Marx on Hegal on history repeating

Karl Marx (May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883) was a German-born philosopher, political theorist, economist, historian, sociologist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. Wikipedia

“History repeats itself, first as a tragedy, second as a farce” is a quote attributed to Karl Marx, a German philosopher and political theorist. It appears in the opening lines of his 1852 essay, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. 

The quote is an interpretation of Marx’s original statement, which refers to how people rarely learn from past mistakes. The first time a mistake is repeated [Trump 2016], it is a tragedy, and the second time [Trump 2024] it is a farce. The farce implies a watered-down version of the original event, a poor imitation lacking the real substance. 

Marx used the quote to refer to the fall of Napoleon I and the reign of his nephew, Napoleon III. 

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Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce”. 

–Marx in The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

Wikipedia


Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (August 27, 1770 – November 13, 1831) was a German philosopher and one of the most influential figures of German idealism and 19th-century philosophy. Wikipedia

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