How did Karl Marx's earlier work differ from his later work?

Question

How did Karl Marx's earlier work differ from his later work?

Answer 1

I think

early - economics (money, status/class, economic factors are what drives mankind, consumer fetishism, false consciousness, economic bases)

Later - Dialectics (revolution stuff, class antagonism, communism)

I may be wrong

Answer 2

KM's early emphasis was primarily ontological in the sense of disputing Hegel's notion of progress and Spirit, and denying any Authority beyond Matter.

Rather, KM emphasized that (in his opinion) Spirit was not the motivating force in history, but rather mankind's efforts guided by Matter.  Capitalism, KM postulated, would tend toward concentration of wealth (itself created by various human labors), which in turn would inevitably produce alienation and class warfare:  "dialectical materialism."

While this hegelian materialism ("historical materialism") continues into KM's later "Critique of the Gotha Program," KM by then had seen the counter-early-marxian example of the German workers' party, and the reality of educated workers ably making good choices in a democratic election process, as to their governance and progress.

An intriguing aspect of KM is that he changed perspectives over time,  Logically, his view of philosophy/thought as ideology--when including his own--permitted his constructive self-criticism of his own work.  In this sense, it is somewhat scientific, i.e., not a mere belief system like the totalitarian "Marxism" of certain French revolutionaries--re which KM famously remarked "I am not a Marxist."

Had KM lived in the time of Abraham Maslow, AM's pyramid of needs and self-actualization would have likely been attractive--as it provides one of the major missing areas of marxian thought--the personal or human spirit aspect of working life.

Early Marxian thought is also profiled in "Marx and Satan," by Richard Wurmbrand, who researched mostly-restricted Kremliln archives.  Early Marx dabbled in the satanic.