My aim in this short book is to defend Hegel from some famous objections from Marx (writing on his own or with Engels). Across both chapters, I will focus on a Marxist objection to the effect that Hegel misunderstands the ultimate bases of social structure and historical change. Indeed Hegel's account is not just flawed or incomplete but completely backwards (standing on its head). In the first chapter, I consider Marx's (and Engels') historical-materialist critique of Hegel, which charges him with neglecting the foundational role of the economic base in history and erroneously prioritizing the ideological and legal or political superstructure. In the second chapter I turn to politics, considering the young Marx's case in favor of radical democracy and against the Hegelian rational state.
