The Formation of the Economic Thought of Karl Marx

In this book, Mandel discusses the development of Marx’s economic ideas from their beginnings to the completion of the Grundrisse. He combines a historical retrospective and a review of current discussions on each of the subjects and problems central to Marxist economic theory. He traces the development of the concept of “alienation” in Marx, and its fate in the hands of succeeding generations, down to the present discussion in East and West Europe, summarizes the fascinating debates over the “Asiatic mode of production,” and discusses labor theory of value, the problem of periodic crises, the theory of wages and the polarization of wealth and poverty, and the problem of progressive “disalienation” through the building of socialist society.

Ernest Mandel (1923-1995) was born in the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium, and lived in Brussels. He began political activity in the left Paole (Labor) Zionists, but at eighteen became a Marxist. He was active in the resistance in World War II, was captured by the Nazis and imprisoned in a concentration camp, and escaped only to be recaptured and imprisoned. A founder and editor of La Gauche, left socialist weekly, he contributed to many of the leading economic and political journals throughout the world, and was the most prominent global Trotskyist of the post-war generation.