This paper delves into Paul Adler’s proposed “paleo-Marxist” revitalization of organization studies by examining Friedrich Engels’s military writings. The focus lies on Engels’s exploration of military organization， cultures， leadership， and administration， particularly his analyses of the competences displayed by various parties during the Crimean War. The argument posits that Engels’s writings， although often lightly influenced by Marxism， shed light on a Marxist analytical approach that challenges the stereotypical criticisms of Marxism prevalent in academia following the linguistic turn. Engels’s military writings are shown to contain insightful and nuanced analyses of national， class， ethnic and gendered subjectivities， through which organizational cultures were perpetuated within an emerging capitalist framework. It is demonstrated that Engels acknowledged the capitalist nature of modern military organizations but refrained from reducing their cultures to mere mechanical reproductions of this form. Instead， he recognized that while modes of production establish the framework within which organizations operate， these organizations are shaped by specific cultures and individuals whose actions are subject to imminent critique.