Once Again on the Supposed Disagreement Between Engels and Marx

Engels is one of the founders of Marxism but he has been accused of distorting the judgments of K. Marx. The first wave of attacks (1970s–1980s) was focused on philosophical and methodological issues. The second wave emerged from the 1990s and was focused more on political economy, pioneered by the Neue Lekture and the Sraffians. They claimed that Engels distorted Capital by making unwarranted interventions while editing the book: misrepresenting Capital as a complete book, whereas it was supposed to be a purely incomplete research project. Besides, Engels has been accused of attributing to Marx a theory of economic crisis based on the downward tendency of the rate of profit, whereas the latter allegedly doubted it. This article focuses on this second wave of attacks and provides evidence that the accusations outlined are unfounded and unfair to Engels' great contribution to the Marxist tradition.