Isaac Deutscher's anecdote about the readership of Marx's Capital in the glory days of "Classical marxism"

[Jurriaan Bendien <bendien@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"'Das Kapital' sei eine zu harte Nuss, meinte Ignacy Daszynski, einer der
bekanntesten sozialistischen 'Volkstribune' um die Jahrhundertwende, er habe
es deshalb nicht gelesen. Aber Karl Kautsky habe es gelesen und vom ersten
Band eine populäre Zusammenfassung geschrieben. Diese habe er zwar ebenfalls
nicht rezipiert, aber Kelles-Krausz, der Partei-Theoretiker, habe Kautskys
Buch gelesen und es zusammengefasst. Kelles-Krausz Schrift habe er zwar auch
nicht gelesen, aber der Finanzexperte der Partei, Hermann Diamand, habe sie
gelesen und ihm, Daszynski, alles darüber erzählt."

Source: http://www.rote-ruhr-uni.org/seminare/lesekreis.shtml

("Capital is a tough nut to crack, opined Ignacy Daszynski, one of the most
wellknown socialist "people's tribunes" around the turn of the 20th century,
but anyhow he had not read it. But, he said, Karl Kautsky had read it, and
written a popular summary of the first volume. He hadn't read this either,
but Kelles-Krausz, the party theoretician, had read Kautsky's pamphlet and
summarised it. He also had not read Kelles-Krausz's text, but the financial
expert of the party, Hermann Diamand, had read it and had told him, i.e.
Daszynski, everything about it").

I think Deutscher's essay on Das Kapital appeared in English in his
collection of essays "Marxism in our time".

Jurriaan