For a Ruthless Criticism of Everything Existing

As I embark upon a whirlwind tour of lesser known Marxian texts through Tucker's Marx-Engels Reader (2nd ed.), I've found quite a few gems that seem to confirm many of my suspicions about various aspects of Marx's views. The following quote from a letter to Arnold Ruge in September 1843 (just a year before the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts) is one of particular clarity:

Our motto must therefore be: Reform of consciousness not through dogmas, but through analyzing the mystical consciousness, the consciousness which is unclear to itself, whether it appears in religious or political form. Then it will transpire that the world has long been dreaming of something that it can acquire if only it becomes conscious of it. It will transpire that it is not a matter of drawing a great dividing line between past and future, but of carrying out the thoughts of the past. And finally, it will transpire that mankind begins no new work, but consciously accomplishes its old work.

So, we can express the trend of our journal in one word: the word of our time to clarify to itself (critical philosophy) the meaning of its own struggle and its own desires. This is work for the world and for us. It can only be the work of joint forces. It is a matter of confession, no more. To have its sins forgiven mankind has only to declare them to be what they really are.

Though this passage is not terribly exciting as an expression of his stance against ideology (as it is just one statement amongst many of similar philosophical substance), it elucidates a view on the task of the social philosopher that I find myself being very sympathetic to. More on this later, but for now, I thought I'd just share this rather beautifully written passage. Onwards!