Mehring was sympathetic to the Bolshevik organization in Russia and to the cause of the October Revolution. Mehring wrote a Marxist analysis of the actions of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden which rejected the official explanation of the Thirty Years' War as having been rooted in religion, arguing instead that the economic and social interests of various classes were the actual spurs to action. After "long and irritating delays owing to the military censorship" (according to the English translator Edward Fitzgerald, 1935 U.S. edition), Mehring's Karl Marx: The Story of His Life was published in 1918. The classical biography of Marx, it was dedicated to fellow Spartacist Clara Zetkin. The book was later translated into many languages, including Russian (1920), Swedish (1921–1922), Danish (1922), Hungarian (1925), Japanese (1930), Spanish (1932), and English (1935). Death and legacy Already in ill health, Mehring was deeply affected by the death of his comrades Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht in January 1919. He died just under two weeks later on 28 January 1919 in Berlin at the age of 73. Mehring's papers reside as fond 201 at the Russian Center for Preservation and Research of Modern Historical Documents (RCChIDNI) in Moscow. This material is also available for use by scholars on three reels of microfilm, with permission required by the center before extensive extracts may be published. Mehringdamm, Mehringplatz, and the NVA Air Force Officer's Academy that was located in Kamenz were all named after him. References External links Franz Mehring Internet Archive at Marxists Internet Archive. 1846 births 1919 deaths People from Sławno Members of the Prussian House of Representatives People from the Province of Pomerania Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Leipzig University alumni Humboldt University of Berlin alumni German opinion journalists German male non-fiction writers 20th-century German historians German Marxist historians Leipziger Volkszeitung editors German literary critics 20th-century German philosophers German Marxists