Karl Peter Heinzen (22 February 1809 – 12 November 1880) was a revolutionary author who resided mainly in Germany and the United States. He was one of the GermanForty-Eighters. He advocated terrorist violence against ruling dynasties and uninvolved civilian populations as a means to an end.[1]
He was born inGrevenbroich and attended thegymnasium inKleve. In 1827, he began the study of medicine at theUniversity of Bonn. He was expelled for a rebellious speech and went to theNetherlands where he was recruited for itsIndonesian colonies and shipped out as asubaltern toJakarta. He later (1841) wrote a book on his trip and what he found there:Reise nach Batavia (Voyage to Jakarta). He didn't find the colony suitable for permanent residence, and returned home in 1831.
After he had fulfilled hismilitary service obligation, he worked a short time as a salesman and then as a tax man. After eight years, he became an executive functionary for the Rhenish railroad inCologne and later part of the administration of a fire-insurance association inAachen. He devoted his leisure time to writing. Besides the travel book, he published a book of poems (1841; reprinted in Boston, 1867), and after those involved himself in political writings. Two pamphlets,Die Ehre (Honor) andDie geheimen Konduitenlisten (Secret Lists of Leaders), undertook an objective criticism of the measures of thePrussian government. His tone was sharper in contributions he made to two newspapers, theLeipziger Allgemeine Zeitung and theRheinische Zeitung.
The banning of these newspapers from Prussia prompted him to writeDie preußische Bureaukratie (The Prussian Bureaucracy) which was confiscated immediately on its appearance and led to acriminal investigation. Heinzen fled toBelgium to escape prosecution and in March 1845 began a series of socialist writings withSteckbrief, an indictment of the higher courts of the PrussianRhine Province. These writings were distributed throughout Germany. In 1846, he moved toSwitzerland, first toZurich, then toBern,Basel andGenf. All showed him the door, and in the winter of 1847/48 he left for the United States.
In 1848,Karl Marx published a critique of Heinzen's thought on the topics of morality and dignity. Whereas Heinzen appealed to these concepts, which he found useful for socialist ends, Marx rejected their use as he thought moral arguments against capitalism to be incompatible withscientific socialism, and because he believed the existing vocabulary of morality was compromised by its use in support of capitalism.[2] Marx argued that Heinzen was mistaken in conceiving of morality as ahistorical rather than as acontingent phenomenon emerging from social and economic relationships.[3]
When he heard about theFebruary revolution in France, Heinzen immediately returned to Europe and took active part in the activity in Germany. He organized an armed incursion of volunteers from France and Switzerland intoBaden. After the uprising in Baden was suppressed in 1849, he fled to Switzerland, and then went back to the United States again, via London. In New York City, for a time he edited theSchellpost, a paper founded by Eichthal. In 1853, he went toLouisville, Kentucky, where he founded the newspaperPionier. He put this out for over a quarter of a century, writing most of it himself. German radicalism, of which he was one of the pillars, was the recipient of sharp and bitter satire within its pages.
In March 1854, he, Bernhard Domschke, and others deliberated on a statement of principles of the radical Germans which became known inGerman-American circles as the "Louisville Platform." It denouncedslavery, theFugitive Slave Law,clericalism andisolationism; it advocated free land for genuine settlers, equal rights for African-Americans and women, easier access to citizenship, federally sponsoredinternal improvements, penal reform, judicial reform, educational reform. In addition, it advocated the abolition of the office of thePresident of the United States and theUnited States Senate and favored a unicameral system with an executive council closely overseen by the legislature.[4]
Heinzen stood almost alone in the German-language press in his advocacy ofwomen's rights. He furthered the cause by using thenom de plumeLousie Mayen in addressingArnold Ruge and his position on women's suffrage. German papers occasionally noted feminist lectures ofMathilde Franziska Anneke, but aside from theNeue Zeit of St. Louis (George Schneider's short-lived paper) and Heinzen'sPionier, most German-language newspapers condemned the movement.Forty-Eighters likeReinhold Solger, Christian Esselen andFriedrich Hecker thoughtsuffrage for women would set back culture a century.[4] Heinzen was also an isolated voice in the German-language press which defended the legality of theGrant administration's sale of surplus arms to France during theFranco-Prussian War.[5]
In 1859, he and thePionier moved toBoston which he regarded as the most culturally advanced city in the United States. The paper had a limited circulation, probably never more than 5,000. Heinzen shrugged off German-born Bostonian's complaints about its lack of coverage of local news. About five-sixths of the circulation went out of town. In its pages could be found reports from many fields of human endeavor.William Lloyd Garrison praised it highly.[6]
Illness obligated him to abandon the paper in 1879. In addition to his political writings and poetry, he wrote some comedies. He is buried inForest Hills Cemetery.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
