Rousseau, the Earlier Marx Before Marx
Posted by Socrates in Marx, Marxism, Moses Hess, Rousseau at 2:56 pm | 
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I once wrote that the Jewish socialist, Moses Hess (1812-1875), was the “Marx before Marx” (which he kinda was, since he influenced both Marx and Engels) [1]. But Rousseau (1712-1778) came even before Hess. Rousseau’s ideology re: private property could be called “Marxist” and he could be called “the first popular Marxist.”
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[1] The so-called “true socialist” Jew, Moses Hess, radicalized both Karl Marx and his buddy, Friedrich Engels. While it’s true that Marx criticized Hess’ ideology as overly simplistic armchair-quarterbacking and not revolutionary enough, nonetheless, Hess’ socialist ideas earned praise from socialists and communists. Hess was six years older than Marx. Hess’ first writings pre-date Marx’s and his book “Holy History of Mankind” (1837) may have been the first book to advocate social equality for all; Marx didn’t publish “The Communist Manifesto” until 1848.