Marx-Engels Complete Works | "What does Broadhouse allow?"

"The first volume of Marx's 'Capital' is common property, as far as translations into other languages ​​are concerned," Friedrich Engels states proudly and generously. He then rails against the translation by a certain John Broadhouse: "I expressly state that it is very far from being a faithful rendering of the text, and this is because Mr. Broadhouse possesses none of the skills required of a Marx translator." The indignation finds vent, if not in a hearty Trapattoni manner, then certainly firmly and didactically: "To translate such a book, a good knowledge of the German literary language alone is not enough. Marx likes to use everyday expressions and dialect phrases; he coined new words, he takes his explanations from every branch of science, his allusions from the literatures of a dozen languages; to understand him, one must truly be a master of the German language, both spoken and written, and must also know something about German life."

The title of Engels's text quoted here is "How Not to Translate Marx." The Berlin Association for the Promotion of the Edition of the Marx-Engels Complete Works (MEGA) is hosting a conference under this title in the German capital this fall. Rolf Hecker, a member of the board, announced the conference at its anniversary celebration at the Hellen Panke residence in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg, which offered not only a retrospective but also a future perspective.

Thirty-five years ago, in a time of "turmoil," the association was founded to preserve, develop, and research the works of Marx and Engels, primarily to continue the (second) Marx-Engels Complete Edition, begun in the 1970s in the GDR. With the upheavals of the fall of 1989, its future seemed uncertain, even at one of its publishing institutions, the Institute for Marxism-Leninism (IML) in Berlin, which soon renamed itself the Institute for the History of the Workers' Movement (IfGA). This was especially true in light of the approaching German "unification."

After an association law was passed for the (still) GDR on February 21, 1990, they quickly moved to action, says Carl-Erich Vollgraf. The first step was to set up an account (capitalist necessities cast their shadows ahead), and on April 9, an event was held to establish a MEGA support association, at which a statute was adopted. In May, the association was officially registered as an association, and its non-profit status was recognized.

The first donation came from the East German left, sympathetic to Marx and Engels, in the form of the PDS: 55 million East German marks. Vollgraf admits: "When I picked up the check from the bank, my knees were shaking. Outside, I counted the zeros again." Yes, it was a considerable sum, which admittedly halved after monetary union and was then—even worse—confiscated by the so-called Independent Commission for the Audit of the Assets of the Parties and Mass Organizations of the GDR.

The bad news didn't end there. The Charlottenburg District Court, which had jurisdiction over all of Berlin after October 3, 1990, was unable or unwilling to confirm any entry in the association register. Vollgraf held up the certificate at the anniversary event to prove to the audience that an entry had been confirmed. However, the scientists concerned about MEGA were told by the West Berlin authorities that no documents could be found. Presumably, some crates had been lost during the move from the East to the West Berlin office. Vollgraf's bitter remark was met with laughter steeped in experience, and the suspicion was expressed that this was a concerted effort; other East German associations founded at that time had suffered similar experiences. Vollgraf, in turn, refused to confirm this, as it could not be proven.

In short, the brave men and women of MEGA, who had spent years poring over the writings, manuscripts, excerpts, and letters from and to Marx and Engels, deciphering, translating, and researching backgrounds and contexts, did not give up. They had allies, fellow campaigners at the Karl Marx House in Trier and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation of the SPD, as well as among their Moscow colleagues, who, however, were themselves in a difficult situation, as the Soviet Union was on the verge of collapse, foreseeing extreme uncertainty in the academic world.

In November 1990, the International The Marx-Engels Foundation (IMES) in Amsterdam was an important support for the ambitious editorial project. And at the Academy of Sciences of the GDR (AdW), a MEGA Commission had been formed even before the GDR's accession, whose continued work had to be defended in light of the dissolution of the AdW and the re-establishment of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences (BBAW). This meant defending the new stewards of research and teaching in East Germany, among whom were quite a few who shared the same views as Federal Labor Minister Norbert Blüm of the CDU, who in 1989 rejoiced: "Marx is dead, Jesus lives."

On March 27, 1991, the Berlin Association for the Promotion of the MEGA Edition was registered for a second time in the register of associations, "properly" in the Charlottenburg register. "It was right that we pursued a dual approach," Vollgraf affirms. That is, securing institutional structures for the continuation of MEGA and also alerting the international public. "Some said we shouldn't make such a fuss." But the Marx-Engels scholars were and are not quiet. A considerable number of prominent names, from Moscow to Montreal, from Boston to Beijing, from Tokyo to Turku, whether politically left-wing, liberal, or conservative, extracted a promise from the German federal government not to let MEGA² die. The edition has been continued since 1998 "on the basis of revised editorial guidelines." The IMES acts as the publisher, and the MEGA office at the BBAW is responsible for its practical implementation. It brings together contributions from all over the world. And MEGA is also present in all major libraries in the world.

The mammoth project was supposed to be completed this year. Whether this will be achieved in five years, when a new evaluation of the MEGA is due, is doubtful. However, Hecker sees "light at the end of the tunnel" and is firmly convinced: "The MEGA will be completed." However, with a few reservations. Of the 114 planned volumes, 65 have been published to date. The traditional book edition is being supplemented by digital compilations of text, apparatus, and indexes, previously also available in print. However, digitization does at least enable more convenient research options. The Association for the Promotion of the MEGA also offers similar options on its website, as Hecker proudly announced. All articles and essays in the publications published by the association up to 1991 can now be read there. A bibliography of publications on Marx and Engels since the 1970s can also be found there. Work is still underway on an annual chronicle of the lives and works of the two, for which Hecker explicitly called on interested parties to contribute.

The association's heroic struggle for the past 35 years has been entirely altruistic; its work as "ideological suppliers" to MEGA, including its publication series "Contributions to Marx-Engels Research" and "Scientific Communications," is voluntary. Of the more than 100 scholars who once held secure positions at institutions in Berlin, Leipzig, Halle, and Erfurt during the GDR era, barely a dozen received a fixed salary in their profession after 1990. Nevertheless, many continued their research, contributing to the current volumes, or more precisely, to the four sections of the edition: Works, Articles, Drafts; "Capital" and Preliminary Works; Correspondence; Excerpts, Notes, and Marginalia. This year, the final volume of the "Neue Rheinische Zeitung" will be completed—the life's work of Françoise Melis, born in Toulouse in 1942 as the son of German resistance fighters and, of course, a member of the association.

All of them, as well as many unnamed colleagues, should certainly meet Engels' expectations for a transcription of Marx's texts. Board member Michael Heinrich praised a translation of "Capital" into American English published last year by Princeton University Press. Paul Reitter has been selected by the Goethe-Institut for the 2025 Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize. According to Heinrich, "Capital" in particular has undergone numerous new translations around the globe in the past ten years.

Speaking of which: The Berlin Association for the Promotion of the MEGA Edition is receiving a particularly large number of inquiries from our Chinese colleagues, particularly regarding the letter editions. Sixty volumes of the Marx-Engels Complete Edition are scheduled to be published in China; so far, 36 have been completed. There's still a lot to do, including for the Berlin Friends of Marx and Engels.

Marx Research – Berlin Association for the Promotion of the Mega-Edition eV