Karl Marx and the Intellectual Origins of Dialectical Materialism - by J White (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The book provides a genealogy of 'dialectical materialism' by tracing the development of Marxist ideas from their origins in German philosophical thought to the ideology of the social-democratic groups in Russia in the 1890s, from which Lenin and the revolutionary generation emerged. It reconstructs Marx's original conceptions and examines the modifications that were made to them by himself and by his Russian followers, which eventually gave rise to the doctrine of 'dialectical materialism', first expounded by Plekhanov.

Review Quotes

'This is a very valuable and significant contribution to scholarship. The author draws on a wide range of primary sources to illuminate the development of German thought to Marx, and from Marx to the Russians, his book makes an original contribution to our understanding of Marx's method, while his thesis about Marx and Russia is novel, challenging, and sure to provoke debate.' - C.J. Arthur, Honorary Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Sussex

'White places Marx between the German Romantics and the Russian Revolutionaries. This is a detailed study that reopens this issue.' - Terrell Carver, Professor of Political Theory, University of Bristol