Slavery and Universal Suffrage.  Emancipation and Abraham Lincoln.  Influence of Marx and Engels and the End of the Slave Trade. 

In the 20th century a conflict arose between followers of Karl Marx and capitalists.  The socialist camp was in control of most of Europe, and there were no elections there.  

They simply appointed popular leaders, union officials, cooperative leaders, etc.  

Nevertheless this lack of universal suffrage we are told was considered to be a goal of Marx by the Eastern Europeans who led the Soviet Union. 

Perhaps given for example Vladimir Putin’s hold on power in now capitalist Russia, shows dictatorship is the only thinking that can hold down the bourgeoisie.  

But how different the message in the Americas.  Here Marx was in contact with Abraham Lincoln when he was elected, and was a supporter of him.   Clearly universal suffrage for enslaved black Americans was a goal of the Civil War, and Marx had to have supported this.  I mean, he supported the election of Lincoln, whose stated goal was emancipation of the slaves.

“Passed by Congress February 26, 1869, and ratified February 3, 1870, the 15th Amendment granted African American men the right to vote.

Google search “When did slaves get the right to vote?” 2 19 2024

Here we have Marx supporting a popular leader who brought the right to vote to millions of enslaved people. The color of their skin did not stop Lincoln or Marx from emancipating them.  

I have written extensively about Marx, Engels, and Lincoln’s correspondence during the war.  Marx was part of planning and execution of wartime strategies, he was well known as a writer for the New York Daily Tribune between 1852-1861.  He supported universal suffrage for Lincoln, and conversely for slaves.

You really could not get a more different answer about what Marx represented than what we saw in the 20th century, when America and Russia had conflict.  America did not really claim Marx;  racism still  exists, and there are still many monuments not yet down glorifying the slave owners rebellion.  The South hates Marx, and fears all socialism.

But why though?  Is it because black people now have the right to vote?  That would be something Marx brought to the Americas, when he was involved in abolition.  

It runs contrary to the current European Union message all socialists cannot be allowed to take part in elections there, so the Red Flag no longer flown there.  The Soviet Union according to them looks quite a bit different than it does here.  Is the argument really the Marxists are against suffrage for  black people?

It would be interesting to hear one of the leaders who made communism and the Communist Party of the  Soviet Union illegal, the largest opposition party in most of Europe even today, down by law, to hear them square  off with freed slaves who the Marxists brought universal suffrage to in America, which is still in effect today.

Clearly someone is not telling the whole truth, and judging at all from the Germans who lead the EU, there is much propaganda and censorship regarding this.  They want a monopoly on universal suffrage.  But by not allowing the opposition workers movements to take part in suffrage by making the CPSU illegal, their soft belly is clearly seen under their armor.  Clearly their fragile notions of democracy do not hold up to reality. 

Although there are economic disparities between blacks and whites in America, all people enjoy the rights fought for in the Civil War.  It wouldn’t have been equality without the right to vote for the freed slaves.  It did take a little more time for women to receive the right to vote, they received suffrage in 1926 even if they were black.

As usual the bourgeoisie is using ignorance to control its workers again.  What would a person say who was emancipated by Marxists to suggestions socialism was an ”evil empire”?  

Experience in America with Marx leads one to considerably different conclusions about the progress of socialism.  Marx and Engels left a large mark on society here.  They remain relevant, their ideas still very much part of life here.

Nicholas Jay Boyes

Milwaukee Wisconsin

American  Democratic Republic

2 19 2024