It has already been emphasised that the Marxist-Leninist doctrine of ideology is based on The German Ideology rather than on Marx's views expounded in his later work. This fact is of considerable importance. The German Ideology is a youthful study of Marx and Engels and polemical in character. It was written, as its authors later explained, to settle accounts with their former philosophic conscience. If this was their intention, the method adopted ill suited this undertaking ⁸².