Abstract

In the last decades, the relationship between Spinoza and Marx has been addressed by authors such as Louis Althusser, Antonio Negri, and Maximilien Rubel. That said, if a connection between the two can be made at the level of theoretical affinities, an analysis of the correspondence between these affinities and actual references to Spinoza made by Marx is lacking. At this point, we do not know how these references fit (or not) with the philosophical and political objectives Marx set out to achieve throughout his life. The present study, therefore, will review Marx’s first works to examine Spinoza’s presence and simultaneously demonstrate to which goals this presence was subordinated.