In 1859 Marx publishes A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, whose preface gives the materialist conception of history its canonical statement: the economic structure is the real foundation on which legal and political superstructures arise, and it is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence but their social existence that determines their consciousness. Generations of Marxists learn the doctrine from this page.
Tagged: Marxism
The Event
- Date
- 1859 (exact)
- Era
- Marx; Standard periodization of Marxist history
- Location
- London; today London, England
- Traditions
- Marxism
- Streams
- Marxism
- Key figures
- Karl Marx
- Key texts
- A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy
Primary Sources
- Marx, Karl. A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy. London, 1859 (the Preface).
Secondary Sources
- Anderson, Perry. Considerations on Western Marxism. London: New Left Books, 1976.
- Kolakowski, Leszek. Main Currents of Marxism. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978.
- McLellan, David. Karl Marx: A Biography. London: Palgrave Macmillan, fourth edition, 2006.
Provenance: HIST-1451; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-30.
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World View
Marxism
Marxism explains history as the struggle of classes over material production, and aims at a classless society in which exploitation and alienation are ended.