Customer Reviews

Why Read Marx Today?

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This seems like a very fair question-why should anyone bother to wrestle through the endless volumes of Karl Marx's prolific work? After all, communism died with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the demise of the Soviet Union; and, there are few economies today who would abandon the market and mimic the Soviet Union's state-planning.

In this short volume, Jonathan Wolff, of University College London, tries to convince us that studying Marx is worth the time and effort. He does this by analyzing in-depth Marx's entire range of philosophical pursuit-from his thoughts on religion to the "Jewish Question" to the more familiar writings of "The Capital" and the "Communist Manifesto."

This intellectual trip is elegant, well-written, and surprisingly dense. It will certainly appeal to those with little or no background on Karl Marx; it will also likely fascinate veterans of Marxist thinking since Mr. Wolff's reconstruction and assessment of Marx's writings is both trenchant and comprehensive.

What, in the end, of the central question? The case for reading Marx is partly historic since his influence over the twentieth century is towering. But at a more fundamental level, Marx's philosophy is not about communism; in fact, Marx devotes little time analyzing why or how communism would come about and work. Marx's writings are a critique of capitalism and its salient features based on his account of human nature and history. So communism might have died in 1989, but Marx's ideas live on.

One nice thing about the end of the Cold War was the relaxation of pressures to demonize (or deify) Karl Marx, the 19th century economist, philosopher, and activist. This short, readable book is a good introduction to Marx's social and economic theories, written at a level appropriate for college freshmen or intelligent high school students. Author Wolff rejects as unproven Marx's grand theories of historical materialism and surplus value, but he finds much of value in Marx's critique of capitalist culture and its tendency to warp humane values. All in all, Wolff gives a balanced, intelligent assessment.

This is a nicely written book that gives a strong over-view of Marx and makes a reasonable case for his continuing importance. It neither deifies nor makes a monster of Marx, and does a good job of showing what's useful and what's not in his thinking. I give it only four stars only because it does not really break new ground, but rather does a fine job of summing up the strongest readings of Marx.

This is a concise primer on Marx. The author is the distinguished political philosopher Jonathan Wolff and this book is apparently a digest of lectures he delivers in a popular course on Marx. This is a generally fair and critical account of Marx's major ideas. Wolff also provides some useful background on the specifically German background of Marx's intellectual development. If you're looking for a good basic introduction, this clearly written book is adequate.

I found the book a bit disappointing in that it could have been a bit more sophisticated in terms of analysis. I would have expected, for example, a bit more emphasis on Hegelian teleology and dialectics. Wolff might also have provided some additional useful background. Recent economic data, for example, suggests that industrialization did not have much impact on general standards of living until after 1850 in Britain and probably later in much of Europe. So, the period when Marx formed his ideas would have looked much like his predicted pattern of immiseration.

Wolff doesn't do very well in answering the question of title. Wolff himself shows the bankruptcy of Marx's economic theories (based squarely on the classic economics of Smith and Ricardo), the failure of his model of history, the inadequacy of his class-based analysis, and the handwaving involved in his prediction of a vaguely described communist society. What is left is Marx's critique of capitalist society as dehumanizing, atomistic, alienating, and plagued by destructive swings of the business cycle. But, many of these same criticisms were raised by right wing critics as well and I doubt Wolff would recommend reading the work of Catholic corporatist thinkers. These criticisms, though valid, are essentially part of the background of serious discussions of social organization and no longer specifically Marxian.

Another point that Wolff omits is the ironic fact that modern conservatives have taken over aspects of Marxist thought, notably features of his historical model and the notion of society as a reductionist superstructure of economics.

I agree with Wolff that reading Marx is very worthwhile. While Marx was in error, I believe, in more than a few of his conclusions, it is amazing that he got so many things right. His and Engels' early understanding of the business cycle would be worth studying them for that alone. Marx's use of class structure in analyzing society politically and economically is also difficult to rationally refute. Class power is the underlying basis of our political and economic structure. Anyone denying that reality either lives in a cocoon, suffers from a severe mental handicap, or is on the payroll of the American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation, etc.

His historicism derived conclusion about the inevitability of Communism does not wear well. Nor does his surplus labor value theory of value gain a whole lot of adherents. Additionally, his rather utopian view that most of humanity's problems would dissolve with the advent of Communism does not appear to have much credibility. Humanity is most certainly a rather difficult and cantankerous lot. Market systems need reform and regulation. Substitute command economies cannot provide adequate pricing mechanisms. The conservatives are right on that one. However, in the cases where there is real monopoly and excessive industrial concentration, government intervention in terms of breaking up the behemoths or nationalizing them appear to be the only practical alternatives.

A good book. It is a little short, and bit too pricey at $20. However, it is definitely a worthwhile read. It's a good primer for the uninitiated and also a good refresher for some of the initiated.

A virus has been haunting the world for 150 years - the virus of Marxism. It mutates at incredible speed and can assume the weirdest shapes. (Indeed, many of the mutant forms bear only the faintest resemblance to the original virus.) It can cause serious damage to individual and public health. Some researchers believe that it is deadly in any form. Even in our times of economic recovery, social regeneration and global well-being (yes, we can!), the risk that somebody you know and love gets infected with the virus of Marxism is surprisingly high. If a person in your vicinity has expressed any doubt lately about the progress of our society towards a bigger-better-brighter future; if they have shown signs of profound disorientation such as mentioning the name of Marx in public or even (god forbid) reading a book BY Marx - then by all means you must act at once! The virus can quickly become resilient to even the most ruthless therapy methods.

Now, at last, here is a message of hope: the Oxford University Press is proud to present what is sure to become one of the leading anti-Marx antidotes on the market. Disguised as a friendly guide, it is targeted to victims of the virus in its earlier stage of infection, when the chances of eliminating it are higher. The book's attractive qualities include: a thin constitution, making it seem oh-so-easy to learn everything you need to know about Marx in one afternoon; a slick red cover with a super-cool version of the iconic picture of the bearded madman (chicks will be impressed when you walk by with this book under your arm!); accessible language that makes the reader feel at ease with his/her own virus (motto: "I too have felt the need to read Marx"); just the right amount of "critical" thinking to give the faint impression of a pro-Marx (god forbid) reading of Marx.

The way this antidote acts is pretty straightforward: by kindly leading the reader through the slopes and slides of Marx's enormous body of work, the book ends up proving that: a) Marx was RIGHT regarding a series of rather obvious issues such as the deceptive nature of religion and the drudgeries of work and how nice it would be if society could develop into a utopia where consideration for your neighbour counted more than making a profit, etc; and b) Marx was WRONG when it comes to the very core of Marxist thinking, namely the idea that profits are made (exclusively) through the exploitation of your/my/everyone's labour (a hard pill to swallow, for sure). The anti-Marx arguments are cleverly saved till the end of the book. By the time the reader gets there, he/she is probably pretty convinced that Marx was a smart chap and had a whole lot of important insights about our society - and then WHAM!, it turns out that, well, the most important insight, the one that forced poor Marx to write three whole volumes in order to explain himself, this very point is nothing but a poorly-founded "claim"... Herein lies the genius of this little book. And exactly what devices does Mr. Wolff use in order to contradict Marx's "claim"? Subtlety is his greatest weapon. Instead of boring us with hard facts, Mr. Wolff carefully selects a number of effective expressions that lead the reader to agree that Marx's whole premise is false. "Claim" is obviously a favourite term, because it implies that Marx neither researched into his topic nor presented proof to sustain his views (never mind those three volumes of "Capital" and many more essays dealing with this matter). Other expressions include: "shaky", "not substantiated", "supposed", "Marx feels" (as opposed to thinks), "as Marx would have it". Mr. Wolff also spends an inordinate amount of pages discussing what Communism is supposed to look like, thus giving the (misleading) impression that Marx wrote more about Communism rather than Capitalism itself. Finally, the coup-de-grace is Mr. Wolff's reduction of Marx's opus "Capital" to a vast collection of "dry pages". Now if THIS isn't enough to make even the most well-intentioned Marxist wannabe give up the effort and move on to more interesting hobbies!

So: waste no more time, get your copy of the anti-Marx antidote NOW and protect yourself and all your loved ones from the virus of Marxism for once and for all! It's quick and safe and 100% guaranteed! (After all, it was put out by the prestigious Oxford University Press.) Marxism no more!!!

(But really, kid: If you've come this far that you are checking out books ABOUT Marx, why not READ MARX HIMSELF and find out first-hand what he had to say about life? All these apparently helpful introductions and "learn-about-so-and-so-in-90-minutes" guides are bound to produce their share of personal interpretations, thus preventing YOU from reaching your own conclusions. It's a bit like believing all the rumours about your neighbour Mr. Smith without actually having met the guy... In spite of all the bad press, Marx himself is a great read: he's smart and witty and he presents his arguments in a clear and understandable language. If you're intimidated by the thickness of his - thoroughly rewarding - "Capital", there are myriads of short essays in which he sums up his most important ideas - pardon, "claims". For example: "Wage Labour and Capital". It won't hurt you to give it a try. If you find out that you don't like it, there's always scuba-diving. And TV.)

Wage-labor and capital