Produced by Adrian Mastronardi and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) * * * * * +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | Transcriber's Note: | | | | Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original | | document have been preserved. Superscripts are | | represented like so: 1^a | | | | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For | | a complete list, please see the end of this document. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ * * * * * HISTORICAL MATERIALISM HISTORICAL MATERIALISM AND THE ECONOMICS OF KARL MARX BY BENEDETTO CROCE TRANSLATED BY C.M. MEREDITH WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY A.D. LINDSAY _Fellow and Lecturer of Balliol College, Oxford_ [Illustration] LONDON: GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD. RUSKIN HOUSE, MUSEUM STREET, W.C. NEW YORK THE MACMILLAN CO. _First published by Howard Latimer Ltd._ _1914_ _Transferred to George Allen & Unwin Ltd._ _1915_ [ALL RIGHTS RESERVED] CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ix CHAPTER I CONCERNING THE SCIENTIFIC FORM OF HISTORICAL MATERIALISM 1. Scope of essay: Labriola's book implies that historical materialism is not a philosophy of history: Distinction between a philosophy of history and philosophising about history: Reason why two have been confused: Materialistic theory of History as stated by Labriola not an attempt to establish a law of history: This contrasted with theories of monists, and teleologists: Engels' statement that it is a new method erroneous: New content not new method 2 2. Historical materialism a mass of new data of which historian becomes conscious: Does not state that history is nothing more than economic history, nor does it provide a theory of history: Is simply investigation of influence economic needs have exercised in history: This view does not detract from its importance 12 3. Questions as to relations between historical materialism and socialism; Only possible connection lies in special historical application: Bearing of historical materialism upon intellectual and moral truth: Throws light on influence of material conditions on their development, but does not demonstrate their relativity: Absolute morality a necessary postulate of socialism 21 CHAPTER II