Why Read Marx Today?

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.

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.

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 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.