It is a common myth that X adapted Y's ideas to form his ideology and that he dedicated his most important work, Z, to Y. This is a common misconception which arose because of a letter from Y to Edward Aveling (who later became the lover of X's daughter, Eleanor) Aveling had written to Y about wanting to dedicate his book to him, but Y declined and Y's response became mixed with X's papers when Eleanor inherited her father's papers.
However, it is true that X respected Y's ideas greatly. X read Y's magnum opus and recognized its value in supporting his theory of class struggle. He even sent Y a personally inscribed copy of Z in 1873.


