Taking the Economic-Philosophical MSS (1844), the Holy Family (1845), the Theses on Feuerbach (1845) and the German Ideology (1845-6) as a whole, one can say that they combine a fully developed philosophy of history with a rudimentary sociology -- the latter for the most part derived from the French Encyclopaedists and their nineteenth-century successors: the Saint-Simonians and the other schools of French socialism. What is misleadingly called the materialist conception of history represents a fusion of these elements: the social system viewed as a whole turns upon the historical process, and conversely the latter discloses its human, social essence as soon as man’s “nature” is seen to consist in his ability to produce the means of his existence, thereby transforming nature into “human” nature. Anthropology is the key to history, as with Feuerbach; but whereas the latter had postulated an unchanging human essence, Marx emphasizes that man should be viewed historically: what he makes of himself depends on the interaction of his forces with the environment -- including the man-made institutions of society.

The gusto with which Marx in the German Ideology dwells upon the frenzied intellectual history activity displayed by Bauer, Hess, Stirner et al., their reluctance to abandon their metaphysical cloud-cuckoo land for solid ground etc., tends to obscure the fact that he was at that time still in the process of disengaging himself from his erstwhile associates. [1961]

Loses half a point for not being the world's most consistently readable text, and more repetition than one would hope for. But really, an undeniably foundational text for anyone in the world of critical theory. Even after all these years, it still has the power to make one question everything. ( )

Sometimes difficult and boring, but the scattered diamonds make it required reading. ( )