Feuerbach (1886, 1888)

This is one of the fundamental works of Marxism. It reveals the relationship between Marxism and its philosophical predecessors as represented by Hegel and Feuerbach, the prominent exponents of German classical philosophy, and provides a systematic exposition of the fundamentals of dialectical and historical materialism. The work was originally published in Die Neue Zeit, the theoretical journal of the German Social-Democratic Party; in 1888 it appeared as a pamphlet for which Engels wrote a special preface [MECW 26, p. 519-520]. The supplement to this edition contained Marx’s Theses on Feuerbach, published for the first time. In 1889, the St. Petersburg journal Severny Vestnik, Nos 3 and 4, carried a Russian translation of Engels’ work entitled The Crisis of the Philosophy of Classical Idealism in Germany. The author’s name was not mentioned, and the text contained many additions and digressions. It was signed G. L. (the initials of the translator — G. Lvovich). In 1890 Engels’ work was translated into Polish. In 1892 the Emancipation of Labour group in Geneva published the full Russian translation of this work by Georgy Plekhanov; the same year it was translated into Bulgarian. In 1894 the Paris journal Ère nouvelle, Nos 4 and 5 published the French translation by Laura Lafargue edited by the author. The second (stereotype) German edition appeared in 1895. There were no other editions of this work during Engels’ lifetime.

The work was published in English for the first time in 1903 by Kerr Publishers, USA, under the title The Roots of Socialist Philosophy.