Abstract

The very notion of “Marxism of the Second International” is a loose one which requires precise definition. It will be used here in a limited sense, i.e., as the Marxism of the two major Marxist theoreticians of the period: Kautsky and Plekhanov. This “practical” definition should not be taken to mean that the Marxism of the Second International is a self-contained phenomenon clearly defined with respect to the First International and to what followed. Actually, much of the Marxism of the Second International can be found in Engels' last works: Ludwig Feuerbach; The Origins of the Family, Private Property and the State; and the 1895 “Introduction” to the new edition of Class-Struggles in France.