Jonathan Sperber

Reflecting and Transforming
This biography of Karl Marx tries to situate the philosophy’s works and his political initiatives in the context of 19th century Europe. In doing that, the book gives more attention to the facts that shape Marx’s ideas than to the content and effects of his works. The exposition is clear and fluid. The description of Marx’s family life allows the reader to understand the difficulties he endured and how someway he succeeded in doing his work. Marx was a revolutionary that never capitulated with the ruling Elite, specially in Prussia and Russia. His efforts and reflections are a treasure to mankind.… (meer)

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As a non-academic layperson, this book was a bit of a stretch. It is as much a discussion of Hegelianism and positivism as it is a biography, and I felt a bit at sea without a steadfast understanding of these things. Still, Spurber has a firm grasp of his subject and of the attending historical, philosophical and economic factors of the day and guides the reader quite capably through Marx's times and his life.

The hardest thing for me to deal with was that Marx seems inherently unlikeable as a person and his political and economic ideas seem driven more by his personal hatred for Prussia, the Czar and his scorn for the Bourgeoisie than by any kind of real concern for the future of humanity. This is a man who expounded on economic theory yet could never manage to pay his own bills. He was a man who extolled the proletariat yet was appalled at the possibility of having to give up his servant and his middle class status. And perhaps, most importantly, as Spurber deftly illustrates, Marx's thinking was imprisoned within his own time and looking back to the French Revolution; he did not have the imagination or the crystal ball to foresee how capitalism would evolve in the 20th century and beyond. To me, his theories seem woefully irrelevant.

As the author admonishes, Marxism as it has been co-opted by its latter-day adherents bears only a fragile resemblance to Marx's own (oft re-formulated) theories. He does seem to attract those who, like him, simply want to tear down and destroy. One wonders if, had the essentially bourgeois Marx had been able to find a job after his college graduation, that we might have spared us the carnage of Stalinist Russia and Maoist China.… (meer)