Collected works of Marx and Engles (15941449894)

''Marx/Engels Collected Works'' (also known as ''MECW'') is the largest existing collection of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

translations of works by

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

and

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the CC CPSU, was issued from 1975 to 2004 by

Progress Publishers Progress Publishers was a Moscow-based Soviet publisher founded in 1931. Publishing program Progress Publishers published books in a variety of languages: Russian, English, and many other European and Asian languages. They issued many scientific ...

(1931, Moscow) in collaboration with Lawrence and Wishart (1936, London) and

International Publishers International Publishers is a book publishing company based in New York City, specializing in Marxist works of economics, political science, and history. Company history Establishment International Publishers Company, Inc., was founded in 1924 ...

(1924, New York City).

History and overview

Although about a third of Marx and Engels' works were originally written in English and partly published in the British or American press, the vast majority of their literary legacy was not collected, translated (where necessary) and made available in an extensive English edition for decades after their death. In the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, comprehensive collections of the works of Marx and Engels were already compiled in the 1920s and 1930s (an aborted complete edition, '' MEGA¹'', as well as a first Russian edition in 28 volumes, ''Sochineniya¹''). But only following the publication of new editions in Russian and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

in the 1950s and 1960s (''Sochineniya²'' and ''Marx-Engels-Werke'' with 39 basic volumes and a few more supplementary ones later on), an English edition begun being prepared by Soviet editors with the help of the publishing houses of the

Communist Parties A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of '' The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

and the USA and translators from these countries. After general editing principles had been agreed upon by the representatives of all three sides (Institute of Marxism-Leninism and Progress Publishers, Moscow, the Central Committees of the CPs in Great Britain and the US and their publishers Lawrence and Wishart, London, and International Publishers, New York) at a conference in Moscow in December 1969, the first volume of the new edition was published in 1975. More than forty volumes were published before the fall of the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nati ...

; the few remaining ones were completed and issued by 2004 (V. 50). Large parts of both authors' early writings, many of their newspaper articles (e.g. from the ''

Neue Rheinische Zeitung The ''Neue Rheinische Zeitung: Organ der Demokratie'' ("New Rhenish Newspaper: Organ of Democracy") was a German daily newspaper, published by Karl Marx in Cologne between 1 June 1848 and 19 May 1849. It is recognised by historians as one of t ...

'' 1848-49) and most of their letters as well as many of Marx's economic manuscripts were published in English for the first time in the ''Collected Works''. In total, the 50 volumes comprise 1,968 works and other documents (of which 805 were published in English for the first time) and 3,957 letters (of which 2,283 had never been published in English before). The ''Collected Works'' consists of writings by Marx between 1835 and his death in 1883, and by Engels between 1838 and his death in 1895. Early volumes (V. 1-2) include

juvenilia Juvenilia are literary, musical or artistic works produced by authors during their youth. Written juvenilia, if published at all, usually appears as a retrospective publication, some time after the author has become well known for later works. ...

, such as correspondence between Marx and his father, Marx's poetry, and letters from Engels to his sister. The edition also contains several major, well-known works by Marx and Engels, such as ''

The Condition of the Working Class in England ''The Condition of the Working Class in England'' (german: Die Lage der arbeitenden Klasse in England) is an 1845 book by the German philosopher Friedrich Engels, a study of the industrial working class in Victorian England. Engels' first boo ...

'' (V. 4), ''

The Communist Manifesto ''The Communist Manifesto'', originally the ''Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (german: Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei), is a political pamphlet written by German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Commissioned by the Commu ...

'' (V. 6), '' The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon'' (V. 11), and ''

Anti-Dühring ''Anti-Dühring'' (german: Herrn Eugen Dührings Umwälzung der Wissenschaft, "Herr Eugen Dühring's Revolution in Science") is a book by Friedrich Engels, first published in German in 1878. It had previously been serialised in the newspaper ''V ...

'' (V. 25). The collection is divided into three parts. Volumes 1-27 collect the political, philosophical, historical and journalistic writings of the authors, in chronological order. Volumes 28-37 specifically collect Marx's writings on

political economy Political economy is the study of how economic systems (e.g. markets and national economies) and political systems (e.g. law, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied phenomena within the discipline are systems such as labour ...

, including a large amount of draft material and manuscripts which culminated in the three volumes of ''

Capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...

'' (V. 35-37). Finally, volumes 38-50 collect the letters and personal correspondence of the authors.

Contents by volume

Although most of ''MECW's'' volumes include material written by Marx and Engels (whether separately or as co-authors), a large minority of volumes are devoted to material written by only one author. Red check marks indicate the author's presence in a volume, while black X marks indicate that the author's work is absent. Although the volumes typically contain large varieties of material, only major selected items are listed below, for illustration.

Differences with other Marx/Engels collections

Although the ''Collected Works'' is the most comprehensive ''English translation'' of Marx and Engels' work, it is not their ''complete work''. An ongoing project to publish the pair's complete works in their original language (''

Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe ''Die Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe'' (''MEGA'') is the largest collection of the writing of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in any language. It is an ongoing project intended to produce a critical edition of the complete works of Marx and Engels that ...

'') is expected to require 114 volumes. However, as ''MEGA'' differs from ''MECW'' particularly in content in that it presents numerous excerpts and notes in its fourth section, publishes the letters to Marx and Engels from third persons, and prints various editions of the same works (e.g. ''

''), the overwhelming majority of the published writings, manuscripts, and letters of Marx and Engels are in any case included in ''MECW''.

References

External links

"Index to Marx/Engels Collected Works"

Marxists Internet Archive Marxists Internet Archive (also known as MIA or Marxists.org) is a non-profit online encyclopedia that hosts a multilingual library (created in 1990) of the works of communist, anarchist, and socialist writers, such as Karl Marx, Friedrich En ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marx Engels Collected Works 20th-century books Books by Karl Marx Books by Friedrich Engels Books by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels Communist books Political books Marx/Engels Collected Works

History and overview

Contents by volume

Differences with other Marx/Engels collections

See also

References

External links