Marx and German Romanticism

There is recently an increasing interest in the inlfuence of German romanticism on Marx’s thought. However, the related arguments are generally not very convincing. Except for a short period in his student years, Marx always held a consciously and unreservedly critical attitude towards the German romanticism, and conciously tried to eliminate any possible romantic element in his thought. The similarities in some ideas between Marx and German romanticism cannot be easily tracked back to the influence of the later on Marx, it might rather originate from the same problems of their time, which they faced together but gave independently their respective diagnosis and prescription. Given the fundamental differences in regard of basic methods and beliefs, it is not reasonable to assume that Marx was influenced or tainted by German romanticism simply because of the superficial similarities in some ideas.