Spectres of Engels

Willy Maley

pp. 23-49

in: Peter Buse, Andrew Stott (eds), Ghosts, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 1999

Abstract

Friedrich Engels died in 1895. On the centenary of his death in 1995 it might have been appropriate, if anachronistic, to consider his legacy, especially in the wake of the publication of Jacques Derrida's fullest, but by no means first, engagement with Marx. It may take a hundred years for the impact of Specters of Marx to be felt and its implications thought through, but one thing that disappointed me was the low visibility of Engels. It seems that Derrida finds it as hard as anyone else to keep Engels in mind, or in sight, when dealing with Marxism. One could count on the fingers of two hands the references to Engels, including one hyphenated allusion to a body called "Marx-Engels".²

Cited authors

Derrida Jacques

Marx Karl

Engels Friedrich

Engel Friedrich