The Stalin Era and the Construction of a Feuerbach Chapter in Volume I/5 of MEGA1

Abstract

Although the fate of Ryazanov was closely linked to the political history of the editions of The German Ideology, it is not the primary task of this research to trace every detail of his biography up to his death sentence in 1938. Nor should his fate be interpreted solely through the history of the editions of The German Ideology in the 1930s. The first approach would mean putting too much emphasis on personal affairs, whereas a wider historical process should be invoked. The second approach would overemphasize the significance of The German Ideology with respect to the tragic death of a well-known scholar.