Marx-Engels Historisch-Kritische Gesamtausgabe (MEGA2)

Collection of complete and historical-critical edition of all writings of Marx and Engels, such as publications, manuscripts and correspondences.

“MEGA” is the abbreviated form of “Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe” in German, referring specifically to the Marx-Engels Historisch-Kritische Gesamtausgabe. In the 1920s, chaired by Ryazanov, the Soviet Union began editing the Marx-Engels Historisch-Kritische Gesamtausgabe. It began publishing in 1927, was interrupted, then continued for a short time, and finally ceased in 1936, with the publication of only 12 volumes and 13 books. In the 1970s, experts from the Soviet Union and East Germany collaborated a new historical-critical edition, with a plan to publish more than 160 volumes, however, the dramatic changes in the Soviet Union and East Europe put the plan on hold, and a total of 43 volumes were published in the first 15 years. Later, the newly established Internationale Marx-Engels-Stiftung (IMES) took over the work, organized scholars from all over the world to participate in the publication of this new historical-critical edition, changed the editorial principles and adjusted the editorial plan, and compressed it into 114 volumes (122 books) and divided into four parts: Abteilung I includes works, articles and drafts, totaling 32 volumes; Abteilung II includes Capital and its preparatory works, totaling 15 volumes (23 books); Abteilung III includes correspondences, totaling 35 volumes; Abteilung IV includes excerpts, notes and marginalia, totaling 32 volumes. Each volume contains two parts: the main text volume and the subsidiary material volume, of which the latter contains a great deal of bibliographical information and results.

This edition has chiefly the following characteristics: it included all the documents which have been verified as originating from Marx and Engels and handed down in print or in manuscript form, and to make a critical-textual research and evaluation on these documents; it is published in the original using the original writing language, with all documents using the text, punctuation, and chapter structure used by the authors at the time of writing, without translation, arrangement, or change; it uses modern techniques to display the entire process of the text from conception, writing, revision, to completion; appended with exhaustive auxiliary material, and compiling detailed explanatory notes and indexes. As of mid-2016, 63 volumes (71 books) had been published, of which the second part, Capital and its preparatory works were published in 2012. According to the decision of the German Gemeinsame Wissenschaftskonferenz in October 2015, of the remaining three parts of the Marx-Engels Historisch-Kritische Gesamtausgabe, Abteilung I, “Works, Articles, Drafts”, is to be published to completion in book form; Abteilung III, “Correspondence”, is to be published in electronic form; and Abteilung IV, “Excerpts, Notebooks and Marginalia”, with the exception of a few important ones, such as Books of Crisis and London Notebooks, is to be published in electronic form.

Since the two Marx-Engels Historisch-Kritische Gesamtausgabe launched in the 20th century have the same common title and are both abbreviated as MEGA, in order to distinguish them, the academic circles refer to them as MEGA1 and MEGA2 respectively. MEGA2 is a brand-new academic edition in the editorial history of the classics of Marxism, and it is the most authoritative reference text for the international academic circles to study Marx and Engels’ thoughts. It holds an important historical place in the history of Marxist academic research.