Moses Hess

Hess, Moses 

Born June 21, 1812, in Bonn; died Apr. 6, 1875, in Paris. German socialist and representative of “true socialism” of the 1840’s.

Hess’ socialist views were a synthesis of German idealism, Feuerbachian ethics, and French Utopian socialism. Marx and Engels felt that some of Hess’ ideas deserved “some recognition,” but that they had quickly been outdated and become reactionary (see Marx and Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 3, p. 494). For a while, Hess joined the petit bourgeois faction of Willich and Schapper, and in the late 1850’s and early 1860’s he argued from the standpoint of bourgeois nationalism. He was one of the forerunners of Zionism, and in 1863 became a Lassallean. In the First International he presented a critique of Bakuninism.

WORKS

Sozialistische Aufsätze, 1841-1847. Berlin, 1921.
Philosophische und sozialistische Schriften, 1837-1850. Berlin, 1961.

REFERENCES

Marx, K., and F. Engels. Soch., 2nd ed., vols. 27, 28, 31, 32, 34, 37. (See index of proper names.)
Iz istorii formirovaniia i razvitiia marksizma. Moscow, 1959. Pages 61-65, 114-78.
Korniu, O. Karl Marks i Fridrikh Engel’s, vols. 1, 3. Moscow, 1959-68. (Translated from German.)

A. M. PANFILOVA