Umrisse zu einer Kritik der Nationalökonomie

Umrisse zu einer Kritik der Nationalökonomie (Outline of a Critique of Political Economy) is an early work by Friedrich Engels, published in 1844. It critiques the economic theories of prominent thinkers like Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and John Stuart Mill.1

This work is significant because it contains the foundational critique of bourgeois political economy that Karl Marx later expanded upon in Das Kapital. Engels's analysis foreshadowed Marx's ideas on concepts such as alienation and the material forces of production, which are central to historical materialism. The book explores the social consequences of industrial capitalism and laid groundwork for Marxist economic theory.12