The German Ideology

Karl Marx was a German theorist, economic historian, journalist and revolutionary communist. Marx, who came from a secular Jewish background, first hoped to find success as a poet and novelist. After a failed literary career… read analysis of Marx

Friedrich Engels was a German theorist, economic historian, journalist, and revolutionary communist. Engels was the son of a wealthy textile manufacturer who owned mills in both Germany and England. Struck by the disjuncture between his… read analysis of Engels

Johnann Kaspar Schmidt, who published as Max Stirner, was a German post-Hegelian philosopher and the founder of egoism. Stirner was born in Bavaria and later moved to Berlin, where he studied under Hegel and… read analysis of Stirner

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher and leading figure of German idealism. Hegel, who was born in 1770 and died in 1831, lived through the major historical upheavals of the French Revolution… read analysis of Hegel

Bruno Bauer was a German philosopher and theologian. Although he was affiliated with the Young Hegelians, Bauer himself never quite belonged to the group, and had a sharp break with his former friend Karl… read analysis of Bauer

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was a French socialist philosopher, economist, and politician. Often described as the founder of modern anarchism, Proudhon played a major role in the theoretical development of socialism in the early 19th century, though… read analysis of Proudhon

Karl Theodor Ferdinand Grün was a German philosopher and socialist. A fellow student of Marx’s, Grün’s commitment to Feuerbach’s humanist communism led to a bitter rivalry with Marx, who accused Grün of idealism and… read analysis of Karl Grün

Franz Szeliga Zychlin von Zychlinski, who wrote under the pseudonym Szeliga, was a German soldier, philosopher, and follower of Max Stirner. Little known outside of his boosterism of Stirner’s philosophy of egoism, Szeliga… read analysis of Szeliga

Moses Hess was a German Jewish philosopher, communist, and proto-Zionist. Hess was initially a close collaborator of Marx and Engels’s but split with the pair over political and personal differences. After leaving the communist… read analysis of Moses Hess