The Revolutionary Ideas of Karl Marx

by Alex Callinicos

Few thinkers have been declared irrelevant and out of date with such frequency as Karl Marx. Hardly a decade since his death has gone by in which establishment critics have not announced the death of his theory. Whole forests have been felled to produce the paper necessary to fuel this effort to marginalize the coauthor of The Communist Manifesto.

And yet, despite their best efforts to bury him again and again, Marxâ s specter continues to haunt his detractors more than a century after his passing. As another international economic collapse pushes ever growing numbers out of work, and a renewed wave of popular revolt sweeps across the globe, a new generation is learning to ignore all the taboos and scorn piled upon Marxâ s ideas and rediscovering that the problems he addressed in his time are remarkably similar to those of our own.

In this engaging and accessible introduction, Alex Callinicos demonstrates that Marxâ s ideas hold an enduring relevance for todayâ s activists fighting against poverty, inequality, oppression, environmental destruction, and the numerous other injustices of the capitalist system.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Philosophy, History, Economics, Theory, Sociology

213 pages, Paperback

First published November 19, 1995

About the author

Alexander Theodore Callinicos, a descendant through his mother of Lord Acton, is a political theorist and Director of the Centre for European Studies at King's College London. He holds both a BA and a DPhil from Oxford University.

Reviews

[Henry Louis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was terrific, albeit extremely dense. Which is not to say it was difficult to read; its clarity is its selling point. It's just that every page is packed with information which takes some time to digest.

I read the 2011 Haymarket edition, which is essentially a reprint of the original 1983 version with a new intro. Obviously, a book written in 1983 is going to be dated in parts, particularly the final chapter "Marx Today," which contains some hindsight howlers like "computer terminals are unlikely to sprout in every apartment building."

Overall a fantastic intro to some heavy concepts.

[Sheb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great analysis of the political basis of Marxism. The early chapters I found the most helpful with a really good look at the utopian socialists and then fauerbach and hegel. While the chapter on dialectics was good it took some time to work through and I definitely thought the infamous oak tree analogy created a false mystification and was not super helpful. The later chapters I found the most difficult and I think you will need a very technical mind for the chapter on capital (I had never studied bourgeois economics). The final chapter was a really great refutation of common arguments against Marxism using the concepts that had been elucidated through the rest of the book. Overall really good but you will need to find supplements for some of the content.

[Bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredible read. I've gone through a LOT of David Harvey's lectures on Capital but this work expands into other territories. Also, if you are also interested in history, the first couple chapters give some great historical information. The most "technical" part or what I might call the economic "math-ish" part is chapter 6 which one should go slowest with, it's also the longest chapter. Everything else is very smooth reading. Excellent.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good introduction to Marxist thought, easy to read and understand. The power of explanation that Marxism brings to many aspects of life is clearly set out. It is this power that will continue to give Marxism life beyond the fall of the Stalinist regimes in Eastern Europe. Highly recommended to anyone seeking to understand Karl Marx's ideas.

[Dena · Rating 3 out of 5]

با ترجمه‌ی پرویز بابایی خواندیمش. اول تابستان با سیاوش‌ شروع کردیم، ایده‌ی بدی بود و تنها تمامش کردیم.
بعضی جاهاش خصوصا وقتی رسیده بود به توضیح کاپیتال واقعا سخت‌خوان بود و حتی کلمات هم عجیب ترجمه شده‌ بودند (آنسورونده بجای استعلایی، کار ذهنی بجای کار انتزاعی).
در کل شروع خوبی بود ولی می‌شد با کتاب‌های روان‌تر هم شروع کرد.

[Aava Farhadi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really fantastic read & great overview of Marx & Marxism. This is definitely best suited for people who have not read Capital because I imagine it would be too rudimentary if you have; but, for people who haven’t, it is a friendly introduction to it!

I enjoy how much context is given, but I do wish more time was spent on Marxism in the present-day — this book was written in 1983, but I think the author should have gone further in his analysis, especially given the social and political climate of the late 20th century. It is fairly dense, but not a super difficult read or anything, but a lot of ideas are presented in each chapter, so it takes a second to digest all of them.

[xenia · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most succinct and comprehensive overviews of Marx I've read. Includes a biography, an overview of prior forms of utopian socialism and liberal economic theory, fucking Hegel, the labour theory of consciousness and value (by transforming the land we add value to it, and furthermore transform and add value to ourselves), the falling rate of profit and economic crises (if profit is derived from labour, then the replacement of laborers by machines, out of competition with other corporations, will lead to less and less valuable commodities, until the market crashes), the reserve army of labour (while there is a pool of unemployed workers, capitalists can hire them at low wages because they're desperate), proletariat/class consciousness (through collective labour we realise our essential power to capital and therefore our subversive power as a class) and international socialism (only world revolution can dismantle the hegemony of the market/there can be no socialism in one country).

Misses or fails to develop a few key ideas such as primitive accumulation (colonial land theft/the dispossession of indigenous peoples from subsistence living), the bourgeois family (patriarchy and property inheritance), commodity fetishism (the veiling of the sphere of production in the sphere of exchange, which generates a mystical allure to commodities) and fictitious capital (speculation and debt). Doesn't dive into the many developments on Marx since the 20th century (Gramsci, Luxembourg, Mao, Fanon, Althusser, Foucault, Delueze & Guattari, Shiva & Mies, Bookchin, Harvey, Federici, Laclau & Mouffe, Zizek, Haraway, Graeber); but that would take an entire other book (and it isn't the point of this book), so it's no fault of Callinocos. A bigger issue is his failure to mention and address critiques from other sections of the left such as anarchism (what if the state never withers away + there are more hierarchies than class), feminism (patriarchy pre-exists capitalist class relations + care and maintenance pre-exists production as valuable labour), black liberation (I actually can't think of anything right now, lol soz).

Some may question Marx's relevance to 21st century capital; but it's not that Marx is (now) wrong, it's more that we have to historically situate him in a time of rapid industrialisation, where great numbers of rural families were forced into the mass anonymity of city existence; and whose identities were subsequently reshaped by factory labour and capitalist economic relations. We still live under capitalism, but we can't understand the gig economy through the spatiotemporality of the factory floor. However, while the structure of work has changed, its economic relation of exploitation has not. You either sell your body as a labourer to gain a wage, or you manage a body of laborers to gain profit. Callinocos is right when he says it's not the type of work you do that matters, but your relation in the mode of production. This, fundamentally, hasn't changed since Marx's time, and it's why Marx still matters.

[سیاووش · Rating 4 out of 5]

تموم شد! مادرمون رو گایید ولی تموم شد. و غیر از فصل سرمایه‌ش که هی خوندیمش و هی سرش هم رو گاز گرفتیم و هی پرسیدیم و هی باز نفهمیدیم واقعاً چیز یادمون داد. الان که برمی‌گردم نگاه می‌کنم واقعاً شروع خوبی نبود برای مارکس. سخت بود به خدا. بزرگسال باسواد در دانشکده گفت اون هنوز اندیشه‌ی انقلابی مارکس رو نخونده و نمی‌دونم ما چطور خایه کردیم بریم سراغش. خوشحالم که کردیم. کالینیکوس داداشیمه. دنا بیا بازم با هم کتاب بخونیم باسواد شیم. :(((((((

[Pranav Sathish · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a great read that covers topics which themselves have books of hundreds of pages and it condenses it into coherent and flows naturally into from one to another. However some topics (like the chapters more on economic policies) can feel at times overwhelming and therefore definitely need multiple read overs. Overall definitely recommend.

[Mathew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good intro to marx, covering a lot of ground in a mostly easy to read style. Written by an academic apparently for an audience new to marx, this one gets a little too stuck in the academic 1800s weeds at times and lacks modern nuance. Skim reading definitely required at times.

I didnt realise how obsessed with capitalism communists are! Marxists are the ex-boyfriend that won't stop texting you 100 years after you broke up.

The point of the book is to analyse Marx and his beliefs, but in the sections where the author argues in favour of Marxism I would have appreciated SOME or any even-handed discussion of competing systems. Instead capitalism/democracy are cast aside as obviously flawed with very few redeeming features. This is clearly not the case, and so I'm no more convinced that we need a violent revolution than I was before I read this.

I think my key takeaway is that there is much we can do within this current system of government to reform and grow our society, to treat our less fortunate with more compassion, and to reduce our emphasis on GDP growth and working as hard as you possibly can on useless things.

[Trent · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book on economics I've ever read - recommended to me by my professor. The first section has a nice biography of Marx, which I appreciated. The middle section gets into the nitty-gritty of Marx's economic theory. The final section explains how the economic theory works in the real world, and addresses the implications for society. This section also responds to three main critiques of Marx's work. Overall, an informative book, that really demonstrated to myself how little I know about economics. It has inspired me to look into other economic books, to get a broader understanding of the field, and understand not just Marxist economics, but mainstream economics too.

[Tess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly and clearly explains Karl Marx's philosophical, economic, and sociological ideas, and sets them in the context of Marx's own life and revolutionary struggles and the the philosophical and economic ideas that had come before him. Also succinctly explains why Marx's ideas are still relevant today.

[Nick De Voil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a good, if at time overly-condensed understanding of marx, as an activist and theoretician, 's thoughts. However occasionally Callinicos drops in some unsubstantiated truth bomb son how marx was wrong about something and doesnt justify why, which is something i think is a failure of tha marxist, scientific tradition.

I dislike the new graffiti coverart, thatws some boomer shit imo

[Daniel Bickle-Lazarow · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’ve heard the word socialism a lot recently and are interested in what everyone’s talking about, this is the best and most clear brief explanation and history of Marx’s life and ideas.

Certainly a better spot to start than the communist manifesto

[Trevor Maloney · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short but dense introduction to one of the greatest thinkers of the modern era.

[Cliff Lorick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear, easy to read overview of Marx and Marxism. Well worth a read for anyone interested in the theory and application of Marxism.

[Evangelos · Rating 4 out of 5]

A useful general introduction to the work of Marx. Argues that despite the collapse of communism, Marx's ideas remain essential for understanding the nature of capitalism and for organizing an effective political response to it.

A few key points:

-sees Marx as advocating for a socialism from below, meaning a revolutionary process that involves the self-emancipation of the working class. This means that for a revolution to be properly Marxist it must involve the activity of the vast majority of the population--it can't be imposed from above by a minority on a resisting or reluctant majority (Blanquism).
-book is extremely weak on Hegel and is out of touch with (then) contemporary Hegel scholarship. Section on Hegel should simply be skipped.
-argues that Marx was not a technological determinist or class reductionist, but a thinker who saw history as complexly determined by a whole host of factors, forces, and agents. Nicely clarifies the concepts of relations of production and forces of production by showing that the latter include more than technology and tools, but also inherited productive knowledge and skills.
-claims Marx did not see revolution as inevitable and instead put a great deal of emphasis on the contingent, reversible, open-ended struggles of organized workers.
-insists on a conception of class that foregrounds the role within the process of production of the working class. On this classical Marxist conception it makes no sense to claim that because workers incomes have risen in the last 100 years that the proletariat as such have vanished. Suggests that it is of utmost importance politically to recognize that capitalists gain a whole series of advantages through their access to the means of production).
-tends to think that a proper Marxist revolution is unlikely without violence (a violence he sees as politically necessary); this contrasts with Richard N. Hunt's The Political Ideas of Marx and Engels in which Marx is seen as far more interested in parliamentary paths to socialism than typically thought.
-uses a Marxist analysis to contextualize the emergence of historical communism and claims that the versions of communism that appeared in Russia and China were completely at odds with Marx's own conception, the latter of which always insisted on the active self-emancipation of workers. For Callinicos, no revolution that does not involve the participation of the working majority can succeed. He calls actually existing communism bureaucratic state capitalism because he thinks that these systems never escaped the dynamics of the world capitalist system and that the state came to function vis a vis workers as a kind of universal capitalist. For example, the Soviet Union was forced to chase capital accumulation as a means to compete against other national state capitalisms.
-If there is a weak point to the book it is its one-sided understanding of historical communism. Though one can understand why he does it--there's a certain pleasurable simplicity in avowing a pure Marx untainted by the failures of Marxist-Leninism--he offers a one-sided analysis of societies that though undemocratic and still unequal made very serious social gains (in healthcare, education, housing) and radically re-distributed class power. To say as he does that under state communism "the workers did not control the state" is true if by "workers" one means "all of them". But as Sheila Fitzpatrick has shown the Russian and Chinese revolutions involved the most dramatic and sustained transformation of class relations ever witnessed in history. Though there were still important differences between those with access to the levers of the state and those reduced to being mere cogs in the machine, the machine itself after 1917 was nevertheless staffed--essentially for the first time in history--almost exclusively by peasants and workers.
-his assessment of capitalism in the late 1980s is dated, but interesting as a record of Marxist thought at the time.

[Finnian Colwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Callinicos’ book markets itself as an overview of Marx’s life and work. We begin with a summary of his biography, including how Marx witnessing the fighting proletariat in France in the 1840s led him to view them as the agent of revolutionary change, his depression and family troubles in the 1850s in London working on Capital, and his later involvement in the First International. The book then shows how Marx was influenced by German idealism, French socialism and English political economy, the development of the Marxian dialectic, and his analysis of the capitalist economy and workers’ power. Finally, Callinicos ends by using theory developed by Lenin, Trotsky and the IST to argue for Marx’s continued relevance against criticisms from Labour Party intellectuals.

The book is honest in outlining the disagreements between Marx and the IST. For example, Marx’s account of revolutionary consciousness developing through a gradual evolutionary process means that many trade union officials, Stalinists and reformists can call themselves Marxist and justify their activity on this strand of his thought, rather than the revolutionary socialist strand. Marx was also too uncritical of universal franchise, progressive nationalisms which arose to challenge feudal absolute monarchy and Tsarism, and British imperialism when it competed with Russian imperialism. But Callinicos makes the point that not many liberal democratic imperialisms existed in Marx’s time, so it was natural that later Marxists would have to delineate the regressive aspects of liberal democracy compared to workers’ power, as Marx explained its progressive aspects in the face of absolute monarchy. The book also provides a useful account of crises of overproduction occurring due to the unplanned nature of market competition; human nature and its evaluative (or moral) aspect; and the way in which revolutionaries, unlike Blanquists, must follow the rhythm of workers’ activity: all of which will be useful for my reading groups and activism. Increases in labour productivity are the outcome, Callinicos argues, which makes socialism viable at a certain stage of historical development. The review of Marx’s biography was both highly entertaining and itself illustrative of some truths discovered by Marx and his successors

[Geoff Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a super introduction or review of the ideas of Karl Marx, and for context includes a short biography.

My habit is to underline and/or highlight key excerpts in non-fiction books. Looking over this book, at least half of nearly every page is heavily underlined, indicating how dense this book is with brilliant encapsulations and descriptions of key ideas.

The book is very readable, except, as others have commented, for Chapter 6, on Marx’s book Capital, which gets quite technical with key terms and short formulae.

Highly recommended.

[Manolo Ferrer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was absolutely revolted by how much the author is self-absorbed in Marxism and Socialism as Ideologues. He was not impartial in his exposition and the book felt like a forced indoctrination attempt to join some cult or 'Revolutionary Socialist Movement' :D

The author is actually a friend and protector of rapists. He's widely denounced as a rape apologist!!! Look online and you will see...

[Lucas Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took a long time to get through this. I enjoyed the level, not for a complete novice, but breaks down and reiterates. Comes from a very specific perspective on the left and while it tries to be ecumenical it is what it is.

[Ella Pia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book explaining Marx's ideas and why they are the best politics in understanding the world, good for someone new to the ideas too. Sorta wish dialectics was explained a bit better tho

[Zora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Terrific biographical info, then it bogged down in philosophical nit-picking, which I why I hate philosophy as a field to read. : )

[Derek · Rating 5 out of 5]

A much needed refresher course on the key ideas of Karl Marx's thought, told in a highly accessible form.

[Stevie]

Good introduction with countless theories explained, a bit dry & hard to read in places but ultimately quite interesting & had me wanting to read more on the subject.

[Roberto Yoed · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good introduction, bad analysis of stalinism.

[Harriet R · Rating 5 out of 5]

a comprehensive, profound insight into marxist politics. ideal for beginners

[Steve Lawless · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my second reading. First read it in the 80s. As an introduction to Marxism It is not very well structured. Ralph Miliband's Marxism and Politics is better.

[Nubar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read several parts, such as the chapter called "capitalism" for an international political economy class and later decided to read all of it because I kind of like the style this book is written in.

[Josafat Rodriguez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good starting point to get to know some of the concepts Marx developed, but highly biased against current communist countries.