Abstract

The astonishingly rapid and complete collapse of Communist ideology in Russia was accompanied, understandably, by the collapse of the philosophical authority of Karl Marx. Initially only Stalin was blamed for Russia's ills, on grounds that he had distorted Marxism-Leninism; soon, however, Lenin was blamed for distorting Marxism; and the regress quickly ended when Marx himself was charged with a share of the responsibility for the evils that were perpetrated in Russia in his name. From his position as font of all wisdom Marx was demoted to false prophet, and today the majority of philosophers in Russia either openly reject his views or simply ignore them.