Marx's Russian Moment

This book discusses Marx's relations with Russia, which have always been ambivalent. In his youth, and indeed a good way into the 1860s, Marx might even be called a "e;Russophobe."e; Around 1870, however, his views on Russia undergo a change; he becomes acquainted with a new kind of Russian radical and revolutionary movement and begins to study Russian. It becomes clear that Marx begins to feel that Russia is some kind of a "e;touchstone"e; for his theories. Offering a new and original interpretation of Marx's theoretical development, Marx's Russian Moment analyzes the following themes: Marx's concept of ideology (as developed in the German Ideology) and its fortunes in Russia; Marx's encounter with Bakunin and Russian nihilism; Marx's and Engels's studies of primitive societies; Engels's views of the developmental perspectives of small Slavic nations; and Marx's views on Finland, the Russian Grand Duchy. Considering these topics as "e;case studies,"e; Oittinen argues that Marx's encounter with Russia substantially influenced Marx's (and Engels's) views not just on current political and economic matters but also on a philosophical and methodological level.