Karl Marx (1818–1883) wrote no single work in which the essential themes of his political thought are spelled out, no work analogous to, say, Plato's Republic, Hobbes' Leviathan, or Hegel's Philosophy of Right. To get the essentials of his political doctrine, one must read many of Marx's writings, both early and late, including not only things he published but also things left in manuscript form at his death. The editors of this series have decided to offer these writings in two volumes: the present one, which includes texts that pre-date The Communist Manifesto, which was published in February 1848, and a second, being edited by Dr Terrell Carver, which will include the Manifesto and writings subsequent to it.

Of Marx's writing of 1847 we include here two short pieces: an excerpt from the conclusion of Poverty of Philosophy, which was published in the middle of that year, and a speech he gave at the end of the year, shortly before he (and Friedrich Engels) began drafting the Manifesto. Our principal texts date from the period spring/summer 1843 to fall 1846. The first of these is Marx's ‘Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right’, excerpts from which are included here, and the last is chapter 1 of‘The German Ideology’. This latter text represents the culmination of a process that began in the earlier ‘Critique’ of Hegel: Marx's development of a complex insight which he called the ‘guideline’ (Leitfaden) for all of his subsequent theoretical work, and which others have dubbed his ‘materialist’ theory of history, society and politics (or ‘historical materialism’ etc.) – about the details of which we will say more below.