The Last Years of Karl Marx

“Brilliantly demonstrates that Marx spent these years opening new and important theoretical horizons.” ―Étienne Balibar, author of The Philosophy of Marx

In the last years of his life, Karl Marx expanded his research in new directions—studying recent anthropological discoveries, analyzing communal forms of ownership in precapitalist societies, supporting the populist movement in Russia, and expressing critiques of colonial oppression in India, Ireland, Algeria, and Egypt. Between 1881 and 1883, he also traveled beyond Europe for the first and only time. Focusing on these last years of Marx's life, this book dispels two key misrepresentations of his work: that Marx ceased to write late in life, and that he was a Eurocentric and economic thinker fixated on class conflict alone. With The Last Years of Karl Marx, Marcello Musto claims a renewed relevance for the late work of Marx, highlighting unpublished or previously neglected writings, many of which remain unavailable in English. Readers are invited to reconsider Marx's critique of European colonialism, his ideas on non-Western societies, and his theories on the possibility of revolution in noncapitalist countries. From Marx's late manuscripts, notebooks, and letters emerge an author markedly different from the one represented by many of his contemporary critics and followers alike. 

“Musto takes us by the hand and invites us to discover a new Marx.” ―Antonio Negri, author of Marx beyond Marx

“Highly recommended.” ―M. J. Wert, Choice

“Fills a huge gap in our understanding of Marx.” ―Kevin B. Anderson, New Politics: Journal of Socialist Thought

“[A] bold socio-political reading of Marx.” ―Arkayan Ganguly, Critique: Journal of Socialist Theory