PREFACE TO THE RUSSIAN EDITION 9
inability to embrace and explain a number of important
phenomena to the advantage of the discipline in question.
It follows that Marxism must give an exhaustive criticism
of the latest theories, which must include not only a method-
ological criticism, but also a sociological criticism, as well as a
criticism of the entire system as pursued to its furthest ramifi-
cations. It was thus that Marx formulated the problem pre-
sented by bourgeois political economy (in his Theorien iiber
den Mehrwert, edited by Karl Kautsky, fifth edition, 1923,
3 vols.).
While Marxists have as a rule contented themselves with a
sociological and methodological criticism of the Austrian
School, the bourgeois opponents of this school have criticised
it chiefly from the point of view of the incorrectness of certain
specific inferences. Only R. Stolzmann, who stands almost
alone in this work, has attempted to furnish a complete criti-
cism of Bshm-Bawerk. In so far as certain fundamental ideas
of this author are in close theoretical agreement with Marxism,
our criticism of the Austrians resembles that made by Stolz-
mann. I have considered it my duty to point out agreements
between these two criticisms even in cases in which I had
arrived at the same, conclusions before I became acquainted
with Stolzmann’s work. However, in spite of his talents,
Stolzmann bases his work on an entirely incorrect conception
of society as a “purposeful structure”. It is not without
reason that R. Liefmann, a very important adherent of the
Austrian School, whose profundity he has enhanced and whose
peculiarities he presents in a more emphatic form, defends him-
self against Stolzmann by the method of attacking the latter’s
teleology. This teleological point of view, coupled with his
most pronounced apologetic tone, prevents Stolzmann from
constructing a suitable theoretical frame for his criticism of
the Austrian School. Only Marxists can perform this task;
it is to do this that I have written the present book.
Our selection of an opponent for our criticism probably does
not require discussion, for it is well known that the most
powerful opponent of Marxism is the Austrian School.
It may appear unusual that I should publish this book at
a moment when civil war is rampant in Europe. Marxists,