Marxist Political Economy without Hegel: Contrasting Marx and Luxemburg with Plekhanov and Lenin

Abstract

No one contests the early influence of Hegel on Marx. Yet some act as if Hegel was to be always important for Marx. Furthermore, certain popular renderings even use a simplistic caricature of Hegel such as the thesis-antithesis-synthesis formulary and, taking that to belong to Marx as well, attack Marx through caricature. Meanwhile, the question is infrequently posed whether Hegel’s influence persisted for Marx, and if Marx himself, as his work deepened, defended the necessity of Hegel’s philosophy for his political economy. We shall demonstrate, with considerable evidence from Marx himself, the declining need for Hegelian philosophy in Marx’s evolving understanding of political economy.