Abstract
Although one must accept the concept of social classes as the dominant category of Marx's and Engels's approach to society, one should admit that both these authors were due to their universalistic ambitions forced to take into account the competing forms of solidarity as well. That's why one can consider their interpretation of national identities as well as their attitude towards nationalism in general to be one of the most confusing and controversial issues of the whole Marxist theory.
There is a key theoretical framework of nations with and without history, presented by Engels in Neue Rheinische Zeitung, which helped Marxists to distinguish the desired revolutionary movements from those conservative ones. However, this ultimate approach and universal ambitions of Marxist theory cause that Marx's and Engels's statements about national question can be interpreted contradictory.
This is notably obvious in their attitude towards Slavonic national aspirations that were denounced as reactionary in the case of Austrian Slavs, whereas the efforts of Poles were appreciated as an integral part of social revolution. This ambivalence oscillating between zealous support and racist offenses raises the question, whether Marx's and Engels's attitudes were based on primordial ideas of different quality of human species or on diverse social roles within the principles of historical determinism.
Moreover, clarification of this question enables us to decide if there was a coherent Marx's and Engels's approach to Slavonic ethnicity at all.