ABSTRACT
Before we begin to examine the content of Marxian theory some terminological clarification is necessary. The eponymous term ‘Marxian’ itself raises the question of the role of Marx’s friend and collaborator, Friedrich Engels, in the initiation and development of the ideas that are designated by it. Five years after Marx’s death, Engels noted that, while he had had ‘a certain independent share’, Marx was the leading member of the team and ‘could very well have done without me’ (Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy, 1888). This modest assessment of his relationship with Marx has been rendered questionable by recent historical research. It is now evident that Engels had developed, in writing, some of the basic propositions of Marxian theory even before his collaboration with Marx began in the fall of 1844. For example, Engels’s ‘Outlines of a Critique of Political Economy’, which was written in 1843, contains many of the ideas that are prominent in Marx’s first writings on social science, now known as the ‘Paris Manuscripts’ (or by the title under which they were first published, in the 1930’s, as The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844). Before he met Marx, Engels had arrived at the view that class conflict, due to society’s economic structure, is the prime factor in social change. It was Engels’s insistence on this point that persuaded Marx to shift the main focus of his scholarly work from philosophy to economics. Throughout their forty-year friendship Engels played an important part in the development of Marxian theory. The famous Communist Manifesto (1848), for example, was composed in its final form by Marx but it was based upon a manuscript written by Engels called The Principles of Communism’ (1847). If Engels had accepted Marx’s offer to include him as joint author of Capital, there would perhaps be less neglect today of his role in the development of Marxian theory among those who regard the economic analysis presented in that book as the core of Marxian thought. Virtually all Marx’s major work after 1844 was discussed with Engels and, even if there were no explicit documentation on the matter, it would not be possible to relegate Engels to a minor place in the development of Marxian theory.
