, l’Europa balzerà dal suo seggio e griderà: Ben scavato, vecchia talpa!».
Riflessione affascinante, oggi che il governo, sotto forma di welfare, burocrazia, servizi di sicurezza, è ovunque. Di forze rivoluzionarie che predichino con un minimo di credibilità e concretezza un’autonomia della società, il ritorno della vita in mano alla vita, non si vede però neanche l’ombra. Ma chissà che una talpa…

(less)

like · see review

Mar 16, 2013 Vittorio Ducoli rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Attualità di Marx

L'altro giorno, 14 marzo, ricorreva il 130° anniversario della morte di Karl Marx.
Per puro caso, nello stesso giorno ho finito di leggere Il 18 brumaio di Luigi Bonaparte, che ritengo uno dei testi fondamentali per addentrarsi nelle idee di questo grandissimo pensatore e per apprezzarne appieno l'attualità, a dispetto della vulgata interessata che vorrebbe il pensiero marxiano solo un retaggio del passato.
Un primo elemento a favore di questo testo è il tema. Non si tratta di un...more Attualità di Marx

L'altro giorno, 14 marzo, ricorreva il 130° anniversario della morte di Karl Marx.
Per puro caso, nello stesso giorno ho finito di leggere Il 18 brumaio di Luigi Bonaparte, che ritengo uno dei testi fondamentali per addentrarsi nelle idee di questo grandissimo pensatore e per apprezzarne appieno l'attualità, a dispetto della vulgata interessata che vorrebbe il pensiero marxiano solo un retaggio del passato.
Un primo elemento a favore di questo testo è il tema. Non si tratta di un trattato filosofico o di critica all'economia politica, la cui lettura spesso richiede un sostrato culturale molto solido, ma dell'analisi di Marx degli avvenimenti che tra il febbraio 1848 e il dicembre 1851 videro la Francia passare dalla fase rivoluzionaria che aveva portato alla caduta della monarchia di Luigi Filippo d'Orleans al trionfo della più bieca reazione con il colpo di stato attuato da Luigi Napoleone Bonaparte, il futuro Napoleone III. Si tratta quindi di un'analisi storica di fatti che hanno avuto conseguenze importantissime sull'intera storia europea, e non solo, dei decenni successivi. Ho messo in corsivo l'aggettivo storica perché Marx scrive i testi che formano il libro pochissimo dopo, nel 1852: eppure la sua analisi è così compiuta, così lucida, così minuziosa e supportata da dati ed elementi oggettivi da assumere il carattere pieno dell'indagine storica.
Un altro elemento che caratterizza il 18 brumaio è la brillantezza della scrittura. A differenza di quanto si possa pensare, Marx non è affatto un autore pesante, ma una delle più brillanti penne del XIX secolo. Basta pensare a quante sue frasi, aforismi, paradossi facciano parte del nostro bagaglio culturale per rendersi conto di ciò; purtroppo, molti dei suoi testi riguardano argomenti ostici, trattati ed approfonditi con rigore, e questo ovviamente genera complessità: pregio di questo volume è di offrirci un Marx sicuramente non leggero ma scorrevole, per molti tratti appassionante, laddove gli avvenimenti si susseguono incalzanti e Marx ce ne disvela le ragioni vere e ultime.
Sì, perché il senso di questo libro è far capire, anche a noi oggi, la distanza che esiste tra le cause ideologiche dei conflitti e le loro cause vere che, ci dice Marx, vanno sempre ricercate nei conflitti tra le classi e i loro diversi interessi.
Marx, pagina dopo pagina, ci narra gli scontri di piazza e le lotte tra le diverse fazioni parlamentari che caratterizzarono il biennio, individuando oggettivamente le motivazioni vere che ne erano alla base. Così, l'acerrima lotta avvenuta nell'Assemblea legislativa tra Partito dell'Ordine (monarchici) e Montagna (repubblicani), lungi dall'essere una lotta sulla forma dello stato è una lotta tra gli interessi della grande borghesia e quelli dei borghesi medi e piccoli. Leggendo questo testo è quindi agevole comprendere in pratica la tesi marxiana per cui la storia è il risultato della lotta tra le varie classi sociali.
Forse però l'aspetto del libro che affascina di più è l'analisi delle motivazioni che portarono al colpo di stato di Luigi Napoleone. Marx parte dalla constatazione che la Repubblica è la forma di stato con cui la borghesia esercita direttamente il potere (come insegna la prima rivoluzione francese); eppure, favorendo oggettivamente ed anche attivamente il colpo di mano del Napoleone piccolo consegna questo potere ad altri, ai militari e ad una consorteria di avventurieri che aveva la sua base sociale nel lumpenproletariat rurale. Perché questa abdicazione? La risposta di Marx è lucidissima, e si sarebbe purtroppo dimostrata vera molte altre volte nella storia. La borghesia si era accorta che la Repubblica borghese era il terreno di lotta ideale per il proletariato, che poteva progredire ed organizzarsi grazie alle libertà civili e politiche: aveva quindi preferito consegnare il potere a chi, pur non organico alla sua classe, potesse garantire ordine e tranquillità agli affari, piuttosto che rischiare una emancipazione proletaria. Quante volte, nel secolo successivo, questa logica avrebbe prevalso in varie parti dell'Europa e del mondo! Quante volte la borghesia avrebbe consegnato interi popoli nelle mani di mascalzoni e di buffoni pur di salvaguardare la roba. Fortunatamente Marx morì 130 anni fa, perché credo che altrimenti avrebbe dovuto nel tempo istituire una sezione d'analisi specificamente dedicata al nostro paese, dove la borghesia ha sempre assunto questo atteggiamento, sia pure in modi diversi, da Mussolini a Berlusconi.
Resta da spiegare il titolo, che è una delle grandi invenzioni di Marx: il 18 brumaio (9 novembre) 1799 Napoleone I abbatté il direttorio ed instaurò la sua dittatura, come farà il 2 dicembre 1851 il nipote Luigi Napoleone. Ma, ci avverte Marx nella prima pagina di questo libro, con una delle sue frasi fulminanti ”Hegel nota in un passo delle sue opere che tutti i grandi fatti e i grandi personaggi della storia universale si presentano, per così dire, due volte. Ha dimenticato di aggiungere: la prima come tragedia, la seconda come farsa”. Oggi noi sappiamo che i grandi fatti possono presentarsi più e più volte; sappiamo inoltre che anche quando si presentano come farsa spesso sono causa di grandi tragedie. Fortunatamente in Italia l'abbiamo imparato, e (almeno per ora) riusciamo a mantenerci sul terreno del burlesque.(less)

like · see review

Apr 25, 2012 Pierre E. Loignon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: philosophie, politique, histoire

Il n’y a aucun doute, si la doctrine matérialiste de Marx ne peut être appliquée partout sans susciter quelques doutes, sa puissance heuristique s’impose lorsqu’il est question d’expliquer les variations dans la qualité de son écriture. En effet, alors que ses analyses faites en France font état d’un esprit dialectique très fin et à l’ironie fertile, celles qu’il produira dans la misère à Londres montrent toujours une intelligence exceptionnelle, mais leur style est désormais d’une lourdeur asso...more Il n’y a aucun doute, si la doctrine matérialiste de Marx ne peut être appliquée partout sans susciter quelques doutes, sa puissance heuristique s’impose lorsqu’il est question d’expliquer les variations dans la qualité de son écriture. En effet, alors que ses analyses faites en France font état d’un esprit dialectique très fin et à l’ironie fertile, celles qu’il produira dans la misère à Londres montrent toujours une intelligence exceptionnelle, mais leur style est désormais d’une lourdeur assommante, complètement dénuée de finesse et d’ironie, présentant des analyses non plus sur le mode hypothétique, mais comme des vérités absolues.
Engels y trouve tout de même, dans la préface, l’utilisation d’une « loi » : cette fameuse « grande loi du mouvement historique, loi selon laquelle toutes les luttes historiques…ne sont, en fait, que l’expression plus ou moins nette des luttes des classes sociales » (p.64). Mais c’est vraiment à ce Marx au meilleur de sa forme que nous avons affaire ici, puisque Marx traite plutôt ici la lutte des classes sociales comme une hypothèse théorique puisqu’il la met à l’épreuve. (p.65)
Bref, pour en arriver au fait, Marx développe ici un embryon de pensée que l’on pourrait qualifier de manière anachronique, de « structuralisme social » puisqu’il décrit la manière dont une « superstructure d’impressions, d’illusions, de façons de penser et de conceptions philosophiques » (p.104) résultant d’une condition particulière est intégrée par les individus comme des acquis personnels.
Pour prendre quelques exemples particuliers, Marx parle ainsi des membres de la bourgeoisie de la manière suivante : « leur cerveau ne peut dépasser les limites que le petit-bourgeois ne dépasse pas … dans sa vie, …ils sont théoriquement poussés aux … problèmes et aux … solutions auxquels son intérêt matériel et sa situation sociale [les] poussent » (p.105). L’individualisme est également un trait caractéristique de la classe bourgeoise selon Marx qui, lorsqu’il se trouve suffisamment marqué, peut entraîner certains de ses membres à l’aliénation de classe (p.150-151). Marx décrit aussi merveilleusement l’aliénation de la classe des royalistes, qui, croyant défendre leurs intérêts, ferment « opiniâtrement à leurs rois bannis les portes par lesquelles ils pouvaient rentrer » (p.159).
Et cette structure de valeur permet à une société de se couper complètement des univers des autres classes, comme on le voit dans la description que Marx donne des intérêts non égoïstes de la petite bourgeoisie française qui se croit vraiment la mieux placée pour connaître les intérêts de la France entière (p.107-108).
Ainsi, Marx ne se limite pas au clivage existant entre le capital et le prolétariat, mais doit avoir recours à d’autres clivages comme ceux entre la campagne et la ville par exemple (p.92). Il expose aussi qu’une classe peut parfois se fondre en une autre par sa description de l’embourgeoisement de l’aristocratie (p.105).
D’autre part, Marx montre très clairement l’influence des circonstances commerciales sur la mobilisation politique. Lorsque l’économie va bien, personne ne veut agir, lorsque ça va mal, il est préférable que la politique se produise sans heurt, sinon, on y cherchera un coupable avec suffisamment d’angoisse pour s’en inventer un.
Enfin, comme Tocqueville, Marx décrit la dépendance grandissante envers l’appareil d’État (p.121), décrivant l’appareil d’État comme un « effroyable corps parasite…dont le travail est divisé et centralisé comme dans une usine » (p.186-187) qui « anéantit les échelons aristocratiques intermédiaires placés entre la masse du peuple et le pouvoir d’État » (p. 194). Et c’est cet État, par l’impôt très lourd qu’il entraîne nécessairement, qui détruit les liens entre la paysannerie et Bonaparte (p.196).
Ceci étant dit, c’est avec optimisme que Marx décrit cette centralisation mécanique de l’État de manière si apocalyptique puisqu’il juge qu’il s’agit d’un passage obligé pour « dégager à l’état pur l’opposition du pouvoir d’État vis-à-vis de la société » (p.196). Évidemment, il n’avait pu prévoir qu’on ferait de cet État un ersatz de la providence...
(less)

like · see review

Dec 11, 2012 Ben rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

An excellent work by Marx as journalist/historian; a nice companion piece to "The Class Struggles in France, 1848-1850" and a bit more entertaining, though it lags in the middle and suffers from dryness at times. It contains interesting political musings and some very valuable and still relevant insights on class and politics (particularly in Part VII). I would give it a 4.5 stars if I could (this option is not available), but opted for 5 stars instead of 4 due to some very valuable ideas and so...more

like · see review

Sep 12, 2008 Cns rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

From Rossana Rossanda's (founder of Il Manifesto) memoir--"I don't know how I came to the conclusion that it was the Communists who were most sure of what they were doing--or who told me, 'But Bafi is a Communist.' I was so ignorant that I marched straight up to him, between classes...'Someone said you are a Communist.' 'What are you looking for?' I told him about the leaflets I'd seen, about being confused, not knowing. 'Read these books. Come back when you have done so.' I ran to the railway s...more

like · see review

Jun 16, 2011 David Nichols rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It's probably not a good idea to attempt this long essay unless one is A) comfortable with the author's heavy, Germanic prose style, and B) familiar with the history of the short-lived, unlamented Second French Republic. Assuming both of these conditions pertain, though, the Eighteenth Brumaire is well worth the time invested in it; it contains some of Marx's bitchiest invective and concludes with a startling observation about the first French Revolution. (Namely, that its winners were not the b...more

2 likes · like · see review

May 26, 2010 Venus added it · review of another edition

Shelves: philosophy

این کتاب یکی از مشهورترین آثار مارکس و یکی از نمونه های تحلیل سیاسی است که رابطه و نسبت حرکتها و تحولات سیاسی را با و ضع اقتصادی و اجتماعی و طبقاتی جامعه بررسی میکند و در آن مارکس نظری های خود را روی شرایط مشخص فرانسه ی پس از 1848 پیاده کرده است

like · see review

Dec 30, 2009 Trevor rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: social-theory

I really struggled with this - but I had downloaded it from manybooks.com and it didn't really have an introduction or notes - I think Marx is making many very clever asides and observations throughout which, due to my complete lack of knowledge of post-Nepoleon French politics, barely made a whizzing sound as they flew straight over my head. I'll have to track down a penguin edition of this or something that explains all his jokes.

like · see review

Nov 07, 2011 Teresa rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It turns out that reading about Post-revolutionary France (or continuously revolutionary, depending on your perspective) is pretty boring. It doesn't help that this translation is dry as heck and contains numerous typos. As a sociologist I'm supposed to at least be able to appreciate Marx, which I do-- but I find his writings difficult and obtuse. Although I did laugh when he proclaimed the tagline of one revolutionary moment: "Long live the sausages!"

like · see review

Dec 17, 2012 Faïrouz Reverentia added it · review of another edition

something I liked in this one, is when Marx said that the two writters (of his era) who deserves the title writter are "Victor Hugo" and "Pierre-Joseph Proudhon"
even if he criticized too much Proudhon for his "Philosophy of Misery"
this opinion of Marx is very important for me

like · see review

Feb 15, 2013 Peter rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Read for a wonderful class in college filled with very smart people. Consisted of reading this, the Autobiography of Charles Darwin, and The Future of an Illusion (Freud), along with other works by those authors and commentaries on those three specific works.

like · see review

Aug 25, 2007 Jules rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: communists and socialists

Shelves: academic-essentials, favourites

This piece is a demonstration of a social scientist's theoretical evolution over time. For my first couple years in college, I was unsure of my theoretical standing. On my good days, I believe in the good of humanity and anarchy in its true sense; on bad days, I know people are terrible and am a communist even though democracy is still probably the most plausible (if it actually worked).

Then I began reading Marx fully, not just the required segments. I realized that this piece is the mile-marker...more

2 likes · like · see review

Feb 11, 2009 Dietcokedick added it · review of another edition

"Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past."

like · see review

Sep 01, 2012 M. Bartos rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A study of shifting class alliances during the 1848-1851 revolution in France. Marx is a really great writer and I love his style. It's a shame that barely anybody reads him anymore. There's a lot of references in this book that I didn't understand though, and a lot of the subject matter is really esoteric.

like · see review

Jul 07, 2012 Nazila Khalkhali rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

one can not read this book without knowing its context and background. from historical viewpoint, it's a document. it is translated to Persian by Bagher Parham

like · see review

Feb 05, 2012 Mark Harris rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've read this over and over, in English and German. A seminal book on the nature of the State, Counter-revolution and Reaction. Snarky Marx at his finest.

like · see review

Oct 03, 2010 Tanya rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: theory-praxis, on-my-bookshelf

As much as this is the case study for the Communist Manifesto, it is also a beautifully rendered piece of prose poetry and an ode to an ideal.

like · see review

Aug 02, 2011 Sheldon L rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Overall, a very dry read. It's mostly newspaper articles that Marx had written to cover the second French revolution. His detailed analysis of the tactics of Louis Bonaparte are very interesting in that Marx illuminates how centralized power has created a monster in political process that is highly tedious and difficult to manoeuvre.

Overall, though it is a tedious read peppered every now and then with interesting insight into how complex political systems always hold pregnant within it the possi...more

like · see review

Sep 26, 2011 Daniel Burton-Rose rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

One of Marx's most literary works, and the locus classicus of the phrase "lumpen proletariat".

like · see review

Mar 24, 2009 untogether rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: european-history

The eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte by Karl Marx (2005)

like · see review

Mar 24, 2009 Jenelle Norris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: european-history

The eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte by Karl Marx (2005)

like · see review

Nov 19, 2012 James rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

This is a short-ish rendition of a point well made in Das Kapital. Absolutely worth reading.

like · see review

Dec 24, 2008 Anthony D Buckley rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: philosophy, politics, favourites

Just the best piece of political analysis ever written.

2 likes · like · see review

Mar 14, 2013 Edu rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Thr story of a coup d'etat, perpetrated by Louis Bonaparte.

like · see review

Oct 19, 2011 Jeremy Hauck rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

God this book sucked. "It" -- what is "it"? Subject, blah blah, blah blah, blah blah, blah blah, verb. Fuck this. OK. Great. The land owning aristocracy and the industrial aristocracy had their differences and voila, dictator on the throne.

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 46 47 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (65)

More editions...

Genres

History

55 users

Philosophy

39 users

Politics

27 users

Non Fiction

13 users

Sociology

9 users

Cultural > France

8 users

Classics

6 users

Philosophy > Theory

5 users

History > European History

5 users

Economics

4 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Karl Marx

Karl Heinrich Marx was a 19th-century philosopher, political economist, sociologist, humanist, political theorist and revolutionary. Often called the father of communism, Marx was both a scholar and a political activist. He addressed a wide range of political as well as social issues, and is known for, amongst other things, his analysis of history. His approach is indicated by the opening line Cha...more Karl Heinrich Marx was a 19th-century philosopher, political economist, sociologist, humanist, political theorist and revolutionary. Often called the father of communism, Marx was both a scholar and a political activist. He addressed a wide range of political as well as social issues, and is known for, amongst other things, his analysis of history. His approach is indicated by the opening line Chapter 1 of the The Communist Manifesto(1848): "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." Marx argued that capitalism, like previous socioeconomic systems, will produce internal tensions which will lead to its destruction. Just as capitalism replaced feudalism, capitalism itself will be displaced by communism, a classless society which emerges after a transitional period in which the state would be nothing else but the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat.

On the one hand, Marx argued for a systemic understanding of socioeconomic change. On this model, it is the structural contradictions within capitalism which necessitate its end, giving way to communism:

On the other hand, Marx argued that socioeconomic change occurred through organized revolutionary action. On this model, capitalism will end through the organized actions of an international working class: "Communism is for us not a state of affairs which is to be established, an ideal to which reality [will] have to adjust itself. We call communism the real movement which abolishes the present state of things. The conditions of this movement result from the premises now in existence." (from The German Ideology)

While Marx was a relatively obscure figure in his own lifetime, his ideas began to exert a major influence on workers' movements shortly after his death. This influence was given added impetus by the victory of the Marxist Bolsheviks in the Russian October Revolution, and there are few parts of the world which were not significantly touched by Marxian ideas in the course of the twentieth century. The relation of Marx to "Marxism" is a point of controversy. Marxism remains influential and controversial in academic and political circles.
(less)

More about Karl Marx...

Books by Karl Marx

Capital, Vol. 1: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production

Economic & Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844/The Communist Manifesto

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About The Eighteenth Br...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from El Dieciocho Brumario

“Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly encountered, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living.” — 66 people liked it

“Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past” — 6 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: El Dieciocho Brumario de Luis Bonaparte
avg rating	preview: El Dieciocho Brumario de Luis Bonaparte Goodreads rating: 4.05 (892 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6902339-el-dieciocho-brumario-de-luis-bonaparte?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]/assets/nocover/111x148.png[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6902339-el-dieciocho-brumario-de-luis-bonaparte?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]El Dieciocho Brumario de Luis Bonaparte by Karl Marx[/url]

El Dieciocho Brumario de Luis Bonaparte

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website