Question: **What subset of Hegel should a person know to understand Marxist philosophy?**

In political alignment i'm a Marxist, and mostly subscribe to social and political positions of the kinds like Slavoj Žižek or István Mészáros. However in philosophy i was always a logical positivist and was never interested in continental tradition. For example, i'm not interested in Žižek's philosophical insights.

Lenin [said](http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1914/cons-logic/ch03.htm#LCW38_179) on Hegel:

> 
> It is impossible completely to understand Marx's Capital, and especially its first Chapter, without having thoroughly studied and understood the whole of Hegel's Logic. Consequently, half a century later none of the Marxists understood Marx!!
> 
> 
> 

What absolute minimum of Hegel should a person deeply entrenched in analytical camp know and comprehend? Can you please recommend an introduction to Hegel's thought from Marxist perspective?

Answer: 
You might be interested in Alexandre Kojève's *Introduction to the Reading of Hegel*. The first chapter is available on the site DBK recommended (www.marxists.org). Kojève has a few other works of note (though only the *Introduction* and *Outline of a Phenomenology of Right* have been translated into English--though *The Concept, Time, and Discourse* is supposed to be released soon). He is probably the most influential interpreter of Hegel. (He was also a Marxist.) 

As far as Hegel goes, I'd suggest reading, at the very least, the Master-Slave Dialectic in the *Phenomenology of Spirit*. The *Philosophy of History* is also worth reading (it's quite a bit easier than the *Phenomenology*, and is a good introduction to Hegel's historicism).
The site you link to (marxism.org) has lots of freely available material:

* [Index of Marxists.org Hegel Archives](http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hegel/index.htm)
* [Some Helpful Reference Materials from Marxists.org](http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hegel/li_help.htm)

In particular you might want to have a look at these real classics:

* [Marxists.org Criticisms of Hegel](http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hegel/li_other.htm)

Marx and Engels wrote copiously on Hegel themselves.

* [Marxists.org Archive of Marx on Hegel](http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hegel/li_marx.htm)

Also, it might be of interest to you that **most logical empiricists in Vienna and Berlin were, politically, left-leaning socialists and some saw themselves as acting within the marxist tradition**. The most interesting example is [**Otto Neurath**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Neurath), who thought of marxism and logical empiricism as *convergent* theoretical and practical efforts. Some relevant writings are reprinted (in German) in 

* Rainer Hegselmann, *Wissenschaftliche Weltauffassung, Sozialismus und logischer Empirismus*, Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp 1979.