Franz Marek

Franz Marek (1913–1979) was an Austrian communist politician who edited Weg und Ziel, a monthly journal of the Communist Party of Austria. British historian Eric Hobsbawm described Franz Marek as the hero of the 20th century.[1]

Franz Marek
Born
Ephraim Feuerlicht

18 April 1913
Przemyśl
Died28 June 1979(1979-06-28) (aged 66)
Years active1930s–1970
Political partyCommunist Party of Austria (1934–1970)
Spouses

Early life

He was born Ephraim Feuerlicht in Przemyśl, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, on 18 April 1913 into a Jewish family.[1][2] They moved to Vienna, and he was raised there in the St. Leopold district.[2][3] He was one of the founders of a youth organization targeting Zionist junior high school students.[2] Next he became a member of the Hashomer Hatzair, a socialist and Zionist youth movement.[2]

Career and views

In 1934 Marek joined the Communist Party.[3] He exiled to France in 1938 when Austria became part of the Nazi Germany.[1] He was one of the leaders of the French resistance movement[1] and coedited a publication entitled Nouvelles d’Autriche–Österreichische Nachrichten.[2] When France was occupied by the Nazis Marek was arrested and sentenced to death and was freed only after the liberation of Paris in 1944.[1] He could return to Austria in 1946.[1] He assumed several posts in the Communist Party and was appointed editor-in-chief of Weg und Ziel, party's theoretical journal, in 1946.[2][4] He also edited Wiener Tagebuch.[3] In 1948 Marek was made a member of the political bureau of the Communist Party.[2]

Marek first adhered to the Stalinist approach.[3] In 1960s he became a critic of it and proposed to develop a European version of communism termed as Eurocommunism.[2][3] He and another party member Ernst Fischer produced many writings on Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin in 1968 and 1969 to show that the genuine Marxism–Leninism was very different from the Stalinism-based Communism.[5] Marek also published German version of the book Testament of Vargas in 1969 which contained criticisms of the Hungarian economist Eugen Varga.[6]

Due to these views and his stance against the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union he was removed from the Communist Party led by Franz Muhri in 1970.[3][7][8]

Personal life and death

Marek was married to Tilly Spiegel who was also a resistance member.[9] They divorced in 1974.[9] He later married journalist Barbara Coudenhove.[10] Marek died of a heart attack on 28 June 1979.[3]

Legacy

In 2017 Marek's memoirs were edited by Maximilian Graf und Sarah Knoll and published under the title Franz Marek. Beruf und Berufung Kommunist by the Mandelbaum Verlag.[11]

References
  1. Eric Hobsbawm (12 December 2009). "My hero Franz Marek". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  2. Karlo Ruzicic-Kessler (2019). "A Forgotten Protagonist of European Communism: Franz Marek and the Transnational Communist Debate". Qualestoria. 47 (1): 71–93. hdl:10863/12113.
  3. "Franz Marek (1913–1979)". Austrian Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on 18 February 2022. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  4. R. Neal Tannahill (Winter 1976). "Leadership as a Determinant of Diversity in Western European Communism". Studies in Comparative Communism. 9 (4): 357. JSTOR 45367151.
  5. Charles J. McClain (1977). "From Ideology to Utopia: Ernst Fischer in Retrospect". Journal of Contemporary History. 12 (3): 581–582. doi:10.1177/002200947701200308. S2CID 162015285.
  6. Edward Mortimer (13 August 1970). "Attack on critics of Varga testament". The Times. No. 57943. Paris. p. 4. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  7. Roy Neal Tannahill (1976). The Communist Parties of Western Europe: A Comparative Study (PhD thesis). Rice University. p. 78. ISBN 9781083379108. ProQuest 288210222.
  8. Jiri Valenta (1991). Soviet Intervention in Czechoslovakia, 1968: Anatomy of a Decision. Baltimore, MD; London: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 224. ISBN 978-0-8018-4117-0.
  9. "Tilly Spiegel. Eine politische Biografie" (in German). University of Vienna. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  10. Herbert Lackner (11 May 2023). "Nach dem letzten Gefecht: Die irre Geschichte der KPÖ". Profil (in German). Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  11. "Franz Marek. Beruf und Berufung Kommunist". Mandelbaum Verlag. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
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