[Video] Marxist philosophy: dialectical materialism Speaking at a 2018 'Marx in a Day' event, celebrating Karl Marx's 200th birthday, Alan Woods (author of 'Reason in Revolt') discusses the philosophy of Marxism - dialectical materialism. Alan explains why it is vital for revolutionaries to have a philosophy; why we need to examine nature and society from a scientific - materialist - perspective; and how the ideas of dialectics help us to understand the processes of change going on around us at all levels. In the final analysis, however, our philosophy must be a guide to action - an attempt to understand the world in order to change it.