Abstract

Engels’s theoretical works on the labour movement, socialism, and the state supported the realization of proletarian revolutionary movements in many parts of the world. Today, with the resurgence of radical leftist discourses, the communist hypothesis is once again bannered by leading academics and philosophers, most notably by Alain Badiou in his The Communist Hypothesis. He argues that the May 1968 events in France opened a new era and new way of doing politics, which, while critical of the Leninist paradigm, still aims for the overcoming of capitalism. This chapter situates Engels within this so-called new era and uses his theoretical resources to contribute to reformulating the communist hypothesis. I also highlight certain limitations in Engels’s thought with regard to this project.