AAKAR BOOKS A People's Guide to Capitalism: An Introduction to Marxist Economics

by Hadas Thier

Economists regularly promote Capitalism as the greatest system ever to grace the planet. With the same breath, they implore us to leave the job of understanding the magical powers of the market to the “experts.”Despite the efforts of these mainstream commentators to convince us otherwise, many of us have begun to question why this system has produced such vast inequality and wanton disregard for its own environmental destruction. This book offers answers to exactly these questions on their own terms: in the form of a radical economic theory.

Genres: Nonfiction, Economics, Politics, History, Social Justice, Sociology, Philosophy

304 pages, Paperback

First published June 2, 2018

Reviews

[Daniel Saunders · Rating 4 out of 5]

A People’s Guide to Capitalism is a solid introduction to Marx's economic theory that is both succinct and accessible to those who aren't familiar with the concepts. The book follows Marx's argument in Capital (mostly volumes 1 and 3), and so could be read as a summary of Capital or concurrently with it. It's particularly good at connecting Marx's insights to contemporary subjects like bitcoin, theories of mainstream economics, the housing crisis, financial capital, and Covid-19—thus proving Marx's ongoing relevance. For me, it falls short in just a few places: not relating Marx's economic concepts back to his crucial dialectical method (something David Harvey does well in A Companion to Marx's Capital), and overlooking Marx's ultimate communist horizon. The last point, coupled with a handful of denigrating comments on the economies of socialist states, makes Marx feel oddly disconnected from the last century of political struggle.

All in all, the book is a great guide to the complex and technical details of Marx's economic writings, which show that we need not just a robust moral critique of capitalism but a scientific theory of how it works and how to challenge its dominance. I wrote a more in-depth review of this book here.

[Carlos Martinez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was way better than I expected it to be, given the author's political stable (ISO stalwart). Thier does a very impressive job of explaining the core concepts of Marxist economics and relating them to modern-day examples. In addition to the key ideas from Capital: Volume One: A Critique of Political Economy, some of the essentials from Capital: Volume 3: A Critique of Political Economy are presented: overproduction, over-accumulation, tendency of the rate of profit to fall, credit, finance capital. These are brought up-to-date in a discussion on the 2007-09 crisis, CDOs, structured investment vehicles, mortgage securities, and so on. I was hoping for a helping hand with Capital: Volume 2, but no such luck.

As you would expect given the author's general political orientation, there's no love for actually existing socialism here. China in particular is portrayed as just another major capitalist power, not meaningfully different to the US (other than its apparently greater ability to squeeze surplus value out of the working class). No mention is made of the continuously improved conditions of the Chinese people over the course of 70 years; indeed workers' conditions are only mentioned when citing a hit piece in the hard-right British rag The Daily Mail. On a connected note, the analysis of imperialism is pretty shallow.

Overall though an excellent and worthwhile read, either in preparation for Capital (along with Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: or, How Capitalism Works - and How It Fails and Wage-Labour and Capital/Value, Price and Profit), or as supplementary reading.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Depressing af, glad I got pushed to finish it by another person on the wait list for it at the library. The author has not convinced me Marxism is the way to go, though Marx was clearly a smart dude. The book did firm up my anti-capitalist convictions though. It very clearly shows why capitalism is bad for most people and the environment, and I can't see regulations helping very much. I don't know if enough people will figure this out in time, but we need an economy run for the people's needs, and I think that would be best done democratically, and in a less centralized way, more worker cooperatives, less run by the state. Realistically some things run better at the nation/state level. but many others do not, and I think that's where communism goes wrong.

[anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

i still want to read the capital itself but this is a good foundation book; easy language, modern day examples, a solid amount of repetition just to make sure you get it

[Nathan Fisher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Would rate this 2.5 if I could, since I'm perfectly ambivalent about it — it that way and others, it adequately expresses our contemporary moment in Marxism, really. On one hand, there is a resurgence of interest to be met and this book is certainly far from awful, especially for the newcomer — but while I suppose market considerations demand each generation needs a version of this book, this is striking less for its novel inclusions than its anachronisms. Thier is transparent about the tradition and predecessors she's indebted to — and she's following in the footsteps of those like Mandel, Harman, D'Amato, etc. in writing an adequate popularization of Marxist political economy — but while there's an attempt at keeping this up to date by including references to contemporary events, this is still hook, line and sinker a repetition of a somewhat archaic reading of Capital. At the very least, even if you have a tendency to go to bat for, we live in an era of unprecedented access and scholarship regarding Marx's work, in which both interpretative rigor and theoretical reconstruction have entered a more advanced stage, to the point that this is no longer sufficient to meet the elevated demands of the moment. This is a fine work of 'vulgar Marxism,' which I want to clarify is not an insult — as Otto Bauer sez, an outpouring of books like this are a sign of the movement's health. But it does seem that by the standards of 2020, this is a few derivations too many — it's a popularization of a popularization.

Damning with faint praise here, but for the record it should still be apparent that it has its usages.

[Tyler Berg · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for anyone seeking to demystify the complex workings of our economic system. I read this book after finishing (and struggling through) Marx’s Capital Vol 1.

Hadas Thier does an incredible job of making Marx’s ideas and theories accessible to a 21st century reader without dumbing down the material. They also include helpful historical context as well as contemporary examples to show the continued relevancy of concepts like Commodity Fetishism, the Labor Theory of Value, and Primitive Accumulation. I only wish that i had known about this book while reading Capital, it would’ve made a perfect companion read. If you’ve been intimidated by Marx in the past, this book is an ideal entry point. Highly recommend!

[Owen Cantrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good introduction and survey of Marxist economics. I’m not an economically-inclined thinker and found it clear and lucid. The short conclusion on the COVID-19 pandemic provided some useful context for thinking about the latest crisis of capitalism.

“Every periodic crisis is a potential point on which to organize.” We have nothing to lose but our chains

[Summerelisse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am too dumb to totally understand everything in this book, but it was quite good nonetheless.

[Aisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful primer for beginners interested in Marxist economics. Ideal for students and those who have nothing to lose but their chains!

[Nadav David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book to be really clarifying and accessible as someone with medium level of experience with Marxist texts. The “People’s Guide” is structured into sections on key themes, offering compelling histories, examples and definitions and illuminating the workings of our current capitalist economy. Their weaves Marx texts smoothly into discussions of what we see and experience today, and offers a political horizon for class struggle into the future.

[Teun van Kasteel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Een must read voor iedereen die niet aan het ellenlange werk van Marx toekomt en zichzelf toch nog op een of andere manier serieus wil nemen als kritisch mens.

[David Selsby · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t know. It was fine. My eyes started to glaze over towards the end when Hadas Thier discusses the financialization of our economy, of the world economy, and when she discusses credit, etc. But that wasn’t because Thier wasn’t writing clearly. She was. She accomplished what she set out to--give the reader an introduction to capitalism and give the reader an introduction to Marxist economics. What made it boring? I’m not sure. Maybe Thier needed to write with more pizazz, more humor, or in general just relate the information in a more compelling way. Perhaps that was a “me” problem and had nothing to do with Thier’s writing. Maybe she wrote it as accessibly as she could, given she was trying to convey the inner-working of sometimes complex and confusing monetary and financial institutions and processes.

Overall, she set to what attempted to do. The book presents a clear description of Marxist economics. What I got most out of the book was Thier’s presentation of the labor-theory of value and the theory of surplus value. I suppose even when you explain Marxist economics in layman’s terms, it’s still kind of dry and abstract material. There was a history in this country of class consciousness and solidarity, and this consciousness was nourished and regenerated in specific communities and among specific groups of people, but overall that consciousness and the discrete cohorts engaged in pushing political commitments oriented towards working-class advancement and trade-union strength has been on the decline since the early fifties and in precipitous free-fall since the mid-seventies. Because that consciousness and the groupings that foster that consciousness are a thing of the past, Marxist economics comes to the reader as cold, distant, and abstract. Americans don’t move with ease through that theory, and more important than the theory real-world occurrences and examples of how class dynamics work and how to view economic, financial, and monetary policies through a class lens. It’s worth mentioning here Martin Hagglund’s fantastic “This Life,” whose final section’s intricate and illuminating reading of Marx explores how our lives are imbued with the contradictions and alienation of advanced capitalism and the emancipatory power Marx’s philosophy and economics still have.

Thier is part of the Jacobin collective--meaning she works and writes for the magazine--and her book feels very much of the moment of Bernie’s five-year campaign (‘15-’20). However, hope does seem lost now. As many commentators have accurately pointed out, Bernie’s campaigns of 2016 and 2020 inverted the traditional trajectory of working-class legislative advances, whereby militant working-class solidarity accumulates enough strength that it can leverage that strength, bending elected representatives, even presidents, to the its will, e.g. the New Deal and the Great Society. That’s not happening. Sanderism is over, and the Left seems wrecked on the rocks of a weaponized identity politics and an inability to make inroads or connections with sections of the working class that don’t come fully indoctrinated and acclimated to woke orthodoxy. In other words, the hope of a broad-based multi-ancestral working-class political coalition seems as remote as it ever has in the last sixty years. I do recommend this book. It was money well spent. Many times throughout the time I spent reading it, I thought this is a book I will need to read again. I also thought this is kind of like a textbook or reference book with the chapters nicely delineated by topic. I will read it again.

[Alvaro Valenzuela Mazo · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best introductory book I have read about marxism (and I have read 5 to 10 of them). Its really a helpful resource and I go back to it ocassionaly.

PS: I dont consider myself a marxist but I do agree with some of its framework.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to the audio book, liked the narrator. We just keep on building. Short term on short term on short term. And then when one thing goes wrong shit burns!

Loved the perspective on loans/credit, asking why do we have loans? How are they enforced? (Coercion!) Good stuff on imperialism in the last chapter with some quick examples on Egypt and the Caribbean.

[Malia Odekirk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have wanted to read this for a long time but just hadn’t found the time (it’s a me problem; I know). BUT two of the chapters were assigned for class and in preparing them I also discovered there’s an audiobook version. SCORE! So I flew through the audiobook and gained a much better understanding of Marx’s Capital and how this related to our current capitalist society in the US. Amazing work and I will absolutely be using and revisiting this plenty.

[Ayush · Rating 5 out of 5]

4 stars if you have read Capital.

[adeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

good but definitely a eurocentric view of the history of capitalism! would be contested in some circles lol. overall though very helpful for breaking down marxism.

[Cora Galpern]

I learned a lot but also got really confused and learned how much more I have to learn

[HP · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lucid, approachable, and well-written introduction to Marxist economics. Capital is an absolute doozy for me so finding texts that are a little more approachable is key. This book really gets to the heart of surplus value/exploitation, and how both work together to fuel greater accumulation.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always been extremely intimidated by economics, preferring to just opt out of paying attention to any financial news and trying not to cry when wading through the jargon of setting up a retirement account. But as I've become aware and engaged with a number of social/political issues, it's become clear that as I dig deeper that there's always a core issue at the bottom: capitalism. For a long time I thought it was racism, but turns out that's heavily linked to capitalism too! This book explains economic concepts in a way that I was able to finally understand, and that illuminated for me the connection between the economy and everything else. Most importantly, it shows that the egregious climate and human rights disasters occurring globally are not a result of the capitalist system failing, but are inherent requirements to keep it working.

Although I was longing for the author to include "solutions" in a typical panicked-reader way, I can see why the scope of this book didn't include organizing tactics, but rather worked to lay the foundation of class consciousness and expose the way capitalism fails all of us. Without this understanding, it's easy to focus on secondary issues and lose sight of the root cause.

Even though it was only a few pages, it was fascinating to read the author's afterword with predictions about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy, written shortly after COVID hit the US. While I can't confirm the accuracy of many of the predictions since I wasn't really paying attention to economics back then, one line stuck out to me: Thier predicts that "the working class will once again be made to pay - with our lives, our livelihoods, and our well-being" (p. 238). Fast forward to today, where "business as usual" has resumed despite COVID tearing through our communities twice a year and continuing to kill people, disable many others, and further lock immunocompromised/disabled people out of the public sphere.

Many people aren't taking precautions because the CDC has said "we" don't need to. Why did they say that? The science certainly hasn't changed, but the capitalist class needs us back at work, and the current government's main role (as the book explains thoroughly) is to protect the capitalist class. (One example of this is the isolation period guidelines changing after Delta airlines requested it.) So the working class (especially the middle class, with more actual means to protect ourselves) obediently submitted ourselves to perpetual reinfection of a disease that harms most of the systems in the body because the capitalist class wanted to continue exploiting our labor. I wonder how much of this is because we identify more as consumers than as workers, so we were almost giddy to carry the health burden that the capitalist class has imposed on us as long as we can eat in restaurants and go on our vacations. Meanwhile, the capitalist class are all too careful to protect themselves, with testing requirements, air filters, masks for their drivers, etc.

This all links back into the way that capitalism fails to protect even its own success, as the author delineates in Chapter 6. "Capitalist crisis" normally occurs through boom-and-bust cycles that require the government to swoop in and save the economy, at the expense of working people. I think the pandemic reinforces this concept, as the number of people developing long-covid or dying is obviously weakening the workforce that they depend on exploiting. But rather than taking a step back and prioritizing health for the long-term stability of the system, the inherent demand that corporations constantly "grow or die" means that everyone charges on, business as usual.

Tldr; I would recommend this to anyone who has ever lived paycheck-to-paycheck, worried about losing their housing, incurred huge amounts of debt to put a kid through college or own a home, or been forced to work instead of spending time with their family or community - and wants to know why. It would also be a good read for anyone who wants to understand economics without having to listen to a tech bro or wade through weighty philosophy texts.

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like I was able to walk away comfortable with the biggest themes of Marxism. Thier does a great job of taking concepts that are typically shrouded behind jargon and making them extremely accessible and digestible. I especially appreciated the final chapters and their direct ties to modern events so as to demonstrate Marx's relevance in the present day. Thier illustrated the tendency of capitalism to trend towards crisis using the examples of the 2008 financial meltdown as well as the current nightmare of COVID-19 and its catastrophic mismanagement.

I found the explanation of capitalism's pressure towards falling profits especially clear. Thier writes of how competing industries are forced to innovate in order to maximize profits but eventually everyone adopts the same innovations. This results in ever-shrinking profit margins as everyone is now using the same tools to produce.

Another interesting phenomenon that was described is the pursuit of endless growth. It's nearly impossible for a business to not pursue endless growth in order to stay competitive. A clothing business would never stay in business if it prepurchased all their supplies with cash in hand and then produced and sold all their inventory before having enough money to roll back into the next season's lineup. There would be constant lurches and starts of product and this would carry across industries. Clothing suppliers would only need finished textiles when they were starting the next run of clothes, so textile producers would only need inputs like cotton or polyester when the clothing companies came to them. This would ripple down the line to the producers of raw goods leaving consumers with unpredictable, unreliable access to goods, and businesses with inconsistent profits. The result, however, is that the whole system has to run on credit so companies can stay constantly producing. This leads to new complications because no one wants to extend credit for a venture that won't return increasing profits. Why would I give a loan to a company that's only going to give me back exactly what they borrowed? I want to see some kind of return on investment but this pushes companies to keep growing and growing. These counteracting forces leave our entire system chasing endless growth while simultaneously fighting the aforementioned pressure of falling profits.

If you're interested in understanding one of the most misunderstood economists of the last century this book is an excellent demystifier.

[heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive explanation of the ins and outs of modern capitalism. Thier organizes key principles of Marxist economics into easily digestible parts — I found this much easier to absorb than other reads on the subject. Starting with the birth of capitalism as a relatively recent event in human history, she traces its insidious mechanisms and various manifestations up through the present pandemic.

"So long as families could produce food and clothing for themselves, they did not have to work for a wage. Once the vast majority of people lost access to their lands, the organizing principles of society would change. Private ownership of lands, resources, and tools was firmly established and concentrated into few hands. On this basis arose wage labor and a dependence on the market for goods and sustenance."

I most appreciated the sections devoted to how capitalism has always relied on the exploitation of indigenous populations, people of color and women, and the ways in which these inherent inequities are justified. Capitalist political ideology came after the economic framework, leading to the now normalized concepts which sustain it: the right to private property, freedom from servitude and the necessity of credit debt, among others. They appear to many as "self-evident natural laws", concealing the profits generated by workers lacking agency under the guise of fairness.

"The system's ideologues promise us that the free market will deliver an efficient health-care system, just as it will peace on earth and a greener world. Yet the workings of the market lead to the exact opposite: the tyranny of corporate behemoths at the expense of all living things."

The ceaseless competition and overarching profit motive inherent to capitalism pits it at odds with human needs. The soil, the air, and the planet are threatened by unfettered growth — no safeguards exist to protect the public interest. Expansion for a few comes at the expense of nearly everyone else, namely the world's poor and working class. Greed begets more greed. I hope that I witness a break in the cycle within my lifetime.

[Caroline Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dense read, but worth it. No matter how often I learn “hey, this thing you’ve heard about isn’t a noun, it’s a verb - it’s a social process, not an abstract idea,” it always blows my mind to have another concept unpacked that way. I was especially struck by the financialization of imperialism, the way countries like the US have used credit to de facto usurp economies across the world.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid basic primer to understanding capitalism with clear examples. I especially found the section on financial instruments and credit informative. And the section on how capitalism is incapable of solving climate change is important as well. I had also not understood the level to which crises are intrinsic to the workings of capitalism rather than one-off unfortunate events due to a lack of information.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great straightforward guide to the Marxist critique of capitalism. The book’s breadth and length helped unify certain aspects of Marxism I’ve learned about in smaller doses and specific case studies. From my first few readings this semester, I can already see that what I’ve learned from Thier is enabling me to integrate new topics into a broader understanding.
Highly recommend.

[Miguel Iturralde · Rating 5 out of 5]

Accessible yet detailed intro to the subject. Does a good job of exploring modern events to show the continued relevance of Marx's economic works.

[Mel Frieders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful, accessible introduction to Marxist theory. When it gets dense or complicated Thier does a great job of contextualizing with relatable real life examples.

[Dan Leptoukh · Rating 4 out of 5]

a little dense at times but i found the real world examples quite helpful! would recommend to anyone looking to get depressed about society

[Neha]

the only background i have on this topic is a microecon bird course i took in first year of undergrad (the only thing i retained is supply and demand curves), and that time in grade 10 social science class when i made the mistake of zoning out during a group presentation on marx, so this was a challenging read for me conceptually. but it's probably as easy as it gets and was exactly what i wanted, an intro to marxist economics before any further reading on socialism, and to justify my resentment towards capitalist pigs like peelon shmuck

[Kevin Mckinney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can’t promise I read every page of this bc I was reading it for a book club and you know how that goes. But still, really good book - not necessarily breaking tons of new ground if you’ve read much marx but there was absolutely a good amount of stuff that was new to me and a ton of stuff that I understand way more clearly than I did before