How does early Marxism differ from late Marxism?

Answer 1

The question is difficult to answer for several reasons. Marxists today often identify to some extent with some sort of tradition within Marxism and would have some disagreements with many other Marxists on a few things here and there, sometimes these things are not terribly important but sometimes they are. I say the question is difficult to answer because Marx and Engels and the earliest Marxists were living in totally different times with different historical conditions. Practically all differences that exist between classical Marxism and the various forms of Marxism around today are due to this fact and are unavoidable because of it.

For example the question of monopolies. In the mid-late 1800s the idea that a corporation or whatever would be able to assert monopolistic powers within a market was simply and idea and nothing like that existed. Today, we live in a world dominated by massive corporations where if you bring a couple or a few of the biggest within any market together, they will essentially run that entire market. These kinds of things will inevitably force Marxism to change and evolve. The differences are unavoidable and necessary. In earlier times there was not as much variance within Marxism as there is now. Marx and Engels were addressing different problems than Marxists do today.