Just Finished Reading: Marx – A Very Short Introduction by Peter Singer

Despite being a mere 100 pages in length I took my time reading this. Marxist thought can be a little difficult to get your head around though Professor Singer does an admirable job of making his work intelligible to the modern reader.

As I’ve mentioned before, I studied Marxist ideas during my 2 year A level Sociology course as well as in a Comparative Religions unit at University (sounds strange I know) so I wasn’t coming to Marx blind. This book did introduce me to more details of his life however and how Marx was forced across Continental Europe until he ended up in the political refugee’s haven – London.

Singer does a creditable job of placing Marx within the Continental philosophical context – especially in relation to Hegel – which provided a useful background to understanding his ideas regarding the direction of History which, Marx believed, would inevitably lead to Communism. At this point he expected History as we have known it to cease. Without reference to Hegel such ideas seem fantastical.

Marx was very much a man of his time and it is not surprising therefore that much of his economic thought turned out to be so faulty. Capitalism of his time was undoubtedly brutal and it doesn’t surprise me in the least that Marx thought such conditions to be untenable. Rather ironically I think that his criticisms of Capitalism – notably in Das Kapital – helped make Capitalism less harsh and thereby reduced the likelihood of any revolution.

It is without doubt that Marx has had a huge influence on 20th Century history and deserves to be studied on those grounds alone. Much of what he said was mistaken and has proven to be wrong but his ideas of alienation and the economic underpinning of culture still have currency. You cannot understand our recent history without having an appreciation of this man. More Marx to come I think.