Misreporting the left in 1869. The Times on the First International
The most well known figure of post-1848 Chartism and co-thinker of Marx and Engels, Ernest Jones, died in Manchester in January 1869. In late March 1869 the Clerkenwell branch of the Reform League (a post-Chartist grouping) held a rally in Trafalgar Square in memory of Jones.
Several of the organisers such as Lucraft and Weston were members of the General Council of the First International. Marx declined an invitation to speak (he any way was, as frequently, unwell) but both Engels and himself contributed to the cost of the event.
Writing to Engels on 29th March 1869 Marx drew his attention to a brief report of the event that had appeared in The Times on 27th March. Marx noted: ‘our people carried a red flag inscribed Proletarier aller Lander verunreiniget Euch!’
The Times claimed that this meant in English ‘RAGAMUFFINS OF ALL REGIONS BEFOUL YOURSELVES!’
In reality of course it means ‘proletarians of all countries unite’.
The Times- over 150 years of misreporting the left…
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