The article proposes a comparison between Althusser and Derrida on the question of temporality through the two Marx's reading sub specie theatri set by the two authors in Pour Marx and in Spectres de Marx. From this comparison emerges that the althusserian theory of temporality is beyond the teleology of the hegelo-marxist tradition, but also of the messianism without messiah that is at the core of the Derrida's interpretation of Marx strongly influenced by Benjamin. In this sense, in a provocative way, it can be said that in Althusser the escatology is à la cantonade.
Temporality; History; Escatology; Teleology; Althusser; Derrida