Reminder that Marx and Lincoln corresponded via letters
Just the one - or two, if one prefers - I believe. Marx sent a letter on behalf of some socialist org he was a part of, and Lincoln returned a short, though positive, response. Lincoln was also a regular reader of a newspaper Marx regularly contributed to, so he was likely at least somewhat aware of who Marx was beforehand.
It is very interesting, though - it shows how much of a ‘big tent’ antislavery party the Republican Party was at the time, and that it included ideologies that were not hostile to socialism, even as a high up as Lincoln.
Lincoln never seriously contested the existence of capitalism, to my knowledge, but generally spoke with a very strong pro-labor and pro-collective action bend. One might think of him as a pre-welfare state socdem.
Just the one - or two, if one prefers - I believe. Marx sent a letter on behalf of some socialist org he was a part of, and Lincoln returned a short, though positive, response. Lincoln was also a regular reader of a newspaper Marx regularly contributed to, so he was likely at least somewhat aware of who Marx was beforehand.
It is very interesting, though - it shows how much of a ‘big tent’ antislavery party the Republican Party was at the time, and that it included ideologies that were not hostile to socialism, even as a high up as Lincoln.
Lincoln never seriously contested the existence of capitalism, to my knowledge, but generally spoke with a very strong pro-labor and pro-collective action bend. One might think of him as a pre-welfare state socdem.