ABSTRACT
Though Thorstein Veblen repeatedly criticized Marx's Hegelian metaphysics and dismissed as scientifically irrelevant not only his propaganda but also his more philosophical and speculative writings, he greatly admired Marx. He attributed hardly less hegemony than Marx had done to the way men get a living; like Marx, he tended to regard politics, art, and religion, as "superstructural" aspects of society. Veblen's attitude towards archaism is expressed in all his work, but nowhere perhaps with such poignancy as in the extraordinary essay he wrote concerning the nationalistic aspirations of Zionist city Jews to become again rural, archaic- and a nation. In his contempt for the provincialities and flummeries of nationalism, Veblen is in the Enlightenment tradition of cosmopolitanism which links such otherwise divergent figures as Condorcet and Marx. The politics of Imperial Germany is a politics, and not a mere reflection of capitalist chicane; it marks perhaps the furthest reach of Veblen's awareness of the importance of non-economic influences on society.
