Two posthumously published letters from Karl Liebknecht to his son Wilhelm, ‘Helmi.’

‘A Revolutionist to His Son’ by Karl Liebknecht from The Liberator. Vol. 4 No. 3. March, 1921.

(A reader has sent us these letters from Karl Liebknecht to his son, translated from the Volkszeitung. The first letter is written from the field of battle, the second from prison.)

My dearest Helmi:

The spring storm rages in front of my window, through the narrow passage of the stone walls. It is not warm. March air. So it must also seem in your little heart, in your little head. This means the lungs expanded wide-motion and resolution in your limbs. No moping in the house! No dejection!

Your life shall be a life of toil and struggle and pain, not sunshine and ease. But just therein will lie your happiness. You must learn that human beings are nothing more than a higher form of animal. Each full of weaknesses and strengths, full of good and evil. That they must be viewed biologically. That the task of the human being who consciously sets out to attain a higher goal–the human being who is driven by an inward urge to further an ideal is to throw himself into the fray and fight with all his might for the higher development of human kind, for the liberation and the welfare of all.

The war and its attending evils distress and oppress you. Yes, this must fill every soul with gloom. But from this dark night there is deliverance: The resolve to do away with all these evils. Only that life is impossible which would let everything remain as it is. Only that life is possible which is ready to sacrifice itself for the common good.

My life so far, in spite of all, was a happy one. Especially was I most happy when I struggled most desperately and when my sufferings were keenest. And so will it be with you. This is our battle.

You must not let your own views take wing because of what I say to you. You must not listen to my words-you must sift everything down to the very bottom and fight everything out for yourself.

My dear Boy:

I have not as yet received a letter from you and to-day we are receiving mail here. But I am already writing. Through my mind surge so many memories of my youth-a youth such as yours-when the spiritual and emotional first begin to bud…

You, too, shall live through these enchanting times. This is the wish which now fills me. You would be a great deal the poorer in years to come if you were to be cheated out of really living, and you must not be cheated.

…Have confidence in me and Sonja. You must keep nothing from us. Do nothing which you would dare not to confess. We understand everything. I have wandered, groped and crept through all the human paths of error. Nothing could befall you which I could not understand or would not forgive, as I witness your struggle to work your way through and ascend the heights to the sun–into the eternal glory of the world. Your breast shall heave high and you shall throw out your arms wide to the universe. This I want to behold; for this I am waiting. Open your heart–let all things enter in and work their blessing upon you. Be guided by the trust you have in me, by the love you feel for us all and for humanity. Then all work will be play and not drudgery–all work will be happiness and joy. Write me, my beloved child, soon. A great deal…All you have in your heart.

The Liberator was published monthly from 1918, first established by Max Eastman and his sister Crystal Eastman continuing The Masses, was shut down by the US Government during World War One. Like The Masses, The Liberator contained some of the best radical journalism of its, or any, day. It combined political coverage with the arts, culture, and a commitment to revolutionary politics. Increasingly, The Liberator oriented to the Communist movement and by late 1922 was a de facto publication of the Party. In 1924, The Liberator merged with Labor Herald and Soviet Russia Pictorial into Workers Monthly. An essential magazine of the US left.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/culture/pubs/liberator/1921/03/v4n03-w36-mar-1921-liberator-hr.pdf