What could Karl Marx and Friedrich Nietzsche possibly have in common?

Marx dedicated himself to analyzing the relations of domination that emerged under capitalism in the hope that a future socialist society would promote the free development of all. Nietzsche claimed that “every elevation of the type ‘man,’ has been the work of an aristocratic society and so it will always be.” Marx famously dedicated himself to a critique of political economy. Nietzsche focused his energies on culture and religious morality. Sure, both were great critics of the modern world. But isn’t the urge by some to see Marx and Nietzsche get into bed together doomed?

Jonas Ceika, creator of the popular YouTube channel CCK Philosophy, disagrees. His new book, How to Philosophize with a Hammer and Sickle: Nietzsche and Marx for the 21st-Century Left, makes the bold claim that Marx and Nietzsche can be used to “bring out what is already present in the other, but perhaps overlooked, hidden, or even placed in the background.” Not so much a synthesis of Marx and Nietzsche as a side-by-side reading, Ceika’s book tries to show how latent but under-theorized insights can be made explicit by studying the pair in tandem.