This talk by Issac Deutscher was originally published in Monthly Review on December 1967 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Karl Marx’s Capital. We are making it available here on the occasions of the 150th anniversary of Capital. In the original editors’ note to this article, 50 years ago Leo Huberman and Paul M. Sweezy wrote: “This is the text of a talk given last summer on the BOO’s Third Programme. It is reproduced here by permission. Isaac Deutscher is the author of distinguished biographies of Stalin and Trotsky, and at the time of his death at the age of 60 last August he was working on a biography of Lenin.” —The Editors | more…
These three essays by the independent German Marxist Karl Korsch offer expositions, often in polemical form, of basic Marxist ideas. Since they cover both sociology and economics, they are excellent guides for the student on the most introductory, though not the most elementary, level. They include “Leading Principles of Marxism,” his introduction to the 1932 German edition of Capital, “Why I Am a Marxist.” | more…
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. | more…
In 1938, a year after his death in Spain at the age of thirty, Christopher Caudwell’s Studies in a Dying Culture was published, to be followed eleven years later by a second volume, Further Studies in a Dying Culture. This volume makes available both important works by one of the foremost Marxist critics of the thirties. | more…
“One of the ablest leaders and writers of the French New Left describes the two realms of 'anarchism'?its intellectual substance, and its actual practice through the Bolshevik Revolution, the Spanish Civil War, the Italian Factory Councils, and finally the role in workers' self-management in Yugoslavia and Algeria… An important contemporary definition of New Left aims and their possible directions in the future.” — Publishers Weekly | more…
These essays by the author of The Political Economy of Growth and co-author of Monopoly Capital cover the working range of a strong and original mind. They are as diverse as his well-known discussion of Marxism and psychoanalysis, and his expert handling of the politics and economics of development. | more…
This introduction to socialist thought is by two men perhaps better qualified than any other Americans to have written it. Leo Huberman and Paul Sweezy, founding editors and publishers of the independent socialist magazine Monthly Review, built an impressive reputation as keen observers, acute analysts, and lucid writers on the world and domestic scenes. In this book, they present in clear and direct language the basic elements of the socialist critique of capitalist society. | more…
Nationalism and Socialism is a study in the history of Marxian ideas; but it is also an attempt to show how the ideas are related to the society from which they sprang, and how the changes in social relations were reflected in the emergence of a whole new formulation of nationalist theory. Marx and Engels had perforce to modify their early ideas on nationalism in light of later events, and Lenin revolutionized the whole approach. | more…
This landmark text by Paul Baran and Paul Sweezy is a classic of twentieth-century radical thought, a hugely influential book that continues to shape our understanding of modern capitalism. “This book… deals with a vital area of economics, has a unique approach, is stimulating and well written. It represents the first serious attempt to extend Marx’s model of competitive capitalism to the new conditions of monopoly capitalism.” — Howard J. Sherman, American Economic Review | more…
What is an intellectual? The most obvious answer would seem to be: a person working with his intellect, relying for his livelihood (or if he need not worry about such things, for the gratification of his interests) on his brain rather than on his brawn. Yet simple and straightforward as it is, this definition would be generally considered to be quite inadequate. Fitting everyone who is not engaged in physical labor, it clearly does not jibe with the common understanding of the term “intellectual.”… in the public consciousness there exists a different notion encompassing a certain category of people who constitute a narrower stratum than those “working with their brains.” This is not merely a terminological quibble. The existence of these two different concepts rather reflects an actual social condition, the understanding of which can take us a long way towards a better appreciation of the place and the function of the intellectual in society. | more…
One of Africa’s most renowned philosophers and political leaders, Kwame Nkrumah was not only at the center of what he called “the African revolution,” but he also articulated its ideology. In this book he sets out his personal philosophy, which he terms “consciencism,” and which has provided the intellectual framework for his political action. | more…
