O caderno azul de Jenny: A visita de Marx à Comuna de Paris

by Michael Löwy

O caderno azul de Marx em Paris, de Michael Löwy e Olivier Besancenot, é uma obra de ficção que acompanha Karl Marx e sua filha mais velha Jenny Marx em uma suposta viagem a Paris, durante os acontecimentos da Comuna. Os autores reconstroem o que seria o Caderno azul de Jenny, um diário que retrata essa passagem da dupla pela cidade. Descoberto por um descendente da família Longuet num velho baú, esse documento, que permaneceu inédito e cuidadosamente escondido por Jenny por tantos anos, foi escrito em alemão, inglês e francês, e descreve em detalhes a visita clandestina de Jenny e de seu pai Karl a Paris em abril de 1871. Ao ser apresentado a Besancenot e Löwy, que se tornam de imediato "editores improvisados" de Jenny, como se definem na introdução do livro, surge a oportunidade de trazer a público esse achado histórico. Um dos aspectos fundamentais do diário é registrar o encontro e as enriquecedoras discussões de Marx e Jenny com os communards, entre eles, personagens históricos como Leo Frankel, Eugène Varlin, Charles Longuet, Elisabeth Dmitrief e Louise Michel. Marx, que se disfarça, tinge o cabelo de preto e encurta a barba, na tentativa de passar despercebido nessa viagem secreta, fica fascinado com a experiência, observa e descobre uma nova forma de fazer política.

Genres: Fiction

151 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 9, 2021

About the author

French-Brazilian Marxist sociologist and philosopher. He is presently the emerited research director in social sciences at the CNRS (French National Center of Scientific Research) and lectures at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS; Paris, France). Author of books on Karl Marx, Che Guevara, Liberation Theology, György Lukács, Walter Benjamin and Franz Kafka, he received the Silver Medal of the CNRS in 1994.

Reviews

[Sarah Ensor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A charming, clever imagining of of Jennychen Marx persuading her father Karl to visit Paris just as its working class declared the Paris Commune in March 1871. Disguised as an English merchant and his daughter looking for fine fabrics they get into the city and meet some of the leaders of the National Guard, the most active committees including Louis Michel and Elizabeth Dmitrieff and some of the Commune's elected leaders. In the process they unpick the different political strands and the Commune's challenges and possible future.

It's a short read yet contains in essence the question for every revolution - What about the state? And leaves us with a lot to think about.

[Corey Nyhus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd been wanting to learn more of the Paris Commune--to my knowledge the only major socialist revolution Marx endorsed in his life. As an avid lover of fiction, I thought this would be a great entry point. To my delight, the book read more history than fiction in my opinion, as the authors are primarily concerned with articulating the political beliefs of the time, and where they bolster and contradict one another in this electrifying glimpse of a freer world. Marx and his daughter Jenny talk with major revolutionaries and thought leaders of their days. Fascinating for me to see such a rich diversity of thought has always existed on the left.