Publishing: Published in the United
states by Oxford university Press Inc., New york
Publication
year: 2002.11.29
Brief
introduction: The aim of this book is to present as
comprehensive and balanced a selection of Marx’s writings as possible. I have
forgone the opportunity of writing an extended introduction offering either ‘potted’
biography or an interpretation of Marx’s though. A biography can readily be
obtained elsewhere and such contextual details as are necessary for an
understanding of each extract are provided with it. An interpretation –to be
worthwhile-would have to be fairly lengthy and involve the exclusion of some of
Marx’s texts. Nevertheless a few words on the principles of selection are
necessary. The most evident difficulty confronting a portrayal of Marx's
thought is that he is politically a controversial figure. And there is the
additional difficulty that Marx was a prolific writer, in different styles and
contexts, and left half of it unpublished so that it only emerged piecemeal
during the years after his death. Up until very recently the most accessible
large selection of Marx's works was issued by the Russian communists and their
allies who claimed to be the political incarnation of Marx's ideas. Naturally,
they saw Marx from their own point of view and their selection had two
deficiencies. First, it ignored Marx’s early writings. These were published
around 1930 and reveal a more philosophical, humanist Marx, that many thought incompatible with the economic,
materialist Marx of Stalinist orthodoxy.
Table
of contents:
Article 1 – The early writings 1837-1844
Article 2 – The materialist conception of
history 1844-1847
Title: KARL MARX “Selected Writings”
Writer: David McLellan
Publishing: Published in the United states by Oxford university Press Inc., New york
Publication year: 2002.11.29
Brief introduction: The aim of this book is to present as comprehensive and balanced a selection of Marx’s writings as possible. I have forgone the opportunity of writing an extended introduction offering either ‘potted’ biography or an interpretation of Marx’s though. A biography can readily be obtained elsewhere and such contextual details as are necessary for an understanding of each extract are provided with it. An interpretation –to be worthwhile-would have to be fairly lengthy and involve the exclusion of some of Marx’s texts. Nevertheless a few words on the principles of selection are necessary. The most evident difficulty confronting a portrayal of Marx's thought is that he is politically a controversial figure. And there is the additional difficulty that Marx was a prolific writer, in different styles and contexts, and left half of it unpublished so that it only emerged piecemeal during the years after his death. Up until very recently the most accessible large selection of Marx's works was issued by the Russian communists and their allies who claimed to be the political incarnation of Marx's ideas. Naturally, they saw Marx from their own point of view and their selection had two deficiencies. First, it ignored Marx’s early writings. These were published around 1930 and reveal a more philosophical, humanist Marx, that many thought incompatible with the economic, materialist Marx of Stalinist orthodoxy.
Table of contents:
Article 1 – The early writings 1837-1844
Article 2 – The materialist conception of history 1844-1847
Article 3 – 1848 And after
Article 4 – The ‘Economics’ 1857-1867
Article 5 – Later political writings 1864-1862