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A review by kosr
Introducing Marxism: A Graphic Guide by Rupert Woodfin
1.0
2021 Edit: having started to actually read Marx and try to understand his ideas, revisiting this has really brought to light that this book is borderline propaganda for discrediting Marxism. As someone who doesn't even identify as a Marxist - merely interested in understanding Marxism itself - I still found myself almost shocked at the falsities the 10 points stipulated at the beginning of this book, let alone the 10 at the end. I cannot recommend this in the slightest. Its practically asinine in its concoction.
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A reader of this will enjoy the concise and interesting history that this book delivers. However, through its pages, I found myself at times, questioning the narrative the authors were pushing. Without a larger knowledge of Marx, I couldn't form a critisicm, as such I would warn readers of how much is omitted from these pages, especially with reference to later post-Marxism introductions. However, the authors decide to pen a 10 point criticism of Marxism in this Post-Modern world (already the post-modern is a subjective opinion) and this I DID find slightly repulsive and sweepingly dismissive of revolutionary rhetoric and action. The blatant dismissal of class as a remotely unifying force for revolutionary change had alarm bells ringing in my mind particularly. By mentioning that some later critics of Marx noticed that we should be more detailed about oppression (a black woman has different grivences compared to a white factory working male for example) is absolutely not a reason to dismiss working for a society that better accommodates all these oppressions; and yet that's exactly what this book does.
Not only this, but the fact that the books narrative decides to end with a good chunck of space devoted to post-Marxists who, upon reading about their ideas in this very book , I found to be borderline flirting with free market fundamentalism. How on earth such people can be given such conclusive space at the end of the book is beyond me. I won't list the rest here, but if you pick this up, feel free to have a look at the back to make your own mind up.
This is mainly why I choose to try and read Marx myself, I am simply too untrusting of others telling me, or summerise for me, whether his ideas are still relevant or not. In many cases it feels that although Marxism is tolerated as an idea to learn about, certain intellectuals will do what they can - consciously or unconsciously - to de-fang and obfuscate the tradition. I feel this book is no different in trying to present Marxism as a dustbin concept that's better left to be read as an old idea worth studying for purely historical interest. The fact the authors make the claim "socialism does not work and neither does any other grand narrative..." is enough to have me suspicious. Not because I'm a diehard Marxist, so much as because I can sense when an agenda is present.
My current feeling is postmodernist thinkers tend to do a good job of making certain unifying ideas absolutely incomprehensible.
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A reader of this will enjoy the concise and interesting history that this book delivers. However, through its pages, I found myself at times, questioning the narrative the authors were pushing. Without a larger knowledge of Marx, I couldn't form a critisicm, as such I would warn readers of how much is omitted from these pages, especially with reference to later post-Marxism introductions. However, the authors decide to pen a 10 point criticism of Marxism in this Post-Modern world (already the post-modern is a subjective opinion) and this I DID find slightly repulsive and sweepingly dismissive of revolutionary rhetoric and action. The blatant dismissal of class as a remotely unifying force for revolutionary change had alarm bells ringing in my mind particularly. By mentioning that some later critics of Marx noticed that we should be more detailed about oppression (a black woman has different grivences compared to a white factory working male for example) is absolutely not a reason to dismiss working for a society that better accommodates all these oppressions; and yet that's exactly what this book does.
Not only this, but the fact that the books narrative decides to end with a good chunck of space devoted to post-Marxists who, upon reading about their ideas in this very book , I found to be borderline flirting with free market fundamentalism. How on earth such people can be given such conclusive space at the end of the book is beyond me. I won't list the rest here, but if you pick this up, feel free to have a look at the back to make your own mind up.
This is mainly why I choose to try and read Marx myself, I am simply too untrusting of others telling me, or summerise for me, whether his ideas are still relevant or not. In many cases it feels that although Marxism is tolerated as an idea to learn about, certain intellectuals will do what they can - consciously or unconsciously - to de-fang and obfuscate the tradition. I feel this book is no different in trying to present Marxism as a dustbin concept that's better left to be read as an old idea worth studying for purely historical interest. The fact the authors make the claim "socialism does not work and neither does any other grand narrative..." is enough to have me suspicious. Not because I'm a diehard Marxist, so much as because I can sense when an agenda is present.
My current feeling is postmodernist thinkers tend to do a good job of making certain unifying ideas absolutely incomprehensible.