Episode Details

Audiobook of "The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte" by Karl Marx, published 1852. Read it online https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1852/18th-brumaire/ Article on it: https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2026-07-14/marx-18th-brumaire On December 2 1851, followers of President Louis Bonaparte (Napoleon's nephew) broke up the Legislative Assembly and established a dictatorship. A year later, Louis Bonaparte proclaimed himself Emperor Napoleon III. Marx wrote The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon between December 1851 and March 1852. The "Eighteenth Brumaire" refers to November 9, 1799 in the French Revolutionary Calendar — the day the first Napoleon Bonaparte had made himself dictator by a coup d'etat. Chapters and timestamps: 00:00 Preface: Marx 1869 04:24 Preface: Engels 1885 09:38 Chapter I (Feb. 1848 to Dec. 1851) 39:03 Chapter II (Downfall of the Republicans) 01:15:05 Chapter III (Defeat of Petty-bourgeois democracy) 01:58:56 Chapter IV (Rise of Louis Bonaparte) 02:28:27 Chapter V (National Assembly vs. Bonaparte) 03:21:34 Chapter VI (Victory of Bonaparte) 04:19:09 Chapter VII (Summary) #7 of Marxist points of reference reading list: https://workersliberty.org/story/2026-01-28/marxist-points-reference-reading-list Playlist of recordings from that list at https://soundcloud.com/workers-liberty/sets/marxist-points-of-reference-a Subscribe to the podcast "Solidarity & more" by "Workers' Liberty" wherever you listen to podcasts. More info: https://workersliberty.org/audio Audiobook recording with thanks to: “Socialism4All” (prefaces); Marxist Internet Archive (chapters 1-5); Dakki Reads (chapters 6-7). Music public domain. Depiction of Napoleon and conspirators: https://bit.ly/4gygAFe