Guest, David (1911-1938); H. Levy (Foreword); T.A. [Thomas Alfred] Jackson (1879-1955)
A Textbook of Dialectical Materialism [First Canadian Printing]
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Progress Books, N.D. [Circa 1939]. First Canadian Edition. Hardcover. pp. 112. 12mo. measuring 5.5" x 8". Publisher's light-blue cloth over boards with black lettering to the spine. Light wear to spine ends, tips. Text-block uniformly without blemish with bright, clean, and unmarked leaves and firm, sound binding; very good+. Rare in commerce. Equally rare amongst institutional holdings. Originally published by Lawrence and Wishart, the Canadian printing would coincide with its publication in the United States by International Publishers in 1939 (see OCLC #1086705077 & #1086705077); Later republished as "Lectures on Marxist Philosophy" in 1963.
¶ David Guest was a British mathematician, philosopher, and communist. Born into a prominent family, he was the nephew of Albert Goldsmid, a leading Zionist figure. His early life was shaped by a blend of privilege and political engagement. At Trinity College, Cambridge, he became involved in anti-fascist activism and joined the Communist Party in 1931, eventually leading a party cell that included figures like Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean. Guest was also active in the Battersea Young Communist League and lectured in mathematics before volunteering to fight for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. Tragically, he was killed by a sniper in Gandesa on 28 July 1938. His only published work, A Textbook of Dialectical Materialism (1939), was released posthumously, offering a simplified approach to Marxist philosophy aimed at activists and students, and bridging the gap between academic theory and practical political application.

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Keywords: communism; ussr; socialism; political philosophy; history; lenin; karl marx; science; lectures on marxist philosophy