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,