some future time to be able to resume the argument, when I expect to take up the different critics and their criticisms one by one and draw conclusions with them.
I have also refrained from entering into any detailed statement of the Marxian economic theory as I did not intend to make this volume a primer of philosophy and political economy according to Marx, but rather an outline of the Marxian system of thought, with the accent on the system, that is the relation of its different parts to each other and the unity of the whole. It is not meant as a text-book of the Marxian teaching, but as an introduction to the study of Marx, and as an aid to the understanding of him. And in this connection I wish to say that in stating what I considered to be the true Marxian doctrine I never relied on isolated statements or expressions, but always looked to the spirit pervading the whole of his work, for the explanation of any dark point or the solution of any problem encountered.
In the arrangement of the matter I have followed the suggestion of the great Master: I have treated the Materialistic Conception of History as merely introductory to the study of the actual workings of the capitalist system. I appreciate that the problems of the Materialistic Conception of History are many and manifold, but I do not believe that it would have been wise to burden the reader at the very beginning with long and abstruse philosophic discussions. Besides, many of the problems of the Materialistic Conception of History which are considered grave, are so considered only because of the failure of many students of the subject to perceive that these problems are not peculiar to this particular philosophy, but are problems of philosophy in general.
There is one respect, however, in which the Materialistic Conception of History has a harder road to travel than any other system of thought that I know of: the persistent misrepresentations of friend and foe. I have therefore deemed it advisable to attach two appendices wherein are
