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A review by torvosaur
Marx and Marxism by Gregory Claeys
4.0
I took my time to read this book... It is quite dense and theoretical in places, and can be slow reading.
However, I found this book incredibly well written. Marx is not dealt with as a philosopher-king or a saint, but as a man who was a product of his time. Marx was affable, cheerful, belligerent, kind, prejudiced, angry and took badly to criticism. It's a hodgepodge of words, but the author manages to capture the portrait of a man as complex as you and me, with a genuine commitment to change, liberation and humanism.
The section on Marxism(s) was quite enlightening, rushing quickly through various developments on the theoretical level as well political. We see snapshots of the erstwhile USSR, PRC, Cuba, African Marxism as well as the philosophy of the New Left and the Frankfurt School. It is amazing to see how prescient and potent a tool of analysis Marxism and historical materialism are, and how so many thinkers were influenced by both by the theories of alienation and free association of the Young Marx and the misread "dictatorship of the proletariat".
The author wildly misstates the death tolls under communist regimes, using disputed figures despite so much new evidence (for more accurate figures look up Bloodlands by Timothy Snyder). But that's the only major gripe I have with the book.
This is a phenomenal and non-partisan introduction to Marx, Marxism and everything about them. Highly recommended.
However, I found this book incredibly well written. Marx is not dealt with as a philosopher-king or a saint, but as a man who was a product of his time. Marx was affable, cheerful, belligerent, kind, prejudiced, angry and took badly to criticism. It's a hodgepodge of words, but the author manages to capture the portrait of a man as complex as you and me, with a genuine commitment to change, liberation and humanism.
The section on Marxism(s) was quite enlightening, rushing quickly through various developments on the theoretical level as well political. We see snapshots of the erstwhile USSR, PRC, Cuba, African Marxism as well as the philosophy of the New Left and the Frankfurt School. It is amazing to see how prescient and potent a tool of analysis Marxism and historical materialism are, and how so many thinkers were influenced by both by the theories of alienation and free association of the Young Marx and the misread "dictatorship of the proletariat".
The author wildly misstates the death tolls under communist regimes, using disputed figures despite so much new evidence (for more accurate figures look up Bloodlands by Timothy Snyder). But that's the only major gripe I have with the book.
This is a phenomenal and non-partisan introduction to Marx, Marxism and everything about them. Highly recommended.