Karl Marx died in London on the 14th March, 1883, but nobody in England
was then aware that the greatest figure in international politics had
passed away. It is true that Marx had taken a prominent part in founding
the International at that historic meeting in St. Martin's Town Hall on
September 28th, 1864. The real significance of that episode was
over-rated at the time, and when the International disappeared from
European politics in 1872 the whole thing was forgotten.
In Germany Marxian Socialism was already a force, and it was attracting
attention in England, as we have seen. But the personality of Marx must
have been antipathetic to the English workmen whom he knew, or else he
failed to make them understand his ideas: at any rate, his socialism
fell on deaf ears, and it may be said to have made no lasting impression
on the leaders of English working-class thought. Though he was resident
in England for thirty-four years, Marx remained a German to the last.
His writings were not translated into English at this period, and Mr.
Hyndman's "England for All," published in 1881, which was the first
presentation of his ideas in English, did not even mention his name.
This book was in fact an extremely moderate proposal to remedy
"something seriously amiss in the conditions of our everyday life," and
the immediate programme was no more than an eight hours working day,
free and compulsory education, compulsory construction of working-class
dwellings, and cheap "transport" for working-class passengers.
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