Understanding Marxism

Great Introductory Book to Marxism

Professor Wolff did an excellent job writing in about 33 pages (depends on how you size it of course) the concept of Karl Marx’s work. As a reference, I would consider myself to be fairly novice to intermediate when it comes to socialist ideology. This reading took me about three hours to completely read while highlighting notes and making sense of each critique.

Dr. Wolff shares the social critiques of Marx, starting with his core belief was that after the French and American revolution, we have adopted a system that embodies liberty, equality, fraternity, and democracy. Marx goes on to analyze his reality by comparing capitalism to slavery and feudalism in various ways. At the heart of it all within these unjust economic systems empowered the slave masters, lords, and employers to make all the decisions in an inherently undemocratic system that exploited its workers in the name of profits. There are no solutions to this book, as Marx never offered any. Instead, I feel a great quote to leave you, the reader with is that “capitalism produces and reproduces inequality and instability. That alone suggests we ought to challenge anyone who accepts a system that works this way.”

Although I have never fully read all of Marx’s work, Dr. Wolff has provided citations at the end of the book. Furthermore, I trust him knowing he made an entire career out of his analysis. I have listened to a few podcasts where he was a guest, in addition to his great commentary on current world affairs on his YouTube channel: Democracy at Work. He has a great quote on the very last page of his book about his non-profits mission statement that I’ll end with:

“Envision a future where workers at every level of their offices, stores, and factories have equal voices in the direction of their enterprise and its impact within their community and society at large.”