Heterodox
This post is basically complaining that I cannot keep up. I think I am fairly informed on Karl Marx. I do not read German, and I have not even read some early works. My area of concentration is reading Capital as a work of mathematical economics, which cuts against the subtitle and, maybe, de-emphasizes a break with classical, especially, Ricardian political economy. More generally, I thought Marx generally praises the tremendous increase of productivity brought about by the bourgeoisie. He downplays the accompanying environmental degradation. Imperialism extends capitalism into non-European colonies. Marx deplores the violence, but thinks rationalization of such societies is progress. As I understand it, some of the literature below challenges these ideas. This is partly because
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Robert Vienneau considers the following as important: Karl Marx
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This post is basically complaining that I cannot keep up.
I think I am fairly informed on Karl Marx. I do not read German, and I have not even read some early works. My area of concentration is reading Capital as a work of mathematical economics, which cuts against the subtitle and, maybe, de-emphasizes a break with classical, especially, Ricardian political economy.
More generally, I thought Marx generally praises the tremendous increase of productivity brought about by the bourgeoisie. He downplays the accompanying environmental degradation. Imperialism extends capitalism into non-European colonies. Marx deplores the violence, but thinks rationalization of such societies is progress.
As I understand it, some of the literature below challenges these ideas. This is partly because of the current context. But it is also because of new texts brought into circulation by the second attempt at a Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe (MEGA2). David Ryazanov led the first attempt at MEGA. Stalin first dismissed him to internal exile, then killed him in one of his purges. I have not read him, but I gather Musto draws on Marx's reflections from visiting Algiers on a doctor's recommendation. Anderson, I guess, draws on journalistic writings. These two offers re-evaluate what Marx has to say about colonialism. I am currently reading Soren Mau. The instruments and violence and intellectual hegemony of those presently the interests of capitalists as universal interests help maintain the reproduction of capitalism. Mau looks at a third means for such reproduction.
And we also now have available a new translation of the first volume of Capital. From Heinrich, I learned that the structure of the first chapter was quite different in the first edition. Some turns of phrase, such as, "Moneybags must be so lucky", come from the Moore and Aveling's english translation.
Anyways, here are some recent works on Marx:
- William Clare Roberts, 2016, Marx's Inferno: The Political Theory of Capital, Princeton University Press.
- Kevin B. Anderson, 2016, Marx at the Margins: On Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Non-Western Socities, University of Chicago Press.
- Marcello Musto, 2020, The Last Years of Karl Marx: An Intellectual Biography, Stanford University Press.
- Michael Heinrich, 2021, How to Read Marx's Capital: Commentary and Explanations on the Beginning Chapters, Monthly Review Press.
- Soren Mau, 2023, Mute Compulsion: A Marxist Theory of the Economic Power of Capital, Verso.
- Kohei Saito, 2023, Marx in the Anthrocene: Towards the Idea of Degrowth Communism, Cambridge University Press.
- Adrian Johnston, 2024, Infinite Greed: Inhuman Selfishness of Capital, Columbia University Press.
- Karl Marx, 2024, Capital: Critique of Political Economy: Volume 1, Edited and translated by Paul Reitter, Edited by Paul North, Preface by Wendy Brown, Afterword by William Clare Roberts, Princeton University Press.
I think a tendency exists to treat capital as something like an emergent, over-arching subject. One can see this in writing from Ian P. Wright. Philip Mirowski argues markets are computing automata, and computers are often taken as models of the mind these days. Another book I want to consider reading is Benjamin Labatut, 2023, The Maniac, Penguin Random House. This is a novelization of the life of Johnny Von Neumann.