The Life and Thought of Friedrich Engels: A Reinterpretation of His Life and Thought

Some critics make Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) a ``scapegoat for all that they dislike in Soviet Marxism,'' notes Hunley, while others claim that he espoused democratic reformism. Still other commentators counterpose Engels the simpleminded determinist to Karl Marx, the innovator of a complex dialectic of historical change. All of these interpretations are plain wrong, writes Hunley, deputy command historian with the U.S. Air Force, in this scholarly study that will appeal chiefly to serious students of Marxism. He argues convincingly that Marx and Engels were in fundamental agreement, and makes a fair case for Engels as an original, independent thinker whose ideas paralleled those of his collaborator. He further contends that both Marx and Engels were too committed to a ``humanist liberation of the working classes'' to be blamed for Soviet repression--a simplistic view. (June)