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IN ORDER TO HIGHLIGHT THE INTERACTIVE AND CO-DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS OF COMMUNICATION AND POLITICS, THIS ARTICLE CONSIDERS FUNDAMENTAL BACKGROUND CONCEPTS USED IN DEFINING WHERE POLITICS TAKES PLACE AND WHAT SORT OF ACTIVITY IT IS: THESE CONCEPTS ARE SPACE, TIME AND SPEED. IT EXPLORES THE EXTENT TO WHICH COMMUNICATION THEORY NOW REQUIRES A POST-MODERN POLITICAL THEORY, AND NOTES A CRUCIAL PROBLEM THAT POST-STRUCTURALIST AND INTERPRETIVE POLITICAL THEORIES HAVE RAISED BUT NOT RESOLVED.

"WHAT ONE UNDERSTANDS AT ALL, ONE UNDERSTANDS DIFFERENTLY." THIS ARTICLE DEVELOPS THIS NOTION IN CONNECTION WITH THE AUTHOR'S RECENTLY PUBLISHED TRANSLATIONS OF CLASSIC TEXTS BY MARX. HE NOTES THAT IS IS WIDELY APPRECIATED THAT TRANSLATION IS INTERPRETATION. WHAT IS NOT SO WIDELY UNDERSTOOD IS THAT ALL INTERPRETATION IS TRANSLATION. THE ARTICLE RECOUNTS A NUMBER OF EXAMPLES ILLUSTRATING THESE POINTS. IT THEN OFFERS SOME CONCLUDING COMMENTS ON MARX AND THE POLITICS OF TRANSLATION.

IN WRITING AN INTELLECTUAL BIOGRAPHY OF FRIEDRICH ENGELS, THE AUTHOR HYPOTHESIZED THAT A CAREFUL EXAMINATION OF HIS YOUTH WOULD HELP EXPLAIN CERTAIN PUZZLES AND INCONSISTENCIES IN HIS LATER LIFE. THE INVESTIGATION OF THIS PERIOD EXPOSED TWO AREAS OF AMBIGUITY: FIRST, IN CONSIDERING HIS EARLY VENTURES INTO ART, AND HIS YOUTHFUL OPINIONS ABOUT IT. SECOND, MODERN READERS NECESSARILY EXPERIENCE AMBIGUITIES IN THEIR OWN REACTIONS WHEN THEY EXAMINE SOME OF THE ROMANTIC IMAGERY USED BY THE YOUNG ENGELS. IN THE CONCLUSION IS A LIST OF POLITICAL QUESTIONS RAISED IN THE STUDY.

MARX'S THOUGHTS ON THE PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNISM HAVE BEEN EXTENSIVELY QUOTED AND ANALYSED, CRITICIZED AND PRAISED. TODAY THE MOST FAMOUS AMONG THEM IS A SHORT PASSAGE FROM THE GERMAN IDEOLOGY, A MANUSCRIPT WORK BY MARX AND ENGELS FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1924 IN A RUSSIAN TRANSLATION, AND THEN IN THE ORIGINAL GERMAN IN 1926. THIS PASSAGE IS SO WELL KNOWN AND SO EXTENSIVELY QUOTED THAT ITS OMMISSION FROM ANY STUDY OF MARX'S WORK IS WORTHY OF NOTICE, BECAUSE IT SUGGESTS THAT THE COMMENTATOR IS UNWILLING TO CONFRONT AN ISSUE THAT CAN NOW BE RESOLVED. THIS IS THE QUESTION OF CONSISTENCY IN MARX'S VIEWS ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNIST SOCIETY. THE PASSAGE CANNOT NOW BE READ AS ONE CONTINUOUS TRAIN OF THOUGHT. IN FACT IT SHOWS MARX SHARPLY REBUKING ENGELS FOR STRAYING, PERHAPS MOMENTARILY, FROM THE SERIOUS WORK OF UNDERCUTTING THE FANTASIES OF UTOPIAN SOCIALISTS.

MARX'S RELATION TO ANTI-DUHRING HAS BECOME AN ISSUE, BECAUSE ENGELS BROUGHT IT UP AFTER MARX'S DEATH IN 1883. HE DID SO TO PERSUADE US THAT WHAT HE HAD WRITTEN WAS, IN PART, AN ACCURATE REPRODUCTION OF MARX'S VIEWS, AND, FOR THE REST, A BODY OF THOUGHT COMPATIBLE WITH MARX'S WORK. ENGELS CLAIMED IN 1885 THAT HE HAD READ HIS WORK TO MARX AND THAT IT WAS ISSUED WITH HIS 'KNOWLEDGE'. MOREOVER HE IMPLIED THAT HE WAS FULFILLING HIS PART IN AN AGREED DIVISION OF LABOUR IN PRODUCING TEXTS THAT WERE INTERCHANGEABLE WITH MARX'S ON SOME SUBJECTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY TO HIS WORK ON OTHERS, THE ISSUE OF ENGELS'S VERACITY AND INTELLECTUAL HONESTY ARISES WHEN COMMENTATORS, SUCH AS GORDON WELTY, ATTEMPT TO PERSUADE US THAT MARX'S WORK IS, IN PART, COINCIDENT WITH ENGELS'S DIALECTICAL LAWS OF NATURE, HISTORY AND 'THOUGHT', AND, FOR THE REST, COMPATIBLE WITH THIS 'WORLD OUTLOOK'. ENGELS'S CLAIMS ABOUT MARX'S 'KNOWLEDGE' OF ANTI-DUHRING AND ABOUT A DIVISION OF LABOUR RE-EMERGE IN WELTY'S ARTICLE.

ENGEL'S 'OUTLINES OF A CRITIQUE OF POLITICAL ECONOMY' WAS BRILLIANT, AS MARX SAID IN HIS VERY BRIEF AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 1859.1 IT DISPLAYED A UNITY OF PURPOSE, SYSTEMATIC APPROACH AND CLARITY OF DISCRIMINATION THAT SET IT APART FROM HIS WORK UP TO THE TIME IT WAS WRITTEN, THE AUTUMN OF 1843. HOWEVER GOOD HIS JOURNALISM AND LAUDABLE (FROM MARX'S POINT OF VIEW) HIS INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE SOCIALIST MOVEMENT IN BRITAIN, ENGELS MUST HAVE RISEN UNIQUELY IN MARX'S ESTIMATION TO A LEVEL OF ESTEEM QUITE BEYOND THAT ACCORDED TO EDITORIAL COLLEAGUES SUCH AS ARNOLD RUGE AS A DIRECT RESULT OF THIS NEWL COLLEAGUES SUCH AS ARNOLD RUGE AS A DIRECT RESULT ANALYTICAL WORK.