Essays on the Materialistic Conception of History

Our doctrine does not pretend to be the intellectual vision of a great plan or of a design, but it is merely a method of research and of conception. It is not by accident that Marx spoke of his discovery as a guiding thread, and it is precisely for this reason that it is analogous to Darwinism, which also is a method… -from “Historical Materialism” One of the great European Marxists-in this volume, published in Italy in 1896 and in America in 1908-commemorates the then-upcoming 50th anniversary of Marx’s Communist Manifesto, “our first unquestioned entrance into history.” Explaining and elaborating upon Marx’s philosophies, Labriola applies scientific and practical philosophy to Marxism, offering significant clarification, in layman’s terms, of the Manifesto. Students of European and American socialism will find this an invaluable document, evidence of a fulcrum moment in global history, when socialism’s prospects were far brighter than they are today. Philosopher and revolutionary ANTONIO LABRIOLA (1843-1904) is considered the father of Italian Marxism. Born in Cassino, Italy, he was educated at the University of Naples and wrote for numerous liberal political journals. Among his books are Problems of the Philosophy of History and Socialism (1889) and Correspondence on Philosophy and Socialism (1898).