The correct place 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 ...

's early writings within his system as a whole has been a matter of great controversy. Some believe there is a ''break'' in Marx's development that divides his thought into two periods: the "Young Marx" is said to be a thinker who deals with the problem of alienation, while the "Mature Marx" is said to aspire to a

scientific socialism Scientific socialism is a term coined in 1840 by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in his book '' What is Property?'' to mean a society ruled by a scientific government, i.e., one whose sovereignty rests upon reason, rather than sheer will: Thus, in a given ...

. The debate centers on the reasons for Marx's transition from philosophy to the analysis of modern

capitalist Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...

society. The controversy arose with the posthumous publication of the works that Marx wrote before 1845 — particularly the ''

Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 The ''Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844'' (german: Ökonomisch-philosophische Manuskripte aus dem Jahre 1844), also referred to as the ''Paris Manuscripts'' (') or as the ''1844 Manuscripts'', are a series of notes written between Apri ...

'' — which had been unavailable to the first generation of Marxist theorists. These writings, first published between 1927 and 1932, provide a philosophical background to the economic, historical and political works that Marx had hitherto been known for. Orthodox Marxism follows a positivist reading that sees Marx as having made a progressive change towards scientific socialism.

Marxist humanism Marxist humanism is an international body of thought and political action rooted in an interpretation of the works of Karl Marx. It is an investigation into "what human nature consists of and what sort of society would be most conducive to huma ...

, on the other hand, sees continuity between the

Hegelian Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...

philosophical

humanism Humanism is a philosophy, philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and Agency (philosophy), agency of Human, human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical in ...

of the early Marx and the work of the later Marx.

The publication of the "early writings"

The majority of the texts that are classed as belonging to Marx's "early writings" - his writings from the early 1840s - were not published during his lifetime. Some of the most important of these, such as the ''

Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right ''Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right'' (german: Zur Kritik der Hegelschen Rechtsphilosophie, link=no) is a manuscript written by the German political philosopher Karl Marx in 1843. Unpublished during his lifetime (except for the introduction, ...

'' and the ''

'', were not written for publication. While Marx preserved his study notebooks from this period, he showed little interest in either publishing the unpublished works, or retaining his published works such as '' The Holy Family''. An effort at unearthing Marx's early writings was undertaken by

Franz Mehring Franz Erdmann Mehring (27 February 1846 – 28 January 1919) was a German communist historian, literary critic, philosopher, and revolutionary socialist politician who was a senior member of the Spartacus League during the German Revolution of 191 ...

, who in 1902 published a collection ''Aus dem literarischen Nachlass von Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, und Ferdinand Lassalle'', which contained previously published works of Marx such as ''The Holy Family'' and his articles for the '' Deutsch–Französische Jahrbücher''. It was not until 1927 that the early writings began to appear more fully, as part of the '' Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe'' edition. The ''MEGA'' included scholarly versions of the ''Critique'', the ''Manuscripts'' and Marx's '' Notes on James Mill''. However, this project was cancelled shortly after it was begun. Marx's early writings did not become more widely disseminated until many years later, with satisfactory editions of the ''Manuscripts'' appearing in English only in 1956, and in French in 1962. One reason for the lack of interest from Marx in his earlier writings was their basis in the philosophy of

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends ...

. In his lifetime, Marx was not well-known outside of a small circle until 1867, when the first volume of '' Capital'' was published. By this time, Hegel was seen as long out of date, and no importance was attached to his influence on Marx. Marx was instead viewed as an

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...

who had set out to prove scientifically the inevitable decline of capitalism. The intellectual development of the Marxists of the

Second International The Second International (1889–1916) was an organisation of socialist and labour parties, formed on 14 July 1889 at two simultaneous Paris meetings in which delegations from twenty countries participated. The Second International continued th ...

such as

Karl Kautsky Karl Johann Kautsky (; ; 16 October 1854 – 17 October 1938) was a Czech-Austrian philosopher, journalist, and Marxist theorist. Kautsky was one of the most authoritative promulgators of orthodox Marxism after the death of Friedrich Engels i ...

, Georgi Plekhanov, Eduard Bernstein and

Heinrich Cunow Heinrich Cunow (11 April 1862, in Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Schwerin – 20 August 1936) was a German Social Democratic Party politician and a Marxist theorist. Cunow was originally against the First World War in 1914 but he changed his viewpoint. ...

took place in a cultural climate dominated by Darwinism. This interest in Darwinism was shared by

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' Anti-Duhring'', '' The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State'' and '' Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy''. These writings were seen to provide a general philosophical theory that was absent in Marx himself. It was primarily through these later works of Engels that the first generation of Marxists were attracted to Marxism. For them, Marxism was an objective and scientific doctrine of the laws of social development - a "

" free from any

ethical Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ma ...

metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

elements. The factors contributing to a delay of interest in the young Marx were not merely intellectual. The publication of Marx's early writings arrived against a backdrop of Marxism being increasingly identified with the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and an "orthodox" interpretation of Marxist theory that had been codified by the Soviet state. This version of Marxism found it difficult to square the language and concerns of Marx's early works with its own worldview. The editor of the ''Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe'', David Ryazanov, was forced into internal exile within the Soviet Union, before being executed in the great purges in 1938. Soviet Marxism pigeonholed Marx's early writings as a blind alley. A salient example of this is the decision by the

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

Institute of Marxism-Leninism to exclude the ''Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts'' from its ''Marx-Engels Werke'' and publish them in a separate volume. In other quarters, the early writings were welcomed precisely because they appeared to cast doubt on the authority of Soviet Marxism. Prior to their discovery, the groundwork for an understanding of their importance had been laid by two books published in 1923 - Karl Korsch's ''Marxism and Philosophy'' and

György Lukács György Lukács (born György Bernát Löwinger; hu, szegedi Lukács György Bernát; german: Georg Bernard Baron Lukács von Szegedin; 13 April 1885 – 4 June 1971) was a Hungarian Marxist philosopher, literary historian, critic, and aesth ...

's '' History and Class Consciousness''. Korsch and Lukács emphasized the Hegelian element to Marx, seeming to criticize official Marxism from the more open and critical position of the young Marx. In 1932, an alternative volume of the ''Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts'' edited by Siegfried Landshut and J-P Mayer appeared. Landshut and Mayer claimed that the ''Manuscripts'' revealed the previously hidden thread that ran throughout Marx’s entire output, allowing his later work to be understood properly for the first time. Herbert Marcuse argued that the ''Manuscripts'' demonstrated the philosophical foundations of Marxism, putting "the entire theory of 'scientific socialism' on a new footing". In the ''Manuscripts''

Marshall Berman Marshall Howard Berman (November 23, 1940–September 11, 2013) was an American philosopher and Marxist humanist writer. He was a Distinguished Professor of Political Science at The City College of New York and at the Graduate Center of the C ...

believed he had discovered "something special": "Marx, but not communism".

The controversy of the relation of the "Young Marx" to the "Mature Marx"

The Young Marx is usually still considered part of

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "human ...

" bourgeois" philosophy, which Marx later criticized along with

German idealism German idealism was a philosophical movement that emerged in Germany in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It developed out of the work of Immanuel Kant in the 1780s and 1790s, and was closely linked both with Romanticism and the revolutionary ...

. Marx viewed "

social relations A social relation or also described as a social interaction or social experience is the fundamental unit of analysis within the social sciences, and describes any voluntary or involuntary interpersonal relationship between two or more individuals ...

" as taking precedence over individual

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

- a product of ideology according to him.

Marxist humanist Marxist humanism is an international body of thought and political action rooted in an interpretation of the works of Karl Marx. It is an investigation into "what human nature consists of and what sort of society would be most conducive to huma ...

s stressed the humanistic philosophical foundations of Marx's thought by focusing on the ''

Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 The ''Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844'' (german: Ökonomisch-philosophische Manuskripte aus dem Jahre 1844), also referred to as the ''Paris Manuscripts'' (') or as the ''1844 Manuscripts'', are a series of notes written between Apri ...

''. In this work, Marx expounds his

theory of alienation Karl Marx's theory of alienation describes the estrangement (German: ''Entfremdung'') of people from aspects of their human nature (''Gattungswesen'', 'species-essence') as a consequence of the division of labor and living in a society of strat ...

, which echoes many of the themes of

Ludwig Feuerbach Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach (; 28 July 1804 – 13 September 1872) was a German anthropologist and philosopher, best known for his book '' The Essence of Christianity'', which provided a critique of Christianity that strongly influenced gene ...

's ''

The Essence of Christianity ''The Essence of Christianity'' (german: Das Wesen des Christentums; historical orthography: ''Das Weſen des Chriſtenthums'') is a book by Ludwig Feuerbach first published in 1841. It explains Feuerbach's philosophy and critique of religion. ...

'' (1841). The theory prominent in the ''Manuscripts'' is a "return to

species-being Some Marxists posit what they deem to be Karl Marx's theory of human nature, which they accord an important place in his critique of capitalism, his conception of communism, and his 'materialist conception of history'. Marx, however, does not re ...

" - a normative,

anthropological Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

theory. Some commentators suggest that the later Marx abandons this idea in favour of a structural description. Sidney Hook,

Daniel Bell Daniel Bell (May 10, 1919 – January 25, 2011) was an American sociologist, writer, editor, and professor at Harvard University, best known for his contributions to the study of post-industrialism. He has been described as "one of the leading A ...

and Lewis Feuer hold that the change in mode of exposition in Marx's magnum opus '' Capital'' corresponds to a change in his ideas. An extreme representative of this position is the Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser, who argues that the young Marx can not be read while presupposing "fully-developed Marxism". Althusser thus poses the question of how one may conceive the transformation of Marx's thought without adopting an

idealist In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected to id ...

perspective. Althusser wishes to avoid a

teleological Teleology (from and )Partridge, Eric. 1977''Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English'' London: Routledge, p. 4187. or finalityDubray, Charles. 2020 912Teleology" In ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'' 14. New York: Robert Appleton ...

view, which holds that Marx's early writings express the contents of the Mature Marx's theory in a nascent state using Feuerbachian language. For Althusser, this would mark a return to

's spiritual dialectics. Jean-Yves Calvez, Robert C. Tucker, David McLellan, Iring Fetscher,

Shlomo Avineri Shlomo Avineri (Hebrew: שלמה אבינרי) (born 1933 in Bielsko, Poland) is an Israeli political scientist. He is Professor of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanitie ...

, István Mészáros and

Leszek Kołakowski Leszek Kołakowski (; ; 23 October 1927 – 17 July 2009) was a Polish philosopher and historian of ideas. He is best known for his critical analyses of Marxist thought, especially his three-volume history, '' Main Currents of Marxism'' (1976 ...

deny there is any break between the Young Marx and the Old Marx. Siegfried Landshut, Heinrich Popitz, J-P Mayer and Erich Fromm hold that the theory of the early Marx is richer than the more restricted theory of the later Marx. Commentators such as Benedetto Croce,

Karl Löwith Karl Löwith (9 January 1897 – 26 May 1973) was a German philosopher in the phenomenological tradition. A student of Husserl and Heidegger, he was one of the most prolific German philosophers of the twentieth century. He is known for his two ...

and Sidney Hook argue that the later Marx abandons Hegelianism completely, a view disparaged by

, Iring Fetscher, Robert C. Tucker and Shlomo Avineri.

Ernest Mandel Ernest Ezra Mandel (; also known by various pseudonyms such as Ernest Germain, Pierre Gousset, Henri Vallin, Walter (5 April 1923 – 20 July 1995), was a Belgian Marxian economist, Trotskyist activist and theorist, and Holocaust survivor. He f ...

distinguishes three different positions with respect to the controversy:

Étienne Balibar Étienne Balibar (; ; born 23 April 1942) is a French philosopher. He has taught at the University of Paris X-Nanterre, at the University of California Irvine and is currently an Anniversary Chair Professor at the Centre for Research in Modern E ...

argues that Marx's works cannot be divided into "economic works" (''

Das Kapital ''Das Kapital'', also known as ''Capital: A Critique of Political Economy'' or sometimes simply ''Capital'' (german: Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie, link=no, ; 1867–1883), is a foundational theoretical text in materialist phi ...

''), "philosophical works" and "historical works" (''

The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon ''The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon'' (german: italic=yes, Der 18te Brumaire des Louis Napoleon) is an essay written by Karl Marx between December 1851 and March 1852, and originally published in 1852 in ''Die Revolution'', a German mo ...

'' or the 1871 ''

The Civil War in France "The Civil War in France" (German: "Der Bürgerkrieg in Frankreich") was a pamphlet written by Karl Marx, as an official statement of the General Council of the International on the character and significance of the struggle of the Communards in t ...

''). Marx's philosophy is inextricably linked to his

critique of political economy Critique of political economy or critique of economy is a form of social critique that rejects the various social categories and structures that constitute the mainstream discourse concerning the forms and modalities of resource allocation and ...

and to his historical interventions in the

workers' movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

, such as the 1875 ''

Critique of the Gotha Program The ''Critique of the Gotha Programme'' (german: Kritik des Gothaer Programms) is a document based on a letter by Karl Marx written in early May 1875 to the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany (SDAP), with whom Marx and Friedrich Engels wer ...

''. The problematic is also related to Marx's rupture with

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

and its teachings concerning

and his encounter with the proletariat, leading him to write along with

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' The Communist Manifesto ''The Communist Manifesto'', originally the ''Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (german: Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei), is a political pamphlet written by German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Commissioned by the Commu ...

'' a year before the

Revolutions of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...

Marxism Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectical ...

's philosophical roots were commonly explained (for example by

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

) as derived from three sources: English

political economy Political economy is the study of how economic systems (e.g. markets and national economies) and political systems (e.g. law, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied phenomena within the discipline are systems such as labour ...

; French

utopian socialism Utopian socialism is the term often used to describe the first current of modern socialism and socialist thought as exemplified by the work of Henri de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier, Étienne Cabet, and Robert Owen. Utopian socialism is often de ...

republicanism Republicanism is a political ideology centered on citizenship in a state organized as a republic. Historically, it emphasises the idea of self-rule and ranges from the rule of a representative minority or oligarchy to popular sovereignty. It ...

and radicalism; and dialectic methods developed by Hegel. Although this "three sources" model is an

oversimplification The fallacy of the single cause, also known as complex cause, causal oversimplification, causal reductionism, and reduction fallacy, is an informal fallacy of questionable cause that occurs when it is assumed that there is a single, simple cause of ...

, it still has some measure of truth.

Various breaks

claimed Marx's first mature work as ''

The Poverty of Philosophy ''The Poverty of Philosophy'' (French: ''Misère de la philosophie'') is a book by Karl Marx published in Paris and Brussels in 1847, where he lived in exile from 1843 until 1849. It was originally written in French as a critique of the economic ...

'' (1847) in his own work '' State and Revolution'' (1917). Louis Althusser, who was a champion of this young–mature dichotomy in his criticisms of

(

Praxis School The Praxis school was a Marxist humanist philosophical cycle, whose members were influenced by Western Marxism. It originated in Zagreb in the SFR Yugoslavia, during the 1960s. Prominent school's theorists include Gajo Petrović and Milan Ka ...

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

and the like) and

existential Marxism Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophy, philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning of life, ...

, claimed in the 1960s that ''

The German Ideology ''The German Ideology'' (German: ''Die deutsche Ideologie'', sometimes written as ''A Critique of the German Ideology'') is a set of manuscripts originally written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels around April or early May 1846. Marx and Engels ...

'' (written in 1845), in which Marx criticized Bruno Bauer,

Max Stirner Johann Kaspar Schmidt (25 October 1806 – 26 June 1856), known professionally as Max Stirner, was a German post-Hegelian philosopher, dealing mainly with the Hegelian notion of social alienation and self-consciousness. Stirner is often seen a ...

and other

Young Hegelians The Young Hegelians (german: Junghegelianer), or Left Hegelians (''Linkshegelianer''), or the Hegelian Left (''die Hegelsche Linke''), were a group of German intellectuals who, in the decade or so after the death of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel ...

, marked the break with this young Marx. Furthermore, the

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a ...

in his ''The Place of Marxism in History'' (1986) also broke Marx's intellectual development into several different stages. Althusser presented, in his ''

For Marx ''For Marx'' (french: Pour Marx) is a 1965 book by the philosopher Louis Althusser, a leading theoretician of the French Communist Party (PCF), in which the author reinterprets the work of the philosopher Karl Marx, proposing an epistemological ...

'' (1965), a number of other opinions:

Louis Althusser's "epistemological break"

Althusser popularized the conception of an " epistemological break" between the Young Marx and the mature Marx - the point where Marx broke with ideology to enter the domain of

science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

- a point generally considered to consist in his break with

. However, the epistemological break, a concept which Althusser drew out of

Gaston Bachelard Gaston Bachelard (; ; 27 June 1884 – 16 October 1962) was a French philosopher. He made contributions in the fields of poetics and the philosophy of science. To the latter, he introduced the concepts of ''epistemological obstacle'' and '' epis ...

, is not to be conceived as a chronological point, but as a "process", thus making the question of the distinction between a "Young Marx" and a "mature Marx" a problematic one. Althusser characterized Marx's '' German Ideology'' and ''

Theses on Feuerbach The "Theses on Feuerbach" are eleven short philosophical notes written by Karl Marx as a basic outline for the first chapter of the book ''The German Ideology'' in 1845. Like the book for which they were written, the theses were never published i ...

'', written in 1845, as "works of the break", which were then followed by a series of ''transitional'' works from 1845 to 1857, Marx's first Mature Work being the first drafts of ''Capital''. Althusser noted that the interest in the Young Marx, that is in the ''1844 Manuscripts'' and other early works, was no longer a matter of interest only for

Western Marxism Western Marxism is a current of Marxist theory that arose from Western and Central Europe in the aftermath of the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the ascent of Leninism. The term denotes a loose collection of theorists who advanced an i ...

, e.g.

Palmiro Togliatti Palmiro Michele Nicola Togliatti (; 26 March 1893 – 21 August 1964) was an Italian politician and leader of the Italian Communist Party from 1927 until his death. He was nicknamed ("The Best") by his supporters. In 1930 he became a citizen of ...

, but also of Soviet studies, first of all, that the very discussion of early Marx carries political tones as the

's attitude to the subject is not very approving. He also noted that as Jahn had noted that "it was not Marxists who opened the debate on Marx's Early Works", indicating the political stakes surrounding it: "For this attack surprised Marxists on their own ground: that of Marx". Althusser then criticizes the Marxist response to this attack:

To discomfit those who set up against Marx his own youth, the opposite position is resolutely taken up: Marx is reconciled with his youth—'' Capital'' is no longer read as ''
On the Jewish Question "On the Jewish Question" is a response by Karl Marx to then-current debates over the Jewish question. Marx wrote the piece in 1843, and it was first published in Paris in 1844 under the German title "Zur Judenfrage" in the ''Deutsch–Französi ...
'', ''On the Jewish Question'' is read as ''Capital'' ; the shadow of the young Marx is no longer projected on to Marx, but that of Marx on to the young Marx; and a pseudo-theory of the history of philosophy in the '
future anterior ''Future Anterior'' is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal published by the University of Minnesota Press. The editor-in-chief is Jorge Otero-Pailos (Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation). History The journal ...
' is erected to justify this counter-position, without realizing that this pseudo-theory is quite simply Hegelian. A devout fear of a blow to Marx's ''integrity'' inspires as its reflex a resolute acceptance of ''the whole of Marx'': Marx is declared to be a whole, ' ''the young Marx is part of Marxism'' 'as if we risked losing ''the whole of Marx'' if we were to submit his youth to the radical critique of history, not ''the history he was going to live'', but ''the history he did live'', not an immediate history, but the reflected history for which, in his maturity, he gave us, not the ' ''truth'' ' in the Hegelian sense, but the principles of its scientific understanding.

Thereby, Althusser warns against any attempts at reading in a

way Marx, that is in claiming that the mature Marx was already in the young Marx and necessarily derived from him:

Capital is an ''ethical'' theory, the silent philosophy of which is openly spoken in Marx's Early Works. Thus, reduced to two propositions, is the thesis which has had such extraordinary success. And not only in France and in Italy, but also, as these articles from abroad show, in contemporary Germany and Poland. Philosophers, ideologues, theologians have all launched into a gigantic enterprise of criticism and ''conversion'': let Marx be restored to his source, and let him admit at last that in him, the mature man is merely the young man in disguise. Or if he stubbornly insists on his age, let him admit the sins of his maturity, let him recognize that he sacrificed philosophy to economics, ethics to science, man to history. Let him consent to this or refuse it, his truth, everything that will survive him, everything which helps the men that we are to live and think, is contained in these few Early Works. So these good critics leave us with but a single choice: we must admit that ''Capital'' (and 'mature Marxism' in general) is ''either an expression of the Young Marx's philosophy, or its betrayal''. In either case, the established interpretation must be totally revised and we must return to the Young Marx, the Marx through whom spoke the Truth. This is the ''location'' of the discussion: the Young Marx. Really ''at stake'' in it: Marxism. The ''terms of the discussion'' : whether the Young Marx was already and wholly Marx.

Althusser then criticizes the "eclectic" reading of Marx's early works, which instead of reading the text as a "whole", discompose it in various "elements" which it then judges as either "materialist" or "idealist" elements. Marx should not be read in a teleological perspective, which would be a return to Hegel's idealist philosophy of history, thus he writes:

From the Hegelian viewpoint, Early Works are as inevitable and as impossible as the singular object displayed by Jarry: ''"the skull of the child
Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—es ...
"''. They are as inevitable as all beginnings. They are impossible because ''it is impossible to choose one's beginnings''. Marx did not choose to be born to the thought German history had concentrated in its
university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
education, nor to think its ideological world. He grew up in this world, in it he learned to live and move, with it he 'settled accounts', from it he liberated himself. I shall return to ''the
necessity Necessary or necessity may refer to: * Need ** An action somebody may feel they must do ** An important task or essential thing to do at a particular time or by a particular moment * Necessary and sufficient condition, in logic, something that i ...
and contingency of this beginning'' later. The fact is that there was a ''beginning'', and that to work out the history of Marx's particular thoughts their movement must be grasped at the precise instant when that concrete individual the Young Marx emerged into the ''thought world'' of his own time, to ''think in it'' in his turn, and to enter into the exchange and debate with the thoughts of his time which was to be his whole life as an ideologue. At this level of the exchanges and conflicts that are the very substance of the ''texts'' in which his living thoughts have come down to us, it is as if the authors of these thoughts were themselves ''absent''. The concrete individual who expresses himself in his thoughts and his writings is absent, so is the actual history expressed in the existing ideological field. As the author effaces himself in the presence of his published thoughts, reducing himself to their rigour, so concrete history effaces itself in the presence of its ideological themes, reducing itself to their system. This double absence will also have to be put to the test. But for the moment, everything is in play between the rigour of a single thought and the thematic system of an ideological field. Their relation is this ''beginning'' and ''this'' beginning has no end. This is the relationship that has to be thought: the relation between the (internal) unity of a single thought (at each moment of its development) and the existing ideological field (at each moment of its development). But if this relationship is to be thought, so, in the same movement, must its terms.

Criticisms

Marxist humanists Marxist humanism is an international body of thought and political action rooted in an interpretation of the works of Karl Marx. It is an investigation into "what human nature consists of and what sort of society would be most conducive to huma ...

do not argue that Marx's thought never developed, but criticise the dichotomy between young and mature as being too rigid, instead emphasizing the continuity in Marx's development. One piece of evidence used by Marxist humanists to highlight the importance of Marx's early works is that Marx himself in 1851 tried to have two volumes of his early writings published. David McLellan and

both note that in the afterword to the second edition of '' Capital, vol. 1'', published in 1871, Marx makes reference to criticisms of Hegel that he made thirty years prior. They take this to refer to the ''1844 Manuscripts''. Kołakowski further notes that while Marx does not use the term "alienation", the description of

commodity fetishism In Marxist philosophy, the term commodity fetishism describes the economic relationships of production and exchange as being social relationships that exist among things (money and merchandise) and not as relationships that exist among people ...

found in the first chapter of ''Capital'' is the same as in his earlier works, as is the analogy with religion which he owes to Feuerbach.

François Châtelet François Châtelet (27 April 1925 – 26 December 1985) was a historian of philosophy, political philosophy and professor in the socratic tradition. He was the husband of philosopher Noëlle Châtelet, the sister of Lionel Jospin. Biog ...

denied the existence of a rupture in 1857 between the young Marx and a mature Marx who would have discarded his errors and assume "mastery of his thought". Instead, he considered that the tensions in his thought continued on until his death in 1883.

, ''Une histoire de la raison. Entretiens avec Emile Noël'', Le Seuil, 1992, p. 193. This thesis, concentrating itself on the tensions in Marx's thought instead of an alleged maturity of his thought, would also be upheld by

(1993). Others contended that Althusser's "epistemological break" between ''The Economic-Philosophical Manuscripts'' (1844) and ''The German Ideology'' (1845), in which some new concepts are forged, is a bit too abrupt, although almost no one contests the radical shifts. Though Althusser steadfastly held onto the claim of its existence, he later asserted that the turning point's occurrence around 1845 was not so clearly defined, as traces of humanism,

historicism Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying their history, that is, by studying the process by which they came about. The term is widely ...

and Hegelianism were to be found in ''Capital''. He went so far as to state that only Marx's ''

Critique of the Gotha Programme The ''Critique of the Gotha Programme'' (german: Kritik des Gothaer Programms) is a document based on a letter by Karl Marx written in early May 1875 to the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany (SDAP), with whom Marx and Friedrich Engels wer ...

'' and some notes on a book by

Adolph Wagner Adolph Wagner (25 March 1835 – 8 November 1917) was a German economist and politician, a leading ''Kathedersozialist'' (academic socialist) and public finance scholar and advocate of agrarianism. Wagner's law of increasing state activity is ...

were fully free from humanist ideology. Althusser considered the epistemological break to be a process instead of a clearly defined event - the product of the incessant struggle against ideology. Althusser believed in the existence of class struggle in

theory A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be ...

itself. This struggle marked the division point between those philosophers who contented themselves with providing various ideological "interpretations" of the world and those who endeavoured to "transform" the world as Marx had put it in his ''

'' (1845). Furthermore, other important shifts in Marx's thought have been highlighted (e.g.

), in particular following the failure of the

1848 revolutions The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europe ...

, in particular in France with

Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

's December 2, 1851 coup d'état and then after the crush of the 1871

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...

Endnotes

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{Marx/Engels Marxism Marxist theory Karl Marx