Engels: A very short introduction

Abstract

Examines the man who invented Marxism. Engels’ work did more than Marx to make converts to the most influential political movement of modern times. He was not only the father of dialectical and historical materialism (the official philosophies of history and science in many communist countries), he was also the first Marxist historian, anthropologist, philosopher, and commentator on early Marx. In his later years, Engels developed his materialist interpretation of history, his chief intellectual legacy. This VSI traces its source and its effect on the development of Marxist theory and practice, assesses its utility, and discusses the difficulties which Marxists have encountered in defending it.