Marx for Today

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London-New York: Routledge
2012
258 pages

Since the onset of global crisis in recent years, academics and economic theorists from various political and cultural backgrounds have been drawn to Marx's analysis of the inherent instability of capitalism. The rediscovery of Marx is based on his continuing capacity to explain the present. In the context of what some commentators have described as a "Marx renaissance", the aim of this book is to make a close study of Marx's principal writings in relation to the major problems of our own society, and to show why and how some of his theories constitute a precious tool for the understanding and critique of the world in the early twenty-first century.

The book brings together varied reflections on the Marxian oeuvre, drawing on different perspectives and fields, and argues its case in two different parts. The first will encompass such diverse areas and themes as political thought, economics, nationalism, ethnicity, post-capitalist society, freedom, democracy, emancipation, and alienation, showing in each case how Marx has still today an invaluable contribution to make. The second presents a complete and rigorous account of the dissemination and the reception of Marx’s work throughout the world in the last decade. Both parts make a significant contribution to the current research on Marx and Marxisms.

Endorsements

"In Marcello Musto, the Marx revival has found an 'Impressario' with a range of interests and contacts, a tolerance for differences, and an exquisite taste for only the finest and most provocative of Marxist scholarship. With this volume of exceptionally astute essays (the second for Routledge after Karl Marx’s Grundrisse: Foundations of the critique of political economy 150 years later, and a third is on its way), Musto has set the gold standard for Marxological studies in the modern era. No one who wants to understand why Marx was chosen as the greatest thinker of the last millenium in a BBC poll of its listeners can afford to miss any of Musto's volumes, including his own remarkably lucid and insightful contributions to each of them. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!".
– Bertell Ollman
"With the relentless globalization of capital in recent decades, a global capitalist economic crisis, and uprisings in Greece, Italy, Spain, the Occupy Movements, and the Arab Uprisings of 2011, Marx has perhaps never been as relevant for the contemporary moment as now. Marcello Musto has orchestrated a series of projects that have ignited the Marx revival and contributed his own scholarship and ideas for making Marx alive for us today. His edited book Marx for Today is an extremely important contribution to the ungoing "Marx renaissance", and shows how Marx’s work contributes to understanding and engaging key problems of today’s society, and thus how Marx contributes to projects of understanding, critique and transformation of the world in the early twenty-first century".
– Douglas Kellner
"The ruling doxa wants us to believe that Marx belongs to yesterday. The truth of the matter is that his analysis, his theories and his indignation are relevant today, as much, and perhaps more so, than in his own times. This brilliant collection of essays edited by Marcello Musto shows us why".
– Michael Löwy

Table of contents

Notes on Contributors vii
Preface ix

1. Introduction 1
Marcello Musto

PART 1: Re-reading Marx in 2010 

2. Not Just Capital and Class: Marx on Non-Western Societies, Nationalism and Ethnicity 20
Kevin B. Anderson

3. The Myth of Twentieth-Century Socialism and the Continuing Relevance of Karl Marx 36
Paresh Chattopadhyay

4. Change the System, Not Its Barriers 59
Michael Lebowitz

5. Emancipation in Marx’s Early Work 73
George Comninel

6. Revisiting Marx’s Concept of Alienation 92
Marcello Musto

7. Marx and the Politics of Sarcasm 117
Terrell Carver

8. The “Lesser Evil” as Argument and Tactic, from Marx to the Present 134
Víctor Wallis

9. In Capitalist Crisis, Rediscovering Marx 145
Richard D. Wolff

10. Universal Capitalism 162
Ellen Meiksins Wood

PART 2: Marx’s Global Reception Today

11. Marx in Hispanic America 170
Francisco T. Sobrino

12. Marx in Brazil
Armando Boito and Luiz Eduardo Motta 178

13. Marx in the Anglophone World 183
Paul Blackledge

14. Marx in France 192
Jean-Numa Ducange

15. Marx in Germany 198
Jan Hoff

16. Marx in Italy 204
Gianfranco Ragona

17. Marx in Russia 210
Vesa Oittinen

18. Marx in China 216
Xu Changfu

19. Marx in South Korea 221
Seongjin Jeong

20. Marx in Japan 228
Hiroshi Uchida

Index 235

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