The Meaning Of Marxism

“In [D’Amato’s] able hands, Marxist politics come alive and leap before us, pointing a way toward a better world. It’s a knockout.”—Dave Zirin, author of What’s My Name, Fool?: Sports and Resistance in the United States In this lively and accessible introduction to the ideas of Karl Marx, with historical and contemporary examples, D’Amato argues that Marx’s ideas of globalization, oppression, and social change are more important than ever. Paul D’Amato is the associate editor of the International Socialist Review. His writing has appeared in CounterPunch, Socialist Worker, and SelvesandOthers.org. He is an activist based in Chicago.

This book is largely based on What Marx Really Meant which was written by Cole and published in 1934. It is a revaluation of Marx’s essential ideas and methods in relation to contemporary social structures and developments and considers the bearing of Marx’s theories on the structure of social classes, which altered greatly since he formulated his account of them.

"In this updated and revised edition, Paul D'Amato provides a lively and accessible introduction to the ideas of Karl Marx, with historical and contemporary examples"--Back cover.

A "close textual analysis" of the life and work of Karl Marx, emphasizing that his thought took the form of a secular religion, deeply affected by his Christian upbringing. Supports the research trend seeing a unity between the thought of the young, "humanist" Marx and the later "scientific" thinker. Marx's early essay "On the Jewish Question" is dealt with in ch. 6 (pp. 70-77). In presenting Judaism as a synonym for capitalism, Marx echoes antisemitic stereotypes, perhaps influenced by self-hatred. In the process, he reached fruitful insights about society and history.

Citing a lifelong engagement with Marxism, critic and writer Marshall Berman reveals the movement's positive points and suggests a new beginning for Marxism may be on the horizon with its recent 150th anniversary attention.

The second edition of the Historical Dictionary of Marxism covers of the basics of Karl Marx’s thought, the philosophical contributions of later Marxist theorists, and the extensive real-world political organizations and structures his work inspired—that is, the myriad political parties, organizations, countries, and leaders who subscribed to Marxism as a creed. This text includes a chronology, an introductory essay, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 500 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, both thinkers and doers; political parties and movements; and major communist or ex-communist countries. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Marxism.

An Anthropology of Marxism offers Cedric Robinson's analysis of the history of communalism that has been claimed by Marx and Marxists. Suggesting that the socialist ideal was embedded both in Western and non-Western civilizations and cultures long before the opening of the modern era and did not begin with or depend on the existence of capitalism, Robinson interrogates the social, cultural, institutional, and historical materials that were the seedbeds for communal modes of living and reimagining society. Ultimately, it pushes back against Marx's vision of a better society as rooted in a Eurocentric society, and cut off from its own precursors. Accompanied by a new foreword by H.L.T. Quan and a preface by Avery Gordon, this invaluable text reimagines the communal ideal from a broader perspective that transcends modernity, industrialization, and capitalism.