Ferdinand Wolff

Neue Rheinische Zeitung Marxism 1812–1905 → Died in exile

Communist League member and Neue Rheinische Zeitung editor for France, called "Red Wolff" for the colour of his hair

Born in Cologne in 1812, the son of a Jewish merchant, he studied philosophy and medicine at Bonn, Munich and Brussels and spent ten years in Paris, where he was in touch with Blanqui. In the winter of 1846–1847 he met Marx in Brussels and helped publish The Poverty of Philosophy, and he joined the German Workers' Association and the Democratic Association there. Working alongside Wilhelm Wolff, he was called "Red Wolff" after his hair. He went with Marx to Paris in March 1848, and from 1 June was an editor of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, covering France and the aftermath of the February Revolution in more than 170 articles. After the paper closed he went by way of Paris into exile in London, where he worked in the Communist League until its dissolution in 1852; he broke with Marx in 1853. He stayed in England as a writer for German periodicals and died in London.

Also known as: Red Wolff · Ferdinand Wolf