tem in a nut shell, and containing Marx's own formulation of the Materialistic Conception of History.
It is amusing to see the evident surprise of some Marx-critics at the fact that Marx, instead of writing an elaborate treatise on the Materialistic Conception of History, relegated its formulation to a short preface of a purely politicoeconomic work. As a matter of fact, this is very significant, but not surprising at all. This passage contains an epitome of the whole Marxian system: Historical foundation, economic structure and socialist result. The book itself was to treat the economic structure of the capitalist system exhaustively and in detail. The Socialistic conclusions were not elaborated for the reason that Marx did not believe in any Socialism that did not flow directly from an examination of the capitalist system, and therefore it had to be merely indicated, leaving it to the reader to deduce his Socialism from the examination of the capitalist system contained in the book itself. If that examination did not lead to Socialism such an elaboration would be either useless or unjustifiable or both. The historical point of view, however, from which the capitalist system was to be examined had to be formulated, as without a clear understanding thereof the examination of the laws governing the capitalist system of production and distribution would remain a book sealed with seven seals. Marx, therefore, formulated his historical theory in the preface, and then settled down to the examination of the economic structure of our present society and the laws governing its particular course of evolution.
The opinions of the critics about Marx as an economist are just as many and as divergent as are their opinions of him as a philosopher. Slonimski and other critics think that Marx has done absolutely nothing for the science of economics; not only are his theories false but they have not even any historical importance. From this view to that of enthusiastic eulogy the opinions run all the way. He has, of course, been denied originality. He is accused by some
