Abstract: The subject of this study is the dynamics of the ideas of materialism in the views on society and the history of K. Marx. The object of research is the early works of the thinker (the 40s of the XIX century). The author pays special attention to the reconstruction of the method developed by K. Marx for the analysis of history and society. The relevance of this topic lies in the fact that a retrospective look at the method created by K. Marx will allow it to be applied more effectively in modern social research. The methods used are the analysis of primary sources, as well as comparative-historical, analytical-interpretive, hermeneutic methods. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that historical reconstruction is carried out through the prism of a modern scientific approach to the analysis of society, the essence of which is in the progressive unfolding of human nature. As a result, it is revealed that at the beginning of his creative career K. Marx took the position of dialectical idealism and revolutionary democracy. However, the practical activity of the thinker allowed him to gradually ideologically evolve, which is shown in this article. And already in the Preface to the Critique of Political Economy, we can observe the quintessence of the theory of materialism in views on society and history. This theory is at the same time a method, an analysis tool that has not lost its heuristic value and is applicable to the analysis of modern society.