The interpretation of the relevance of Marx's theories to literature and art is a matter of dispute not merely between Marxists and non-Marxists (sociologists, literary critics, philosophers), but has been and is still the subject of bitter controversy between those claiming to be Marxists. It will be one of the principal concerns of the present work to show that the divisions on these problems can be understood only in connection with divergences concerning the general development of the theory and practice of Marxism. Here again, these divergences are at least as significant among Marxists as between Marxists and non-Marxists. In this chapter some features of the general social and philosophical theories of Marx are outlined, in order to lay some basis for the subsequent analysis of the continuities and discontinuities in the development of Marxism and their relation to interpretations of the nature of literature.¹