official philosophy of communism, based on the works of Karl Marx (1818 - 1883), Germanrevolutionary leader and founder of modern socialism, and on the ideas originated by the Germanphilosopher Georg Wilhelm Hegel (1770 - 1831); specifically, in logic, "dialectic" is the action and reaction between opposites, out of which a new synthesis (harmony of the two opposites) emerges. "Materialism" is a philosophy which maintains that there is nothing in the universe but matter, that mind is a phenomenon of matter, and that there is no ground for assuming a spiritual first cause. Marx held that a conflict of opposites in human society is the evolutionaryprocess by which a classless society would eventually be reached. —FEBC - PR Becomes a Subject Approved Glossary