Sects and ‘new left’ disillusionment. Mike Macnair reviews P Blackledge, N Davidson (eds) Alasdair MacIntyre’s engagement with Marxism: selected writings 1953-1974, Brill (Historical materialism series),... »
Economics
David Harvey interview
Rethinking revolution. David Harvey, Marxist academic and author of the newly published The enigma of capital, spoke to Mark Fischer. Many commentators, from both Marxist and non-Marxist standpoints, predicted the current capitalist crisis. But have there been any features that surprised you? Something that has surprised me about the way this crisis presents itself is the extremely... »
A companion to Marx’s Capital – David Harvey
Not just a study aid. Andrew Coates reviews David Harvey’s ‘A companion to Marx’s Capital’ Verso, 2010, pp320, £10.99. “Of course, we have all read, and all do read, Capital.” Louis Althusser’s opening words to Reading Capital (1968) were improbable to most Marxists then, and even more unlikely now. Forty years on, in the wake of the... »
Zombie capitalism: global crisis and the relevance of Marx – Chris Harman
Not explaining the crisis David Osler reviews Chris Harman’s Zombie capitalism: global crisis and the relevance of Marx Bookmarks, 2009, pp401, £16.99 Ever even heard of the Okishio theorem? Understand the maths behind it? Could you outline the temporal single system interpretation to a workmate after a couple of bevvies? If not, don’t beat yourself up... »
Ernest Mandel: a rebel’s dream deferred – Jan Willem Stutje
Psycho-babble about Trots Mike Macnair reviews Jan Willem Stutje’s Ernest Mandel: a rebel’s dream deferred Verso, 2009, pp600, £19.99 On August 1 Kathryn Hughes reviewed Hermione Lee’s Biography: a very short introduction (Oxford 2009) in The Guardian. The first point Hughes takes from Lee is that the biography is less straightforward than it appears. As a... »
The undercover economist – Tim Harford
Who gets what and why Chris Gray (New Interventions) reviews Tim Harford’s The undercover economist Little, Brown 2006, pp288, £17.99 The undercover economist is an interesting book. The author, who works for The Financial Times, says in the... »
Beyond Capital- interview with Michael Lebowitz
Communist Party comrades in London recently began a collective study of Beyond ‘Capital’, written by Michael A Lebowitz. The author argues that Capital, taken alone, is one-sided,... »
Reading “Capital” Politically- Harry Cleaver
Without question, the greatest tool Marx gave to the working class movement was Capital. It is almost facile saying this, but – at a time when the academic study of this work has for all intents and purposes disappeared,... »
The origins of capitalism- Ellen Meiksins Wood
This small book is a restatement and in some ways an extension of ideas that Ellen Meiksins Wood has previously expounded in her more sizeable work, The pristine culture of capitalism. It contains insights into the origin of the capitalist... »