In this excellent study of Karl Marx's thought, Cyril Smith takes a long and winding route that starts with classical world thought. When he arrives at the door to Marx's pantheon we see that, with the significant yet largely overlooked example of Spinoza, most thinkers--and especially Western ones--are opposed to essential aspects of democracy. In Marx and the Future of the Human Cyril Smith explains that Karl Marx, more than any other thinker, is misrepresented by what has come to be understood as 'Marxism.' Marxism has developed into, among other things, a method for analyzing capitalism, a way of looking at history, and a way to theorize the role of the working class in a future society. Marx, however, speaks about a conception of human life that was absent during his lifetime and remains absent today. Marx sought 'the alteration of humans on a mass scale: ' economics, politics, daily lived-life, and spiritual life. In discussing Marx and spirituality, Cyril Smith relates Marx to the thought of William Blake. Someone coming to Marx for the first time as well as the seasoned scholar can read this book. Marx and the Future of the Human is a book rife with thoughtful and creative connections written by someone who has spent most of his life close to the spirit of Karl Marx's thought.

It was in critical humanistic intent that Marx attempted the overturning of Hegel's dialectic in Historical Materialism: understanding future human humanity as the necessary overcoming («Aufhebung») of private productivity which fails to satisfy man's human need. This study, based on a spectrum of primary sources from the young to the mature Marx, presents the critical function and the praxis-inductive role the future had in Marx's thought. The promise that continues to live in this thought is thereby explicitated. It is however a promise premised on a persistent idealism in Marx's claimed materialism which compromises the depth of man's human need in a future whose realization is necessarily (only) future.

The Young Karl Marx is an innovative and important study of Marx's early writings. These writings provide the fascinating spectacle of a powerful and imaginative intellect wrestling with complex and significant issues, but they also present formidable interpretative obstacles to modern readers. David Leopold shows how an understanding of their intellectual and cultural context can illuminate the political dimension of these works. An erudite yet accessible discussion of Marx's influences and targets frames the author's critical engagement with Marx's account of the emergence, character, and (future) replacement of the modern state. This combination of historical and analytical approaches results in a sympathetic, but not uncritical, exploration of such fundamental themes as alienation, citizenship, community, anti-semitism, and utopianism. The Young Karl Marx is a scholarly and original work which provides a radical and persuasive reinterpretation of Marx's complex and often misunderstood views of German philosophy, modern politics, and human flourishing.

On Marx introduces readers to the greatest intellect of the last millennium. On Marx also enables readers to distinguish between the real genius of Marx ‘s thought and a range of ideas that have been erroneously attributed to him and which, unfortunately, have clouded many people’s judgement of Marx.

“Gandy has attempted a much-needed reinterpretation of Marx’s theory of history—one that, everything considered, deserves the reader’s attention.” —American Political Science Review In this book Karl Marx’s observations on history, which are found scattered throughout his voluminous writings, are brought together and subjected to searching analysis—in refreshingly direct language, without jargon. For the first time we have a thoughtful assessment of Marx’s views on all the epochs that cross his historical vision. D. Ross Gandy treats Marx’s ideas on primitive societies, on ancient Roman and Asiatic civilization, on the structure of feudalism, on strategies for overthrowing capitalism, and on the hypothetical communist future. Among the author’s departures from traditional readings of Marx are his interpretations of class struggle, his conception of social strata, and his cogent analysis of the “new Marxism.” Since many aspects of Marxist historical theory have been neglected or distorted, Gandy’s remarkably clear commentary, based on extensive research—including an exhaustive study of the forty-volume Marx-Engels Werke—will doubtless stimulate debate among sociologists and other students of social change, political scientists, and historians.

An examination and reinterpretation of the philosophy of Karl Marx, assessing its relevance to contemporary conditions. Discussed are Marx's basic ideas, his view of human life and society, the importance of class, Marx's materialism and his problematic relationship with morality.

The first decade of the twenty-first century marked the demise of the current world order. Despite widespread acknowledgement of these disruptive crises, the proposed response from the mainstream remains the same. Against the confines of this increasingly limited politics, a new paradigm has emerged. Fully Automated Luxury Communism claims that new technologies will liberate us from work, providing the opportunity to build a society beyond both capitalism and scarcity. Automation, rather than undermining an economy built on full employment, is instead the path to a world of liberty, luxury and happiness. For everyone. In his first book, radical political commentator Aaron Bastani conjures a new politics: a vision of a world of unimaginable hope, highlighting how we move to energy abundance, feed a world of nine billion, overcome work, transcend the limits of biology and build meaningful freedom for everyone. Rather than a final destination, such a society heralds the beginning of history. Fully Automated Luxury Communism promises a radically new left future for everyone.