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Dialectical Materialism: v. 2
Very small paperback. Dark brown border around beige title area. Slight wear, slight yellowing on back cover. No marks inside or out. All pages in good shape.
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First published December 1, 1971
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About the author
Maurice Cornforth
35 books19 followersa.k.a. Maurice Campbell Cornforth
Maurice Campbell Cornforth (28 October 1909 – 31 December 1980) was a British Marxist philosopher. When he began his career in philosophy in the early 1930s, he was a follower of Wittgenstein, writing in the then current style of analytic philosophy. He later became a leading ideologist of the Communist Party of Great Britain.
He is noted for his attack on the aesthetic theories of Christopher Caudwell, and for his later partial engagement with the linguistic philosophy of Oxford origin of the 1940s and 1960s. He also wrote a defence of Marxism against Karl Popper, whose thought he heavily criticized.
His In Defense of Philosophy attacks, in their relationship to science, empiricist philosophies of many kinds, such as those of Rudolf Carnap (linguistic analysis) and William James (pragmatism), on the "materialist" grounds that they divorce science and scientific investigation from the search for truer understanding of the really existing universe. In this book there is a combination of Marxism with deep insights into the interrelations of the various sciences and the philosophical conundrums produced by the empiricist attempt to reduce science to the collection and correlation of data. Both the insights are based on the theory of the primacy of physical work and tools (thus, "materialism") in the development of specifically human traits such as language, abstract thought, and social organization, and the essential role of the external world in the increasingly complex development of forms of life. These latter ideas are remarkably consistent with the most current evolutionary thinking in biology and anthropology.
His multi-volume book entitled "Dialectical Materialism" was originally published in 1953 by the International Publishers, Co., INC. The first U.S. edition of this work was printed in 1971. The text originated from lectures that Cornforth received funding for from the London District Committee of the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1950. The first volume, "Materialism and the Dialectical Method" provides a good introduction to several important sociological principles; idealism, metaphysics, materialism, mechanical materialism, and dialectical materialism, in addition to Marxist philosophy. The other volumes of this text are entitled as follows, Volume Two Historical Materialism, Volume Three Theory of Knowledge."
Maurice Campbell Cornforth (28 October 1909 – 31 December 1980) was a British Marxist philosopher. When he began his career in philosophy in the early 1930s, he was a follower of Wittgenstein, writing in the then current style of analytic philosophy. He later became a leading ideologist of the Communist Party of Great Britain.
He is noted for his attack on the aesthetic theories of Christopher Caudwell, and for his later partial engagement with the linguistic philosophy of Oxford origin of the 1940s and 1960s. He also wrote a defence of Marxism against Karl Popper, whose thought he heavily criticized.
His In Defense of Philosophy attacks, in their relationship to science, empiricist philosophies of many kinds, such as those of Rudolf Carnap (linguistic analysis) and William James (pragmatism), on the "materialist" grounds that they divorce science and scientific investigation from the search for truer understanding of the really existing universe. In this book there is a combination of Marxism with deep insights into the interrelations of the various sciences and the philosophical conundrums produced by the empiricist attempt to reduce science to the collection and correlation of data. Both the insights are based on the theory of the primacy of physical work and tools (thus, "materialism") in the development of specifically human traits such as language, abstract thought, and social organization, and the essential role of the external world in the increasingly complex development of forms of life. These latter ideas are remarkably consistent with the most current evolutionary thinking in biology and anthropology.
His multi-volume book entitled "Dialectical Materialism" was originally published in 1953 by the International Publishers, Co., INC. The first U.S. edition of this work was printed in 1971. The text originated from lectures that Cornforth received funding for from the London District Committee of the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1950. The first volume, "Materialism and the Dialectical Method" provides a good introduction to several important sociological principles; idealism, metaphysics, materialism, mechanical materialism, and dialectical materialism, in addition to Marxist philosophy. The other volumes of this text are entitled as follows, Volume Two Historical Materialism, Volume Three Theory of Knowledge."
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 26, 2025
Written with the same intent as the author's previous book on dialectical materialism, with much of the contents of this book coming from the author's lectures to groups of workers on philosophy, the author does a first-rate job explaining the topic of historical materialism in a language that is precise and easy to understand even for those who have not studied a page of philosophy in their lives. Like the author's first work, I would venture to say this short book rubs shoulders with Stalin's Dialectical and Historical Materialism for its value in introducing the reader to the topics concerned, taking care not only to explain how Marxism looks at the fundamentals of history (and contrasting the views of Marxism with the idealism of Hegel, Spengler, and others), but elaborating in superb detail those concepts which many would traditionally find quite complicated such as the base-superstructure dialectic and intricacies of how human thought developed, concluding with a look at the peculiarities of capitalist, socialist, and communist society and the relationship between these three phases of development in human history. The sections dealing with capitalist and socialist society are especially useful, clearly putting the nature of surplus value extraction under capitalism, how modern capitalist society emerged from feudalism, the nature of commodity production throughout human history, and finally detailing the course of transition from capitalism to socialism, the role of the state under socialism, and the process of production and exchange of socialism drawing extensively from the great experience of the Soviet Union and People's Democracies. These latter sections of the book, hence, offer a great value in clearing up common misconceptions about Marxism and do a great job of explaining the teaching of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin in a popular, digestible form able to stimulate a deeper study of the classic works of Marxism-Leninism.
All of that being said, it is worth reminding the prospective reader that later editions of the book were edited so heavily that, by the author's own admission, very little resemblance to the original remained. The author claimed this was done to eliminate certain issues of dogmatism and other mistakes, mirroring the common talking points of Khrushchev. But, in truth, much of this was done because the first editions referenced Stalin's works extensively and made a whole number of points, from the continuance of class struggle under socialism to the nature of the socialist economy and process of transition from capitalism to socialism, did not conform with the revisionist line of Khrushchev and Co. For this reason, any prospective reader is encouraged rather to seek out an edition of this book from before 1956.
All of that being said, it is worth reminding the prospective reader that later editions of the book were edited so heavily that, by the author's own admission, very little resemblance to the original remained. The author claimed this was done to eliminate certain issues of dogmatism and other mistakes, mirroring the common talking points of Khrushchev. But, in truth, much of this was done because the first editions referenced Stalin's works extensively and made a whole number of points, from the continuance of class struggle under socialism to the nature of the socialist economy and process of transition from capitalism to socialism, did not conform with the revisionist line of Khrushchev and Co. For this reason, any prospective reader is encouraged rather to seek out an edition of this book from before 1956.
April 18, 2024
This book is probably the best introduction to historical materialism written to date. Sure, it gets some stuff wrong, and sure, the stuff on the Soviets has aged horribly. Nevertheless, this is, to date, the most well-written, straightforward outline of the ideas and principles of historical materialism.
May 15, 2022
A must read
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July 25, 2022Good reference text as recommended by Dr. Gerald Horne.
June 20, 2023
Surprisingly concise and accessible aggregation of very important ideas
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews