ABSTRACT
I. The German Ideology. 1845-7 Engels's happiest years were probably those which he spent as a revolutionary agitator between 1845 and 1850.1 In those daysaccording to the German worker Friedrich Lessner - Engels was "tall and slim. his movements were quick and vigorous. his manner of speaking brief and decisive. his carriage erect, giving a soldierly touch. He was of a very lively nature; his wit was to the point. Everybody who associated with him inevitably got the impression that he was dealing with a man of great intelligence." Marx's Russian friend Annenkov later wrote that he remembered Engels in 1846 as being "taIl and erect. and as dignified and serious as an Englishman".2 He was a striking figure in any company - slim. tall. blond. short-sighted. He spoke very quickly and he stuttered from time to time. especially when he was excited.3 He had a surprisingly youthful appearance for a man of over twenty-five. In 1847 he hesitated to accept office as Vice-President of the Democratic Association of Brussels because - as he wrote to Marx - "I look SO dreadfully young."4
