If there is a current of thought that, in pursuit of human emancipation, has endeavored to undermine the foundations of the modern world and subvert it, it is undoubtedly the one that drinks in Marx's work. However, the astonishing fecundity of the theoretical developments inspired by it has not been accompanied by a paired flowering of basic texts or introductions; of works that, in short, bring concisely and eminently didactic the foundations of materialist and dialectical philosophy closer to a wider audience.

In this sense, the classic exception is these lessons, taught by Georges Politzer at the Workers' University of Paris in 1935-1936; Collected later – from the notes taken by students – in book form, they constitute a splendid synthesis of Marxism.

As Atilio A. Boron attests in the new foreword written for the occasion, Politzer "opened the door to the prison of thought in which I was imprisoned and pointed out to me the path that would lead me to Marx", an experience shared by generations and generations of militant workers, student activists and critical spirits, and which, with this edition, We are pleased to renew.