Product Description
The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte" is one of Karl Marx' most profound and most brilliant monographs. It may be considered the best work extant on the philosophy of history with an eye especially upon the history of the Movement of the Proletariat together with the bourgeois and other manifestations that accompany the same and the tactics that such conditions dictate. (Excerpt from Preface) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Almost unreadable translation
This translation of Marx's _18th Brumaire_ is practically unreadable.Not only is the prose confusing, even nonsensical, but there are grammatical and spelling errors throughout.The translation is from 1897, and the book is inexpensive because this translation is in the public domain.Be aware that several other publishers are printing this translation with fancy covers but the interior contents unaltered.There is another translation that is much more readable; I'm not sure of the publisher, but it has an orange cover with white letters and an image of Daumier's sculpture "Ratapoil". ... Read more

Book Description
Karl Marxs CAPITAL Introductory Essay By A. D. LINDSAY Master of Balliol College, Oxford LONDON OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS HUMPHREY MILFORD OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS AMEN HOUSE, E. G. 4 LONDON EDINBURGH GLASGOW LEIPZIG NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE CAPETOWN BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS SHANGHAI HUMPHREY MILFORD PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY Impression of First edition, 1925 Printed in Great Britain PREFACE I OWE much in the preparation of this book to Mr. Beers Karl Marx, Sein Leben und Seine Lehre, and to Mr. G. W. Portuss Marx and Modern Thought, published for the Workers Educational Association in Australia. How much I have been helped in Chapters III and IV by M. Elie Halevys La Formation du Radicalisms Philosophique will be evident to all who know that great work. Though I differ widely from Mr. H. W. B. Joseph, I have been greatly helped by his demonstration in Karl Marxs Theory of Value of the indefensibility of doctrines often ascribed to Marx. But above all I wish to acknowledge my debt, for their discussion and criticism, to those to whom the lectures from which this book has been made were first delivered the Glasgow audiences meeting under the auspices of the Independent Labour Party and the Workers Educational Association and in par ticular to Mr. John McLure and to Mr. D. Kennedy of the Glasgow Independent Labour Party. My references throughout are to the English translation of Marxs Capital, but in the quotations from Marx I have in many passages made my own corrections in that translation. A. D. L. BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 9 I. Marx and Hegel 15 II. Economic Determinism . . .27 III. The Labour Theory of Value . - S3 IV. Marxs account of Surplus Value and of the Collective Labourer . . .81 V. Marx and Rousseau . . . .109 INDEX 126 INTRODUCTION THIS small book is intended, as were the lectures in which it first took form, to be an introduction to the study of Marxs Capital. It is not meant to be a substitute for such study. It is the fate of all great books tp get bcdleA-down and served up cold in text-books, which purport to tell exactly what the great book comes to, as though a mans conclusions were worth very much apart from the way in which he arrived at them. We must all have had the experience, after reading even appreciative books about great authors, of going back to the authors themselves and finding how much more there is in them than their commentators lead us to expect. Marxs Capital is obviously a book of historical importance, and any one who reads it impartially will find it greater and far more illuminating than most critics of Marx would like us, or most Marxian writers allow us to believe. There are two ways in which it is indefensible to treat a great book, ways which seem nevertheless to characterize much of what is said of Marx in this country the way of uncritical condemnation and the way. of uncritical praise. There are some books on Marx in which are collected all his inconsistencies and nothing else, as though there was nothing in Marx but inconsistencies. Such books give the impression that Marx was one of the most muddle-headed, idiots that ever lived. On the other hand, some of his interpreters seem to have given up the belief in the verbal insgiratipn of scripture for the belief in the verbal inspiration of Capital and try to maintain that there are no inconsistencies in Marx at all. 2535 61 B io Introduction We might surely be prepared, without having read a word of Marx, to reject both these extreme views. Mere inconsistent thinking has never made history as Capital has made it. But no man who has brought about a great revolution in thought has ever been without inconsistencies. The original thinker is too much occupied in trying to express the creative thought which is welling up in him to trouble himself about getting it all straightened out. There are always parts of his work which he has taken over as they stood from other people... ... Read more

Book Description
The perfect books for the true book lover, Penguin's Great Ideas series features twelve moregroundbreaking works by some of history's most prodigious thinkers. Each volume is beautifullypackaged with a unique type-driven design that highlights the bookmaker's art. Offering greatliterature in great packages at great prices, this series is ideal for those readers who want toexplore and savor the Great Ideas that have shaped our world. ... Read more

Book Description
THEORIES OF SURPLUS VALUE is the fourth volume in Karl Marx's (1818-1883) monumental work, DAS KAPITAL (CAPITAL).Divided into three parts, this compelling work reviews classic economic analyses of labor and value (Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Thomas R. Malthus, and others), focusing on the concept of surplus value--the difference between the full value of a worker's labor and the wages received for that labor.This is a key concept for Marx, since capitalism maintains its power through controlling surplus value. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The definative history of classical/pre-classical economics.
This book represents the painstaking effort of a great mind. An excrucriatingly detailed critical review of the economic literature pre-dating Marx is undertaken. Anyone seeking to understand the history of economics must carefully review this epic work. Historians too, will appreciate the extensive treatment of the contexts into which generations of economic ideas were born. Marx's revolutionary new theory of class emerges clearly from his critical reading of the great and not-so-great works which provided the foundation on which his break-throughs were built. ... Read more

Product Description
This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1902 edition by Swan Sonnenschein & Co., Lim., London; Charles Scribners' Sons, New York. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (2)

Standard biography of Marx
This well-written account of Marx's life stands above the rest. It is a sympathetic but not uncritical recounting of Marx's life. McCellan's book Karl Marx: Selected Writings is a good companion to his biography.

Lacking in the book, however, is much discussion of the ideas of Marx.

For beginners, a clear presentation of the philosophical background of Marx's work can be found in Isaih Berlin's biography of Marx. A variety of opinions about Marx's political, social, and historical theory can be found in the Cambridge Companion to Marx. Ernst Fischer's How to Read Karl Marx clearly discusses some of the foundational notions in Marx's economic theory.

Highly entertaining
David McLellan's biography of the great man is perhaps the best of of them all. He describes with much wit and feeling Marx' life, from his upbringing in Trier to his final death in London. But not just this: included are also shorter overviews of various other people who played a significant role in the life of Karl Marx, starting of course with Jenny von Westphalen and Friedrich Engels, but also less well-known people such as Herwegh and Kugelmann. McLellan never introduces anyone without telling you what kind of person he was and what role he played in the politics of the time, making the era truly come alive, with all its grandeur and all its silly infighting.

For this biography is certainly not a hagiography. McLellan shows Marx in all his brilliance and his wit, and as the greatest thinker of the age, but he also shows his bad sides: his vindictiveness, his pettiness, his rudeness, his incompetence at managing his financial and personal affairs, and of course the infamous bastard son. All the childish infighting between the socialist émigrés in London, Bruxelles and Paris is revealed, where Marx certainly does not get off scot-free. But there is also room for showing Marx as a family man, as loyal to his few close friends, and as a visionary thinker.

McLellan focuses primarily on Marx' life in a "human interest" manner, rather than concentrating on the development of his theories, although those are of course mentioned. Because of this, many amusing and sometimes surprising anecdotes and oddities turn up to keep this book a page-turner. Before our eye passes a carpet belonging to Leibniz, a drunken outing which ends in vandalism and a police chase, Marx on the run for his creditors, yelling at the Prussian censor, Engels making a wine-tasting tour, a chance meeting with Bismarck's niece, French pornographic verse, carbuncles, and many more things.

There are some minor problems with the book, as can be expected. Occasionally a strange spelling is used ("Carlsbad", "Vera Sassoulitch"), although this may have been fixed in the new edition. The final chapter, an epilogue concerning Marx' legacy, is very superficial and includes all sorts of nonsense about Marxist theory being outdated, and could best have been left out altogether. There is also the tendency to denigrate Engels undeservedly; but this is unsettlingly common among secondary authors on Marx, and is partially reinforced by Engels' personal modesty about his contributions. In any case these are all small issues, and any reader interested in the life of Marx as opposed to 'merely' his theories can do no better but to read this book. ... Read more

Product Description
This first American edition of volume I is based on the revised fourth German edition. ... Read more

Book Description

In this brilliant work, first published in 1936, Sydney Hook seeks to resolve one of the classic problems of European intellectual history: how the political radicalism and philosophical materialism of Karl Marx issued from the mystical and conservative intellectual system of G.W.F. Hegel. This edition contains a forward by Christopher Phelps discussing Hook's career and the significance ofFrom Hegel to Marx in the history of ideas.

Customer Reviews (2)

The world of the Young Hegelians
This is still one of the most interesting treatments of the development of German classical philosophy from Hegel to Marx via the world of the Young Hegelians in the generation after the death of Hegel up to the revolutions of 1848. The string of remarkable figures, Strauss, Bauer, Ruge, Stirner, Hess, and Feuerbach, with whom Marx interacted needs a careful account from someone like Hook, although there have been a number of more recent accounts.

From Hegel to Marx-
Sidney Hook analyzes the two philosophers utilizing opposition among Hegelian and Marxist theory: ethical idealism, dialectics, and continuity. This allows the reader to adopt the differences between the two influentialauthors,thereby introducing major theories written by Marx and Hegel. Theremaining chapters interject comparisons between Karl Marx and esteemedGerman philosophers who studied Hegel, contributed or correlated withMarxist philosophy. Overall, the text forms an essential basis to theunderstanding and development of Marxist philosophy, and the struggles of ayoung-Hegelian in the nineteenth century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

The Only True Marxist Primer for Understanding ' Das Kapital'.
This economic political classic sets the stage for Marx' masterpiece ,'Das Kapital'.It presents the Marxist view of economic labor theory and other radical issues concerning the public socialization of capitalistic economies.After reading this interesting monetary classic,I felt as if socialism can only compliment capitalism and never completely replace it.There needs to be a constant flux of balance between the two systems.During the days of the Industrial Revolution,the shift and focus was on absolute capitalism,unrestrained by indifferent royalists.After the the Russian Revoltion,the emphasis was on a centrical labor socialist oligarchy,with no blue-blood royalist tax restrictions.Under the reforms of Boris Yeltsin ,Russia moved to a more capitalist system ,in which some business gamblers lost everything.Putin has moved Russia back to a more centralised economy and perhaps refining the previous economic blunders of the Soviet Era.This book will help nuture a budding economics thinker by offering more philosophical avenues of free-thought and political choice.

The Rosetta Stone
The Grundrisse is perhaps one of the most important additions to Marxian scholarship in the last fifty years and stands as a true Rosetta Stone for deciphering Marx(ist, ian, oid) thought. Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy stands as a bridge between the early humanist writing such as the Manifesto and the later scientific Marx as seen in the three volumes of Capital.In this text we see the very beginnings of the scientific critique as well as a brilliant display of Marx as the dialectician that forces the astute and serious reader to rethink the engagement between Marx and Hegelian thought.This work has seriously challenged what I thought I knew about Marx and has sent me into a deep reflection on Hegel.This work is a must read for those serious about engaging critically the works of a Karl Marx.

Tough but Worthwhile
A collection of seven notebooks on capital and money, drafted during the winter of 1857-8, exploring the themes and theses that dominate his later writings, including Marx's own version of Hegel's dialectics, and thoughts on alientation.While not as sophisticatedp--or lengthy--as Das Kapital, it remains a "must read" for anyone interested developing a sophisticated understanding of Marxist philosophy.

Critical Reading
Unlike many other works, the Grundrisse exposes in more obvious ways Marx's dialectical thought.The Introduction should really be read as a great antidote to the 1859 Preface to a Critique of Political Economy,which gave us the base-superstructure analogy.The weakest link in Marx'sthough may very well be found there.The Grundrisse Introduction startsfrom the point of view of class struggle, whereas there is no place for theclass struggle as the driving force in the base-superstructureschema.

Also, Grundrisse starts in a different place from Capital.Thereis a reason for this, and a good discussion of this can be found in thewriting of Raya Dunayevskaya and a counter discussion can be found in RomanRosdolsky.The choice to eventually shelve the organization of theGrundrisse for the organization of Capital flows in part from the changesin the intervening years, most notably the U.S. Civil War.

Real lifeconstantly shaped Marx's thinking, hardly fitting the representation wecommonly get of him from ideologues and capital's priests (economists).Asa result, Grundrisse also has serious limitations in its understanding ofthe logic of capital.Basing the entire understanding of Marxism andcapital on Grundrisse leads to the kind of mistakes made by ItalianAutononmist Marxism, esp. Antonio Negri, who find themselves engaged in avery subjectivist understanding of capitalism.A useful, but sympathetic,antidote can be found in Werner Bonefeld and John Holloway's writings.

A classical of marxian economic thought
This book is a sketch of what would become, a couple of years later, the author's masterpiece: Das Kapital. It was written in an intense effort during revolutionary agitations in Europe, such hard work had as goal toshow the inherent contradictions of capitalism and the way it would sooncollapse. Well, capitalism did not collapse then and did not so far, butthis book remains a classic in the critique of classical political economy.It is indded shorter than Das Kapital, and in parts not as mature as, butit has the advantage of providing discussion on themes not discussedelsewhere in marxian works. Thus, the most famous part of Grundrisse areits Introduction and the part on "Pre-capitalistic modes ofproduction". A must for anyone who wish to get acquainted with marxianthought. ... Read more

Amazon.com
Karl Marx, whose influence on modern times has been compared to that of Jesus Christ, spent most of his lifetime in obscurity. Penniless, exiled in London, estranged from relations, and on the run from most of the police forces of Europe, his ambitions as a revolutionary were frequently thwarted, and his major writings on politics and economics remained unpublished (in some cases until after the Second World War). He has not lacked biographers, but even the most distinguished have been more interested in the evolution of his ideas than any other aspect of his life. Francis Wheen's fresh, lively, and moving biography of Marx considers the whole man--brain, beard, and the rest of his body. Unencumbered by ideological point scoring, this is a very readable, humorous, and sympathetic account. Wheen has an ear for juicy gossip and an eye for original detail. Marx comes across as a hell-raising bohemian, an intellectual bully, and a perceptive critic of capitalist chaos, but also a family man of Victorian conformity (personally vetting his daughters' suitors), Victorian ailments (carbuncles above all), and Victorian weaknesses (notably alcohol, tobacco, and, on occasion, his housekeeper). But there is great pathos, too, as Marx witnessed the deaths of four of his six children. For those readers who feel Marxism has given Marx a bad name, this is a rewarding and enlightening book. --Miles Taylor, Amazon.co.uk Book Description
Paradox and passion were the animating spirits of Karl Marx's life, which often reads like a novel by Laurence Sterne or George Eliot. "Imagine Rousseau, Voltaire, and Hegel fused into one person," said a contemporary, "and you have Dr. Marx." In this stunning book, the first major biography of Marx since the end of the Cold War, Francis Wheen gives us not a socialist ogre but a fascinating, ultimately humane man. Marx's marriage to Jenny von Westphalen, whose devotion was tested by decades of poverty and exile, is as affecting a love story offered by history, while his friendship with Friedrich Engels is by turns hilarious and inspiring. Wheen does not, however, shy away from Marx's work. Was he, as his detractors have claimed, a self-hating Jew? What did Marx really mean by his famous line, "Religion is the opiate of the masses"? Is Capital deserving of the ridicule with which modern-day economists have dismissed it? Marx lived both at the center and on the fringes of his age. He also changed the world. With Karl Marx, Francis Wheen has written a hugely entertaining biography of one of history's most unforgettable players. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Lacks political basis
Wheen tries to follow a current fashion and divorce the man and the politics. This is often done to Marxists because authors don't want to show what the theory of Marxism is. In the his introduction to Trotsky's autobiography, Joeseph Hanson makes a statement that could very well apply to Marx, too. "To make a truthful film of Trotsky requires taking him as a political figure, but not the kind characteristic of the bourgeois world of today. He was of a different kind-commited, like a great artist, to presenting a faithful reflection of his times, or, moe accurately, a scientist who has become convinced that the main problem facing mankind is to change the framework of our times, to end the agonizing epoch of warring classes and to replace it with a society built on the foundation of a rationally planned economy. He could be pictured truthfully as a tribune and fighter preoccupyed with constructing the organization required to win socialism on a world scale. To make a film of Trotsky in which all this is cast aside is like presenting Pierre and Marie Curie without their drive to discover the secret of radioactivity or the drudgery of fracinating huge amonts of pitchblende in order to isolate the mysterious substances, polonium and radium; or a "drama" of Loius Pasteur without his passionate interest in bacteriology and the painstaking laboratory work he engaged in against the advice of well-meaning friends who sought to persuade him not to waste his valuable time on chimerical and insoluble problems."
Marx's writing on the Civil War In France and others show that he was indeed interested and active in the politics of his time. The Communst Manifesto actually grew out of his work with the international. Any revolutionary will tell you: It's not about the men, it's about the IDEAS. Revolutions, down-swings, life of a revolutionary revolves around the smell of a fresh print. The man and the idea become bound together flesh and blood, and to seperate Marx from his ideas is to cut off his greatness, leaving a messy bookworm in Soho, London.

The Human Side of Citizen Marx .
If you want the best inside look of the man,Karl Marx, this is it.There are no weighty theories or politicial axioms edified in this cornerstone book.One book-example given is of Marx's young daughter,Eleanor,giving him a personal quiz.What is your favorite colour? (Answer-)Red! What is your favorite past-time? (Answer-)Book-Worming! etc.etc.
Years later,after Eleanor got into a tense arguement with her husband ,she committed suicide.Gray-haired Marx ,the rebarbative rebel and Mary Burns the Irish red-head firebrand, had a son together,who later become an auto mechanic. -Yet,Marx was a sinecure thinker,thanks to Engles.Marx rather liked to play the part of the agent provocateur.He miasmatically smoked black cigars ,lazily reading the afternoon London newspapers,on his Soho couch. He was an arm-chair philosopher,and not an active participant in storming the governmental offices of repression.This book is the best personal portrait of a very complex and mysterious historical thinker .An excellent biograghy !

Let us now praise famous ragamuffins!
As the reader below observed, this book was a chilling read. Marx was a very strange fellow and this reading this book felt like surveying the scene of a car accident. It hurts to continue but one finds themselves so intrigued that they can hardly stop. For my part, I disagree thoroughly with just about every idea Marx had. Still, I thought it refreshing to read a biography of the man that objectively treated Marx as human first, ragamuffin later; Unlike the brief essay on him in Paul Johnson's "Intellectuals," which is meant only to slam Marx and infuriate the reader.

I took half a star away for the a-little-less-than-constant humor (or so the author thought.) At first it was mildly amusing, probably do to its gauche inapropriateness. After the first few chapters though, it became a nuisance. How about this one? "Like another Marx, Karl did not want to belong to any club that would have him as a member." PUKE!!

The other half star is deducted for a suggestion the author makes about three-quarters through, when discussing Das Kapital. He suggests that Marx did not mean Kapital to be a work of science, but a work of ART (he means this literally, not figuratively.) His evidence? Marx refered to Kapital as his "work of art" (my guess, this is metaphor). Also, the author argues, if Marx had already summed up the themes of Kapital in a speech a few years earlier (he did), then why did he write a 1000 page tome espousing the same ideas (he did). Honestly, with flimsy evidence like that, this claim looks utterly ridiculous - not to mention likely insulting to any Marxist or person who takes Marx seriously as a thinker. Enough to cost half a star.

Otherwise, this book is an unbiased, humanistic read that plays just like a novel. Marx, of course, is a far superior character than any author could ever devise and in the end, my bet is that whether you love or hate him, you will find yourselves modifying your opinion to ambivalence as Marx (the person, not the manifesto) is much too complicated to love or hate.

Top Marx
I would not have imagined that a biography of Karl Marx could be such an entertaining and interesting read. This was. Much more has been written about the 'ism' than the man. This is a fascinating insight into his life, his poverty, his exile, his contradictions as well as his thinking.

What was most noticeable was the remarkable loyalty of Engels - friend, ghost-writer and benefactor - who even became a stranger in a strange land (Capitalism) to help finance publication of Marx's ideas, often in the face of staggering procrastination by the latter.

This is a very readable account of the life and carbunkles of one of the last century's most influential figures.

Disappointing, and deeply so
Let's write a book about Karl Marx which wants to talk about the Man, rather than simply about the Ideas.Sounds great, right?Except that in Wheen's hands, the relationship of the life to the ideas and the ideas to the life are brutally banalized.

The opportunity to write a good biography obviously presented itself, but what we have instead is some charming personal biography by a man who does not grasp the smallest part of Marx's ideas nor any meaningful engagement with Marx's political activity.

This book is so lame on the theoretical level that one would think that Wheen spent too much time reading old Stalinist schoolbooks on Marx, avoiding any actual scholarly work, such as Debord, C.J. Arthur, the journals Common Sense and Capital and Class, the work of Lukacs, Korsch, Adorno, Horkheimer, Rubin, etc.Wheen's treatment of the politics is less than worthless and mars his obviously generous sentiment towards Marx the man because Wheen simply cannot grapple with Marx as a whole human being.

Instead, we are treated to tawdry discussions of Marx's 'psychologically induced illnesses' every time deadlines came due.And these are tawdry not for being uninteresting, but because we never get a sense of the juxtaposition between Marx the researcher (who happily spent a great deal of time in the London Library system) and Marx the writer who did not simply hate deadlines, but who struggled with the content and style of each line he wrote.We never get any sense of why Marx might be the single most influential thinker of the last 150 years.

I gave it two stars because I do not see Wheen as intentionally malicious, but as merely incompetent.In a world where malicious intent and lack of scholarly scruple towards Marx seems welcome, this is not the worst book ever written on the man, but certainly not one worth reading. ... Read more