Abstract

The basis of the Marxian thought, i. e. the absolute primacy of social reality, is the result of his juvenile reflection on Law and State. In the articles published in 1842 on the «Rheinische Zeitung», Marx compares the medieval Prussian State, founded on old privileges, with the modern State based on the Law, realization of the ethical Idea. This conception, very close to the position of the Young Hegelians, was abandoned in few months. In the articles published in the «Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher» in February 1844, Marx describes the modern State as an instrument for the social supremacy of bourgeoisie. This sudden change of perspective can be ascribed to several reasons such as the influence of Feuerbach’s anthropology – a major theoretical instrument of critique of Hegel’s philosophy of public Law – and his departure from the backward Germany to the modern France. But the main explanation for such an abrupt change is his critical approach to Feuerbach’s anthropology and to the Young Hegelians, that made it possible for Marx to advance towards new theoretical positions