Monday, April 24, 2023

Marx and Engels Collected Works

Several editions have been published of the works of Marx and Engels. One can also look in the Marxists Internet Archive. Many individual works have been published in various translations in various places. Marx's manuscripts ended up in the Institute of Social History (ISH), in Amsterdam.

A first attempt was started in 1927, the first Marx-Engels Gesamtausgabe (MEGA), in which the works were to be published in their original languages. This project was never completed. David Riazanov, the first editor, was shot in 1938, after the usual show trial. The Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) sponsored a Russian edition, published from 1928 through 1947. A second Russian edition was begun in 1955. It contains 47 books, with some volumes published across more than one book.

Activity by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the Socialist Unity Party (SUP), that is, the communist party of the German Democratic Republic, in Berlin, led to the publication of the Marx-Engels Werke (MEW). The MEW contains 44 books, and its publication began in 1956.

Progress Publishers, in Moscow, issued English translations of at least some of the work of Marx and Engels. Some, but not all, translations were based on the MEW. For example, Volume 1 of Capital in this series is the English edition of 1887, translated by Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling and edited by Engels.

The Marx-Engels Collected Works (MECW) consists of 50 volumes, in an english translation. It was published from 1975 to 2004. It is published by Lawrence & Wishart in London and International Publishers Company in New York. The MECW was the result of collaboration among the communist parties of Great Britain and the United States, the Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the CPSU and of Progress Publishers. The Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the SUP assisted. Lawrence & Wishart made an online version available in 2010. See also here.

The second Marx-Engels Gesamtausgabe (MEGA) is planned to contain 114 volumes. The works are in their original languages, show variations among various editions, and include commentary. The second MEGA edition was begun in 1975 by the SUP, in Berlin, and the Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the CPSU, in Moscow. The Internationale Marx-Engels-Stiftung, in Amsterdam took over sponsorship after 1989.

Tables 1, 2, and 3 list works in the MECW by Marx, by Marx and Engels, and by Engels, respectively. I do not list newspaper articles, letters, and speeches that were not published separately. Some of the unlisted newspaper articles, such as coverage of a trial of communists in Cologne, are as lengthy as some of the listed works. And Marx's work on the First International are important to a history of socialism. Furthermore, there are manuscripts by Marx, such as an essay on calculus, which are of interest to a consideration of the full range of his work and are not included in the MECW. Nevertheless, these tables contain the most widely discussed works by Marx and Engels, even though some were not published until well into the twentieth century.

Table 1: Selected Works by Marx
TitleWrittenPublishedTranslatedMECW
Difference between the Democritean and Epicurean philosophy of nature (doctoral dissertation)1840-1841190219461
Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Law1843192719703
On the Jewish Question1843184319263
Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 (The Paris Manuscripts)1844193219593
Theses on Feuerbach1845188819385
The Poverty of Philosophy1847184719006
Wage-Labour and Capital1849184918919
The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte18521852189711
Grundrisse der Kritik der Politischen Okonomie (Outlines of the Critique of Political Economy)18581939-1941197328-29
A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy: Part One18591859190429
Herr Vogt1860186017
Theories of Surplus Value, Part 11861-18631905-191030, 31, 34
Theories of Surplus Value, Part 21861-18631905-191031
Theories of Surplus Value, Part 31861-18631905-191032, 33
Economic Manuscript of 1861-18631861-186330-34
Value, Price and Profit18651898189820
Capital, V. 11863-18671867188735
Capital, V. 21865-18811885190736
Capital, V. 31864-18661894190937
The Civil War in France18711871187122
Critique of the Gotha Programme18751891189124
Table 2: Selected Works by Marx and Engels
TitleWrittenPublishedTranslatedMECW
The Holy Family, or Critique of Critical Criticism: Against Bruno Bauer and Company1844184519564
The German Ideology1846193219645
The Communist Manifesto1848184818506
Table 2: Selected Works by Engels
TitleWrittenPublishedTranslatedMECW
Outlines of a Critique of Political Economy1843184319593
The Condition of the Working Class in England1845184518874
The Peasant War in Germany185018501870?, 1875?10
Revolution and Counterrevolution in Germany18521852185211
Herr Duhring's Revolution in Science (Anti-Duhring)18781878190725
Socialism: Utopian and Scientific18801880189124
Dialectics of Nature188219251985?25
The Origin of the Family18841884190226
Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy18861886190326

These editions of the collected works produced some surprises. The 1844 manuscripts inspired an anti-Stalinist literature, based on a young Marx. Under this reading, Marx was at first a humanist, concerned with overcoming alienation. On the other hand, Althusser agreed that a break existed in Marx's thought, but preferred the later Marx. The Grundrisse seems like a challenge to these views. I had not previously known that Theories of Surplus Value was part of a larger manuscript. The second MEGA, as Heinrich (2021) notes, reveals surprising changes in the opening chapters of Capital, destabilizing established readings. Interpretations in the twentieth century are entangled with political struggles among socialists, communists, and others.

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