Marxology is a systematic scholarly approach to the understanding of

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

and

Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

. The term was first used by

David Ryazanov David Riazanov (russian: Дави́д Ряза́нов), born David Borisovich Goldendakh (russian: Дави́д Бори́сович Гольдендах; 10 March 1870 – 21 January 1938), was a Russian revolutionary, historian, bibliographer ...

, librarian of the Marx-Engels Institute in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, around 1920 as he set out to publish the complete works of Marx and Engels. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Maximilien Rubel Maximilien Rubel (10 October 1905, in Chernivtsi – 28 February 1996, in Paris) was a famous Marxist historian and council communist. Rubel was born in western Ukraine and was educated in law and philosophy in Vienna and Chernivtsi National Un ...

introduced the term into

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. He was astonished by the lack of any sustained understanding of the life and works of Marx by self-proclaimed Marxists active in the

French resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

during the

occupation of Paris Paris started mobilizing for war in September 1939, when Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union attacked Poland, but the war seemed far away until May 10, 1940, when the Germans attacked France and quickly defeated the French army. The French governme ...

Marxology in the Soviet Union

A number of official publications in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

praised Ryazanov as a Marxologist in 1930. He was: * “the most eminent Marxologist of our time”, '' Izvestia '', 10 March 1930 * “the most renowned and the most important of the Marxist scholars of our time” (''

Inprecor ''Inprecor'' is a multilingual monthly Marxist magazine published by the reunified Fourth International. Its name is a contraction of International Press Correspondence and indicates that the magazine translates articles and letters from revo ...

'', no.26, 19 March 1930) * “under Riazonov’s direct scientific and administrative leadership, he Marx-Engels Instituteaccomplished impressive work …with his considerable scientific and investigative activity in the sphere of marxology”, ''

Pravda ''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, "Truth") is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most influential papers in the co ...

'' However during investigations in preparation for the

1931 Menshevik Trial The Menshevik Trial was one of the early purges carried out by Stalin in which 14 economists, who were former members of the Menshevik party, were put on trial and convicted for trying to re-establish their party as the "Union Bureau of the Menshe ...

, Ryazanov was implicated under duress by his colleague

Isaak Illich Rubin Isaak Illich Rubin (russian: Исаа́к Ильи́ч Ру́бин; 12 June 1886, in Dvinsk, Russian Empire (now Latvia) – 27 November 1937, in Aktyubinsk, Kazakh SSR) was a Soviet Marxian economist. His main work '' Essays on Marx's Theory o ...

and expelled from the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

.Roy Medvedev, ''Let History Judge: The Origins and Consequences of Stalinism.'' George Shriver, trans. Revised Edition. New York: Columbia University Press, 1989;

Some Marxologists

In 1982 the following were listed in ''Review: Tendencies in Marxology and Tendencies in History'' (1982): *

Michel Henry Michel Henry (; 10 January 1922 – 3 July 2002) was a French philosopher, phenomenologist and novelist. He wrote five novels and numerous philosophical works. He also lectured at universities in France, Belgium, the United States, and Japa ...

: ''Marx: A Philosophy of Human Reality'' (

976 Year 976 ( CMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * January 10 – Emperor John I Tzimiskes dies at Constantinople, after ret ...

English translation with Michel Henry: Marx: A Philosophy of Human Reality, 1983) *

G. A. Cohen Gerald Allan Cohen, ( ; 14 April 1941 – 5 August 2009) was a Canadian political philosopher who held the positions of Quain Professor of Jurisprudence, University College London and Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory, All Sou ...

: ''

Karl Marx's Theory of History ''Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence'' is a 1978 book by the philosopher G. A. Cohen, the culmination of his attempts to reformulate Karl Marx's doctrines of alienation, exploitation, and historical materialism. Cohen, who interprets ...

'' (1978) *

John McMurtry John McMurtry may refer to: * John McMurtry (academic), professor of philosophy at the University of Guelph * John McMurtry (architect) John McMurtry (September 13, 1812 – March 3, 1890) was a 19th-century American builder and architect who w ...

: ''The Structure of Marx's World-View'' (1978) *

Melvin Rader Melvin Miller Rader (1903 – 14 June 1981) was a writer and professor of philosophy at the University of Washington and a civil rights advocate. He taught ethics, aesthetics and political philosophy. In the late 1940s, he was accused of being a ...

: ''Marx's Interpretation of History'' (1979) * Robert Kurz: ''Geld ohne Wert: Grundrisse zu einer Transformation der Kritik der politischen ekonomie,'' ''and: Marx lesen!'': ''die wichtigsten Texte von Karl Marx für das 21. Jahrhundert'' Other important works of Marxology include: *

Roman Rosdolsky Roman Osipovich Rosdolsky ( uk, Рома́н О́сипович Роздо́льський ''Roman Osipovič Rozdol's'kyj'') (Lemberg, July 19, 1898 – Detroit, October 20, 1967) was a prominent Ukrainian Marxian scholar, historian and politica ...

: ''The Making of Marx's Capital'' (1977) *

Moishe Postone Moishe Postone (April 17, 1942 – March 19, 2018) was a Canadian historian and social theorist. He was a professor of history at the University of Chicago, where he was part of the Committee on Jewish Studies. Life and career Postone was bor ...

: '' Time, Labour and Social Domination (1993)'' *

: ''Marx, Life and Works'' (1980)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marxology Marxism Karl Marx Paris in World War II