p In publishing the translation of Engels’ remarkable work on Feuerbach we permit ourselves to say a few words on the significance which it may have for Russian readers.

p Triumphant reaction attires itself in our country, among other things, in a philosophical raiment, as can be seen, for example, from the journal Voprosy Filosofii i Psikhologii. = ^^283^^ The negational trend of the sixties ^^284^^ is treated as something very lightminded and superficial, and Messrs. Astafyev, Lopatin and others would-be sages are acknowledged as great philosophical magnitudes (see, for instance, what Mr. Y. Kolubovsky narrates on " Philosophy with the Russians" in the supplement to his Russian translation of History of Modern Philosophy by Uberweg-Heinze).^^285^^ The Russian socialists will be obliged to take this philosophical reaction into account and consequently study philosophy. In this field, in politics as in economics, Marx and Engels will be their most reliable guides. The present pamphlet contains as full as possible a summary of the philosophical views of these thinkers.

p The pamphlet is written in a very concise form. We have had to supply a number of explanatory notes. The longer ones are indicated by figures and placed at the end of the book. There also are two supplements, one of which (Karl Marx on Feuerbach} is also in the German edition and the other one (Karl Marx on French Materialism ) is borrowed from Marx and Engels’ work Die heilige Familie oder Kritik der kritischen Kritik, gegen Bruno Bauer und Comp , Frankfurt a.M., 1845 (The Holy Family, or Critique of Critical Criticism. Against Bruno Bauer and Co. ) But we have not borrowed it directly, as this book is extremely rare. ^^286^^ The chapter on French materialism has been translated by us from the well-known Socialist-Democratic journal Neue Zeit , in which there was a reprint of it a few years ago.^^287^^

p Marx and Engels’ polemic with "Bruno Bauer and Company" (see Note 4 on Bruno Bauer) constitues a whole epoch in the history of world literature. It was the new dialectical materialism’s first resolute encounter with idealist philosophy. Of extraordinary 434 importance by its historical significance and its content (as far as we have been able to judge by the few extracts we are acquainted with) it could still play a great role in Russia, where even the most progressive writers obstinately continue to adhere to idealist views of social life. We would be very willing to contribute to the publication of this book in Russian if it were at our disposal. But we do not know when it will be and therefore we content ourselves with translating one chapter of it.  [434•*  This chapter, which is closely connected with what Engels says about Feuerbach, is a fairly complete whole, and by its wealth of thought it leaves far behind the many pages on materialism of modern times contained in Lange’s well-known work.^^289^^ We particularly direct our readers’ attention to the link which Marx shows between nineteenth-century Utopian socialism and eighteenth-century French materialism.

p Engels’ work on Feuerbach was written on the occasion of Starcke’s book on the same author. ^^29^^° But so little is said in it about this latter book that we do not consider it necessary to speak of it in the foreword. Readers will find the required information in Note 5.

p June 1892

G. Plekhanov