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Why Read Marx Today? (Paperback)

by Jonathan Wolff (Author) "The dominant theme of Marx's Early Writings is that the capitalist society of his day is not properly fit for human consumption ..." (more)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
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"An engaging read. The author...is a particularly skillful elucidator of political philosophy. In his book, he argues that Marx was misunderstood and that the great man was right about far more than he is given credit for."--The Economist
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


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'All too often, Karl Marx has been regarded as a demon or a deity - or a busted flush. This fresh, provocative, and hugely enjoyable book explains why, for all his shortcomings, his critique of modern society remains forcefully relevant even in the twenty-first century.' Francis Wheen, author of Karl Marx In recent years we could be forgiven for assuming that Marx has nothing left to say to us. Marxist regimes have failed miserably, and with them, it seemed, all reason to take Marx seriously. The fall of the Berlin Wall had enormous symbolic resonance: it was taken to be the fall of Marx as well as of Marxist politics and economics. This timely book argues that we can detach Marx the critic of current society from Marx the prophet of future society, and that he remains the most impressive critic we have of liberal, capitalist, bourgeois society. It also shows that the value of the 'great thinkers' does not depend on their views being true, but on other features such as their originality, insight, and systematic vision. On this account too Marx still richly deserves to be read.
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The dominant theme of Marx's Early Writings is that the capitalist society of his day is not properly fit for human consumption. Read the first page
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3.7 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Not Quite What It Says On The Tin, 23 Oct 2006
By J. M. Hammond "jmh700" (uk) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is a good little book and would be excellent, I think, for an undergraduate or an A-level student wanting to get a quick handle on a big set of ideas (indeed, the book is based on a set of lectures for undergraduates. Or, rather, it consists of lecture notes written longhand).

My only gripe, and hence the review, is that I knew much of the stuff already and was mainly drawn to the title 'Why Read Marx Today?', and the puff that said it was a fresh look at Marx and his relevance. Frankly, it is nothing of the sort, or not in any meaningful way. You can see yourself, from the Amazon Look Inside feature, that the 'Assessment' section is much smaller than the exposition of the main ideas. (Maybe I should have done that...)

My theory is this: OUP used to publish a little series called Past Masters, little intros to thinkers to be read just before you sat an exam on, say, some guy called 'Descartes'. This is simply one of those with a jazzed up front cover and marketing slant. What would Karl have said....?

It does a good job at what it actually is, a crisp and clear intro, but just not what I expected.

Just thought you'd like to know, it might save you a few quid, might encourage you to buy it; after all, some Marx is better than none.
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7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Why read Marx today?, 9 Mar 2003
This review is from: Why Read Marx Today? (Hardcover)
This is one of the most interesting and useful books there is on Marx. It has everything in to help with a number of A-Levels and University degrees. I used it not only in my Russian Units of History A-level, but also for a large chunk of my Phiolosophy of Religion coursework. The book will hold your attention and gets to the point quickly. For the first time reader of Marx this will give you a stepping stone with simply, yet detailed information on what Marx was trying to tell us.
In the present climate of a new war it can give a new insight into what the world should really strive for!
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5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Truly awful., 1 Mar 2008
By Mr. R. Keane - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I bought this book because I have also read Wolff's Introduction to Political Philosophy, which is far better.

The first issue I have is that Wolff does not bother to divorce Marx from the Communist states. The immediate link between Marx and the Communist states is a troublesome one for me and always cautions me towards any academic. Would we blame Jesus for the crusades? No. Why not? Because they were based on a complete corruption of his ideals and occurred long after his death. The same is applicable to Marx.

The second issue is that Wolff seems to be completely unaware of the meaning of 'dictatorship of the proletariat' which means the rule of the proletariat in the transition between capitalism and communism. Wolff does not draw a distinction between dictatorship of the proletariant (the emergence of the proletariat as the ruling class) and a dictatorship. In fact not only is a distinction not drawn they are clumped together in the absurd minefield of political philosophy.

Lastly, and related to this point, is that he alleges that the main theme of George Orwell's Animal Farm is criticism of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Orwell rightly criticizes the dictatorship of the Soviet Union but he does this in the context of the counter-revolution not in the dictatorship of the proletariat. Wolff further stresses it is an attack on Soviet communism but yet again does not make the distinction between the Communism of the Soviet Union and the system of soviet communism or council communism.

It is ironic that someone who is proclaiming the virtues of studying Marx is clearly lacking himself.
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