This volume traces the origins, contradictions and consequences of Marx’s teaching on his followers. He uses Marx to speak against the rigid dogmatism inherent in much of Marxism and concentrates on the interpretations of Marx’s work by Max Weber.

"Genuinely open-minded and inquiring. . . .it intelligently summarizes and shrewdly questions four central topics of Marxist thought—the dialectical approach to philosophy, the materialist interpretation of history, the socio-analysis of capitalism and the commitment to socialism." —Raymond Williams, Cambridge University In the lucid style and engaging manner that have become his trademark, Robert L. Heilbroner explains and explores the central elements of Marxist thought: the meaning of a "dialectical" philosophy, the usefulness and problems of a " materialist" interpretation" of history, the power of Marx's "socioanalytic" penetration of capitalism, and the hopes and disconcerting problems involved in a commitment to socialism. Scholarly without being academic, searching without assuming a prior knowledge of the subject, Dr. Heilbroner enables us to appreciate the greatness of Mark while avoiding an uncritical stance toward his work.

Marx’s Inferno reconstructs the major arguments of Karl Marx’s Capital and inaugurates a completely new reading of a seminal classic. Rather than simply a critique of classical political economy, William Roberts argues that Capital was primarily a careful engagement with the motives and aims of the workers’ movement. Understood in this light, Capital emerges as a profound work of political theory. Placing Marx against the background of nineteenth-century socialism, Roberts shows how Capital was ingeniously modeled on Dante’s Inferno, and how Marx, playing the role of Virgil for the proletariat, introduced partisans of workers’ emancipation to the secret depths of the modern “social Hell.” In this manner, Marx revised republican ideas of freedom in response to the rise of capitalism. Combining research on Marx’s interlocutors, textual scholarship, and forays into recent debates, Roberts traces the continuities linking Marx’s theory of capitalism to the tradition of republican political thought. He immerses the reader in socialist debates about the nature of commerce, the experience of labor, the power of bosses and managers, and the possibilities of political organization. Roberts rescues those debates from the past, and shows how they speak to ever-renewed concerns about political life in today’s world.

Marxism has provided the ideological impetus to liberation movements, radical struggles and revolutions across the world. But in the 20th century, the emancipatory and democratic power of its thought has often been distorted and overridden by various Stalinist dictatorships which claimed to be acting in its name. A similar undermining of freedom of thought has been accomplished at an intellectual level; various schools have transformed Marxist thought in line with some of the most fashionable but gentrified forms of contemporary philosophy, shifting the focus from the democratic power of the masses and their ability to challenge the capitalist order to concentrate on superstar thinkers and elite theories. The War Against Marxism traces the war against Marxism which, paradoxically, has been conducted in the name of Marxism itself. As such it provides a fiery philosophical and polemical indictment of so-called 'Marxists' such as Adorno, Horkheimer, Althusser, Jameson, Eagleton, Mouffe, Laclau and Zizek and asks what can be done to stem this counterrevolution.

In this book Ernesto Screpanti provides a rigorous examination of Marx’s theory of exploitation, one of the cornerstones of Marxist thought. With precision and clarity, he identifies the holes in traditional readings of Marx’s theory before advancing his own original interpretation, drawing on contemporary philosophy and economic theory to provide a refreshingly interdisciplinary exegesis. Screpanti’s arguments are delivered with perspicuity and verve: this is a book that aims to spark a debate. He exposes ambiguities present in Marx’s exposition of his own theory, especially when dealing with the employment contract and the notions of ‘abstract labor’ and ‘labor value’, and he argues that these ambiguities have given rise to misunderstandings in previous analyses of Marx’s theory of exploitation. Screpanti’s own interpretation is a meticulously argued counterpoint to these traditional interpretations. Labour and Value is a significant contribution to the theory of economics, particularly Marxist economics. It will also be of great interest to scholars in other disciplines including sociology, political science, and moral and political philosophy. Screpanti’s clear and engaging writing style will attract the interested general reader as well as the academic theorist.

""This book will serve the good purpose of helping to wean those remaining dogmatic Marxists from their defense of communism without markets, by showing that the claim that such a society could exist was false inference, even from within Marxism. It is a worthwhile contribution to Marxology, with a special relevance in the post-1989 world. Marx versus Markets is well researched, well argued, and convincing."" ---John E. Roemer, University of California, Davis The challenge to Marxian theory presented by the current collapse of communist economies centers on the role of markets. Marx Versus Markets points out that Marx defines communist economies--even in their lower stage of development-- as classless economies without markets. It then examines his claims that classless economies with markets are in some sense inferior to communist economies. Two conclusions emerge from Stanley Moore's analysis. First, Marx's major arguments for abolishing commodity exchange rely on moral and philosophical premises, derived from Feuerback in the earlier writings and from Hegel in the later. Second, Marx's ideal of communist economy in incompatible with his materialistic approach to history. Marx's attack on markets flunked the test of theory one hundred years before it flunked the test of practice. Stanley Moore is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, University of California, San Diego, and author of Marx on the Choice between Socialism and Communism (Harvard, 1980).

This book aims to restore Marx’s original emancipatory idea of socialism, conceived as an association of free individuals centered on working people’s self- emancipation after the demise of capitalism. Marxist scholar Paresh Chattopadhyay argues that, Marx’s (and Engels’s) ideas have been deliberately warped with misinterpretation not only by those who resent these ideas but more consequentially by those who have come to power under the banner of Marx, calling themselves communists. This book challenges those who have inaccurately revised Marx’s ideas justify their own pursuit of political power.