In February 1875, while living in London, Marx was greatly surprised to learn that on the 14th and 15th of the same month, 73 representatives of the "General Labor Union," who adhered to Lassalle's views—views with which he had repeatedly disagreed—and 56 representatives of the "Social Democratic Workers' Party," with ideas very close to Marx's own, met in the small town of Gotha to jointly work on a program and prepare for the merger of the two parties into one, the "German Workers' Party."

Marx, thinking that everyone would accuse him of agreeing to a program so contrary to his views, became furious. The history of the adventures surrounding the "Critique of the Gotha Program" is striking: The leadership of the Social Democratic Party banned its publication in the party's official newspaper despite Engels' efforts, on the pretext that such a thing "would harm unity with comrades sympathetic to Lassalle's views."

This critique was published after a full 13 years, following persistent negotiations by Engels with that same leadership. For 13 whole years, millions of communists across Europe were unaware that Marx disagreed with the policies of the German Workers' Party! And what were those policies? The gradual abandonment of the concept of civil society for a generalized democratic self-management with recallable representatives, ultimately aimed at dismantling Bureaucracy and the State.

From now on, all struggles were oriented simply towards a more "social state." It is characteristic that Marx concludes his critique with the remarkable words: "Dixi et salvavi animam meam" (I have spoken and saved my soul). A few years later, Engels, in a letter to Bebel, explained that "Marx wanted to show with these words that he did not hope to convince the leadership of the new party to change its program; he simply wanted to be at peace with his conscience."