The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways, the point is to change it.
Karl Marx, Theses on Feuerbach
How did Marxism come to be? It was not simply the product of individual genius. It was born out of a fierce criticism of the ideas of the past, conserving the best of philosophy and discarding its limitations.
In Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy, Engels – Marx’s lifelong collaborator – traces the development of German philosophy through Hegel and Feuerbach. He explains how dialectical materialism was produced: by flipping Hegel’s idealism on its head and freeing Feuerbach’s materialism from its inconsistent form. For the first time, the dialectic was freed from mysticism and put on a materialist basis.
Dialectical materialism is the thread that runs through the entire body of Marx and Engels’s work. It is the same method that guides thousands of revolutionary communists around the globe today.
This edition includes Marx’s Theses on Feuerbach, which Engels first published alongside this work. It also includes Alan Woods’ article ‘Marx’s Revolution in Philosophy’ and Hamid Alizadeh’s comprehensive guide to Hegel’s ideas, ‘In Defence of Hegel’. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to think like a Marxist.
