Marxism—that theoretical system of which Karl Marx was the chief exponent, and which its adepts are wont to term "Scientific Socialism"—has reached a stage in its existence which marks it as one of those systems of thought which in the history of the intellectual development of the human race are epoch-making and stamp their character upon the age the intellectual life of which they dominate. While the fight for its existence is still raging, and it is growing in intensity from day to day, the character of the fight betrays the difference in its position. It no longer fights for recognition, so to speak, but on the contrary, it fights to maintain the position of an established doctrine, one might say the established doctrine, a position which it has assumed and occupied since the appearance of the last volume of Capital in 1894.
Marx-criticism is not any the less frequent or any the less vehement to-day than it was at any time during the life of his doctrines. Quite the reverse: At no time since the first foundations of the great system of thought which bears his name were laid down by Karl Marx, more than fifty years ago, have his assailants been so numerous or so active as they are now. Marxism—opposition to Marxism—is the moving cause, the burden of the song, the ever-recurring Leit-motif, of every new book, pamphlet, and
