Marx Before Marxism

by David McLellan

2nd edition.

Genres: Politics, Philosophy, Biography, Nonfiction

233 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

David McLellan (born 10 February 1940) is an English scholar of Karl Marx and Marxism. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and St. John's College, Oxford University.

McLellan is currently visiting Professor of Political Theory at Goldsmiths' College, University of London. He was previously Professor of Political Theory at the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Kent.

McLellan has also been Visiting Professor at the State University of New York, Guest Fellow in Politics at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Simla, and has lectured widely in North America and Europe.

Reviews

[Ted Milne]

Gives a good insight into Germany in the middle 19th century when it was essentially still a bunch of feudal kingdoms, very religiously polarized, hence Marx's vigoruous anti-religious feelings. Tis hard to imagine a similar vista today in which such vigorous minds such as Engels, Schiller, Marx etc could find a venue for literary works that essentially transform the society they are living in. Despite the basis of most of the philosophical discussions being based in a Hegel dialectics, it still manages to remain readable and a fascinating glimpse into one of philosophies/economics most influencial minds.

[Roger Cottrell]

Brilliant! I met McLellan once and couldn't get over the Jesus stuff on his wall!! But then, it says something about the state of the Left when the most scrupulous critique of Marx's relationship to Hegelian philosophy, the critical and humaninst essence of his method, his fixation with alienation and the sheer gulf between Marx and so called "Marxism" (since the Secoind International) is written by a one time Jesuit priest!

[Titus Hjelm]

This feels a bit like a finger exercise for McLellan's bigger biography published a couple years later, but is actually quite useful. It basically covers the Collected Works volumes 1 and 3 and is a good commentary and summary of the young Marx. I've learned that repetition is the only way to truly internalise theoretical ideas, so being just shy of finishing vol. 3, this was a good recap and a solid intro for anyone not familiar with the originals. There is some contemporary (1970) commentary on Marx interpretation as well, which is interesting in hindsight at least.

[minna]

cool i didnt know all that :)