Communist Manifesto (Skeptical Reader Series) - Softcover

Karl Marx

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1596980834 ISBN 13: 9781596980839

Publisher: Gateway Editions, 2009

Synopsis

The great claim was that Marxism, as put forth in the Communist Manifesto, was scientific. Marx and Marxists spoke much of the "false consciousness" of people whose arguments are only superficially intellectual, being (though they themselves are unaware of it) mere projections of class prejudice, and who thus believe themselves to be acting from religious or other motives while really driven by economic interests.

Since Marxists took their theory to be the science of society, including history, sociology, and economics, when this became the official view of the state it implied, and in fact resulted in, the substitution of Marxism for the supposed pre-scientific gropings that had hitherto prevailed. In all the Marxist states, alternative views were suppressed, in academe as well as in society as a whole. And this led, as we saw, to a mental enslavement and degeneration of thought.

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Review:

As a force for change, its influence has been surpassed only by the Bible. As a piece of writing, it is a masterpiece. Guardian
[T]he best possible explanation of what the world was about that I had ever read. It pointed out that the real conflicts in the world were not between black and white, men and women, Muslims, Christians and Jews, Americans, Russians and Chinese; it was about the conflict of economic interest between 95 per cent of the population of the world, who create the world s wealth, and the 5 per cent who own it. I think of Marx as a prophet: the last of the Old Testament prophets. And we should think of him as a teacher ... Karl Marx discovered it all long before I did, and I am very grateful to him. Tony Benn, The New Statesman"

"As a force for change, its influence has been surpassed only by the Bible. As a piece of writing, it is a masterpiece."--Guardian

"[T]he best possible explanation of what the world was about that I had ever read. It pointed out that the real conflicts in the world were not between black and white, men and women, Muslims, Christians and Jews, Americans, Russians and Chinese; it was about the conflict of economic interest between 95 per cent of the population of the world, who create the world's wealth, and the 5 per cent who own it. I think of Marx as a prophet: the last of the Old Testament prophets. And we should think of him as a teacher ... Karl Marx discovered it all long before I did, and I am very grateful to him."--Tony Benn, The New Statesman

Book Description:

Republished to mark the 200th anniversary of Marx's birth: the manifesto that set the world alight, now with a new introduction from the bestselling author and economist, Yanis Varoufakis

About this edition

• Publisher: Gateway Editions
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1596980834
• ISBN 13: 9781596980839
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 67