The Economy of the New Testament

The Role of Ego and Individualism in the Quest for Socialism

Morning Comrades.

Nerd Time! Well, to be fair I use that term lightly predominately because I don’t think this topic or the idea of philosophy is nerdy in the colloquial sense but rather admirable but a little tongue in cheek has never hurt anyone. There is a rather significant part of Marx and Engel’s work that deals with the ego and self a great and considering the hyper-individualistic times we live in, it seems like a good idea to get stuck into the subject of the ego its role and how it interplays with individualism and our quest for the liberation from capitalism.

Much of what follows is based on Marx’s “The German Ideology”, whose title I have always found a little misleading, only as in that it does not pertain to German-ness per se today but applies to so much today.

The title The German Ideology reflects Marx and Engels’ critique of the dominant philosophical ideas in Germany during the mid-19th century, particularly those of the Young Hegelians and other idealist thinkers. The term "German" signals their focus on the specific intellectual trends in German philosophy, which they saw as abstract, disconnected from material reality, and rooted in idealism. "Ideology," in this context, refers to the system of ideas that obscures the real conditions of society and maintains existing power structures. Marx and Engels argue that these philosophical frameworks perpetuated illusions about the nature of society and history, preventing genuine understanding and revolutionary action.

The German intellectual tradition, particularly post-Hegelian philosophy, placed a strong emphasis on ideas, consciousness, and abstract concepts as the drivers of history and social change. Marx and Engels rejected this idealism, asserting instead that material conditions—how humans produce and reproduce their means of existence—shape ideas, not the other way around. By naming the book The German Ideology, they highlight their break with this tradition and their effort to expose how such ideologies serve to mystify the real, material basis of social relations.

Let’s get into it.