Marx versus Tolstoy

Originally published as a transcript of a formal debate held in 1911, this work captures a pivotal intellectual confrontation between the renowned defense attorney Clarence Darrow and the philosopher Arthur Morrow Lewis. The debate, which took place in Chicago, was centered on the competing ideological frameworks of Karl Marx’s scientific socialism and Leo Tolstoy’s Christian anarchism and pacifism. It emerged during a period of intense American labor unrest and radical political discourse, providing a platform for two of the era's most prominent public intellectuals to dissect the moral and economic implications of state-driven versus individual-centered social change.

The publication captures a distinct moment in Darrow’s career, occurring years before his most famous legal trials but during his peak as a public speaker for progressive and socialist causes. The design and presentation reflect the austere, utilitarian publishing standards of early twentieth-century lecture series, which sought to distribute radical pamphlets to a literate working class. While the J. S. Ozer editions are primarily later scholarly reprints of these original records, they remain valued by collectors for preserving a primary source document that illustrates the intellectual landscape of pre-World War I American radicalism.