Franz Marek Explained

Birth Name:Ephraim Feuerlicht
Birth Date:18 April 1913
Birth Place:Przemyśl
Party:Communist Party of Austria (1934–1970)
Years Active:1930s–1970

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 his hero of the 20th century.

Early life

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

Career and views

In 1934 Marek joined the Communist Party.[2] 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. 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.[3] He also edited Wiener Tagebuch.[2] In 1948 Marek was made a member of the political bureau of the Communist Party.

Marek first adhered to the Stalinist approach.[2] In 1960s he became a critic of it and proposed to develop a European version of communism termed as Eurocommunism.[4] [2] 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.[2] [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.[2]

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]

Notes and References

  1. News: Eric Hobsbawm. My hero Franz Marek. 12 December 2009. 18 February 2022. The Guardian.
  2. Web site: Franz Marek (1913–1979). Austrian Academy of Sciences. 18 February 2022. 18 February 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220218173349/https://www.oeaw.ac.at/en/franz-marek.
  3. R. Neal Tannahill. Leadership as a Determinant of Diversity in Western European Communism. Studies in Comparative Communism. Winter 1976. 9. 4. 357. 45367151.
  4. Karlo Ruzicic-Kessler. A Forgotten Protagonist of European Communism: Franz Marek and the Transnational Communist Debate. Qualestoria. 2019. 47. 1. 71–93. 10863/12113.
  5. Charles J. McClain. From Ideology to Utopia: Ernst Fischer in Retrospect. Journal of Contemporary History. 12. 3. 1977. 10.1177/002200947701200308. 581–582. 162015285 .
  6. News: Edward Mortimer. Attack on critics of Varga testament. Edward Mortimer. 4. The Times. 6 September 2023. 57943. 13 August 1970. Paris.
  7. Roy Neal Tannahill. The Communist Parties of Western Europe: A Comparative Study. 78. 9781083379108. Rice University. . PhD. 1976.
  8. Book: Jiri Valenta. Soviet Intervention in Czechoslovakia, 1968: Anatomy of a Decision. Johns Hopkins University Press. Baltimore, MD; London. 1991. 978-0-8018-4117-0. 224.
  9. Web site: Tilly Spiegel. Eine politische Biografie. University of Vienna. 18 February 2022. de.
  10. Herbert Lackner. Nach dem letzten Gefecht: Die irre Geschichte der KPÖ. Profil. 11 May 2023. de. 6 September 2023.
  11. Web site: Franz Marek. Beruf und Berufung Kommunist. Mandelbaum Verlag. 18 February 2022.