Marx the Journalist
Marx is often remembered as a political economist or philosopher. But he made his mark as a journalist.
Marxists Internet Archive
Political economist. Philosopher. Journalist? Two hundred years after his birth, Marx is remembered as many things — but not often as a member of the Fourth Estate.
James Ledbetter sees that as a mistake. The editor of a 2008 volume of Marx’s journalism called Dispatches for the New York Tribune, Ledbetter makes the provocative case that we should see Marx as a journalist first and foremost. In the following interview, conducted by Steven Sherman shortly after the book’s release, Ledbetter discusses the content and significance of Marx’s long journalism career.
Steven Sherman
Perhaps the most surprising thing about these writings is that Marx was published in a US newspaper. How did Marx come into his journalism phase?
James Ledbetter
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