How did Marxists distinguish Hegel’s dialectical method from his philosophical system?

Marxist thinkers distinguished between G.W.F. Hegel’s dialectical method and his philosophical system based on a distinction famously articulated by Friedrich Engels.1

• The Dialectical Method: Marxists viewed the dialectic as a revolutionary "principle of movement" that describes how things are in a continual process of change, interaction, and development through the resolution of internal contradictions. They valued this as a tool for understanding the material world and solving social problems.12
• The Philosophical System: In contrast, they regarded Hegel’s system as reactionary, idealistic, and conservative. Because Hegel’s idealism treated the material world as dependent on the "world spirit" or Idea, Marxists argued that his system mystified reality by inverting the true relationship between ideas and material conditions.123

By separating the two, Marxists sought to retain the dialectic as a dynamic, materialist framework while rejecting the idealistic, a priori nature of Hegel’s broader philosophical structure, which they believed served to justify the status quo.123