Marx for Cats: A Radical Bestiary

by Leigh Claire La Berge

At the outset of Marx for Cats, Leigh Claire La Berge declares that “all history is the history of cat struggle.” Revising the medieval bestiary form to meet Marxist critique, La Berge follows feline footprints through Western economic history to reveal an animality at the heart of Marxism. She draws on a 1200-year arc spanning capitalism’s feudal prehistory, its colonialist and imperialist ages, the Bourgeois Revolutions that supported capitalism and the Communist revolutions that opposed it, to outline how cats have long been understood as creatures of economic critique and liberatory possibility. By attending to the repeated archival appearance of lions, tigers, wildcats, and “sabo-tabbies,” La Berge argues that felines are central to how Marxists have imagined the economy itself, and by asking what humans and animals owe each other in a moment of ecological crisis, La Berge joins current debates about the need for and possibility of eco-socialism. In this playful and generously illustrated radical bestiary, La Berge demonstrates that class struggle is ultimately an interspecies collaboration.

Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy, Politics, History, Cats, Economics, Theory

Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 2023

About the author

Her work concerns aesthetics and political economy, broadly speaking. Her first book, "Scandals and Abstraction: Financial Fiction of the Long 1980s" (Oxford, 2014), tracked the convergences of finance, realism and postmodernism in literature and culture throughout the 1980s in the United States. Her second book, "Wages Against Artwork: Decommodified Labor and the Claims of Socially Engaged Art" (Duke, 2019) explored the twin rise of new forms of socially engaged art alongside what she called "decommodified labor," or labor that is not recompensed. Along with Alison Shonkwiler, she is the co-editor of the collection "Reading Capitalist Realism" (Iowa, 2014). She recently published a book about animality and economy entitled "Marx for Cats: A Radical Bestiary," with Duke UP. She is currently completing a new book called "Fake Work: How I Began to Suspect that Capitalism is a Joke" about her experience with corporate labor, Y2K, and management consultants.

Reviews

[Kai · Rating 5 out of 5]

a delightful and charming collage/beastiary chronicling the shifting meanings of cats (and lions, tigers, panthers, etc) alongside the emergence and development of global capitalism -- and its contestation by radicals. i wasn't entirely sure what to expect from this book, even though i knew that i wanted to read it and that La Berge is an exquisite and precise thinker. wasn't the very idea of Marx for Cats trivializing - even domesticating - the gravity and necessity of our global struggle for revolution? almost 300 pages into the book, La Berge poses this question back to herself: "are cats only signs? Is this history of Marx and cats a random one?"

the preceding chapters could appear that way, but our charge is to read and contest the way cats are deployed (as signs and as beings) in economic life. La Berge's method is a kind of Benjaminian montage, similar to Theweleit's Male Fantasies (mentioned) or WJT Mitchell's Last Dinosaur Book (somehow, not!). beginning with pre-capitalist Feudalism, La Berge traces how lions became symbols of royalty while black cats associated with witchcraft and deviance more generally, deserving of massacre. from there, the birth pangs of capitalism and its class, the bourgeoisie, alight and exacerbate these anti-cat sentiments. Lynxs and wildcats are marked for eradication, while deployed as symbols of entrepreneurial freedom and even as money itself. revolutionaries are devious tigers who need to be quelled, while ultimately domestic cats become commodities for the bourgeois themselves. because of this cat 'dialectic', felines also became rehabilitated as symbols of kin, cunning and defiance - as in the IWW's 'sabo-tabby' (real name!!) and of course the eponymous Black Panther. Along the way, La Berge gives readers a crash course in economic history and in radical and marxist critique.

La Berge's eye is particularly sharp in bringing to light not just the avowed marxists and revolutionaries you might expect, but also abolitionists, socialists and communists, feminists, queers, and even a few anarchists. La Berge is also rather harsh on marxists for missing these 'feline' connections, and for dismissing animal liberation and ecological politics more generally (at times, I felt like this charge was somewhat overstated, or unwarranted - but this could also be because I am invested in reading the debates concerning 'lively commodities' for several years now, and perhaps these are esoteric). though La Berge is keen on rehabilitating the racial and class politics of EuroAmerican marxism (e.g., CLR James and Angela Davis feature prominently), the study is somewhat surprisingly limited to the Atlantic world. this isn't entirely a failing, just demonstrating that a complementary examination of say third worldist deployments of cats could be out there.

ultimately, La Berge answers her own question posed above that cats should *not* be taken to be completely random or contingent. this is for two reasons in my reading. first, symbolically, because cats have been potent symbols, we ought to struggle over their meaning. we shouldn't let the bourgeoise, commodified, capitalist, or even aristocatic (hehe) meanings overshadow the potentially potent meaning to which we could still ascribe cats. and second, because actual cats ought to be taken as our actual comrades - to learn from cats (as Louise Michel and Rosa Luxumbourg intimate) is to also learn how to fight for care and against domination in human sociality as well.

[lin]

this is possibly the most on brand book i could ever read

[bean · Rating 5 out of 5]

i didn't have any expectations but wow this was just so comprehensive and as someone who isn't that well versed in the topics present in the book i was able to follow along like 90% of the time and learned so much!

i never thought i would be so into learning about feudalism but that was one of my favorite parts

i was surprised by the emphasis on veganism but it totally makes sense and it was great to learn all the arguments that could be made for this lifestyle through marxism

i was happy to find how inclusive the content was and especially enjoyed the chapter about the black panther, it made me want to learn more about davis

overall i think i am a better marxist after reading this book and i'm thankful for that

[Nat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Your run of the mill cat buttholes shaped like Lucifer.

[Cassi · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 rounded up. An academic book without doubt, but accessibly written and organized (not a quick read by any means, though). Through the lens of cats (of all kinds, large and small), the history of Marxist ideologies and key players is laid out, while also examining the failures of many Marxists to view “cats as comrades,” or more broadly to view non-human animals as equally worthy of liberty. Attention is also paid to veganism/vegetarianism as a radical act in anticapitalist movements, which I found particularly interesting and which gave me something to consider as I reflect on my own (relatively recent) turn to vegetarianism.

[Harry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up on a whim at a real low point and was just constantly delighted by the writing style, the complex intermingling of the histories of capitalism and its resistance with the feline world.

Of course, now you see all the connections - lions as representative figures of states, 'wildcat' strikes, the Black Panthers and so on. It's a great read, which ties together tightly so much.

That said, whilst fun to read, the substance of the 'more than human' critique/development of Marxism felt a bit like the punches were pulled. It was often stated that the non-human hadn't been included, that this needed to be done etc - but the actual complexity of that, the positive programme of something like a more-than-human Marxism was never really entered onto - a fact acknowledged towards the end. So there is the nascent frustration of feeling like a cat had got the author's tongue.

But then again, the book is not for me, it is for cats.

[Genia Lukin · Rating 1 out of 5]

A book so bad, I genuinely don’t know how to write a review for it. It seemed like at least half satire, and that would have been great. But no, the author takes herself entirely seriously, attempting to create a dialectic history of the relationship between human and cat. Mind you, this is supposed to be either entirely subjugational, or subversive, because that’s how Marxist theory rolls. Trying to do it with world events is bad enough, but attempting to seriously pursue this with cats is just… as bad as it sounds.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm starting to feel like pretty much anything I read lately is a "4 star" and I need to rethink my rating system... Or just write slightly better reviews for better reference back on stuff.

Overall, I think this book was quite well written, although a bit "bland" at times... But that's probably to be expected when I'm not a massive history person or typically interested in these topics so I can't fault the author for that. In general, it does make me want to read more history in the future which is a win as well, not fully scared off of it (maybe just for the near future). .

Would recommend to anyone looking for a fun way to learn about history, or for people who like cats.

[ismae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Curioso. Introduce términos marxistas muy básicos y es graciosa la introducción del felino en la historia (de la lucha de clases). Es interesante conocer la amplia presencia del gato, el león o el tigre en la simbología general, pero acaba haciéndose un poco pesado y rebuscado.
Respecto a la reivindicación de un comunismo interespecista... Esperaba algo más, una defensa del concepto más concreta. Sin embargo, el libro discurre en referencias simbólicas del gato y poco más.
Está bien como lectura liviana que te mantenga conectado aún con algo de terminología marxista, pero no es nada del otro mundo. Simplemente divertido, que ya es algo!

[Colleen Grablick · Rating 3 out of 5]

a playful and VERY informative read but have to laugh at the book’s thesis essentially being …. marx for cats is itself a dialetic of unresolved tensions so essentially we can’t know if marx is for cats or if cats are for marx. also appreciated the admission of this LEAP ! a hopeful leap

[Amaia Vielba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una forma un poco más amena de repasar la historia del capitalismo y del marxismo.

A resaltar la reflexión sobre el vegetarianismo y el especismo durante todo el libro (no me la esperaba).

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very fun, intellectually engaging, and cute book. Definitely would recommend to anyone starting out or even well versed with Marxist texts. If you have a cat, make sure to give your little pal some extra treats, and read this book as well as a treat for yourself.

[Laurel · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the title of the book promises, La Berge makes connections about the shared historic trajectory of class and cat struggle. She shows the intended and unintended animality central to Marx’ critique of economic structural exploitations. While exiled in London, he met with other communists at The Red Lion Pub, where we can imagine him expounding his ideas around humans “making their own history not under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances already given and transmitted from the past.” Human and cat history-in-the-making highlights Marx’s dialectic questions that continue to be transmitted to us today, namely: How is capitalism both regressive and progressive? How does the Bourgeoisie undermine itself through its victories? How will communism emerge through capitalism? How did capitalism emerge through feudalism? The discordant values of church and state that encouraged cats be disparaged, demonized, exploited, tortured, and murdered to deter dissonance. Like witches, engaging in pagan rituals, and others who didn’t conform to the money economy. Domestic cats were demonized, by Pope Gregory IX who characterized domestic cats as accomplices to human heretics, symbols of pagan morality, and called for violence to exterminate and torture. In Ypres Belgium, as late as 1802, yearly cat massacre festivals were held!

An overview of the historic evolution of classes are traced from ancient Rome’s patricians, knights, plebeians, slaves, to Medieval feudal lords, vassals, guild-masters, journeymen, apprentices, and serfs. Feudalism follows, with wealth extraction by land owners, territorial big cat carnivores, while peasants were treated as animal-like beasts of burden. Continuing land grabs, throughout the crusades and imperial expansion coincided with symbolic attribution of cat imagery. Cats were used to brand ideologies and political proclamations (crests, statues, palaces fitted with bestiaries where lions and other wild cats were contained). All creatures were seen as property according to Thomas Muntzer. The darkness of merchant capitalism rose out of debt financing, wherein Marx pointed out money was given the power to produce profit.

An inspiring and enlightening read, that includes an excellent final chapter on the rise of the Black Panthers.

[Marko Bojkovský · Rating 4 out of 5]

U pitanju je originalan i zabavan spoj srednjevekovnog bestijarija i uvoda u klasičnu makrsističku misao, kao i u određene savremene tendencije na levici koje se ogledaju pre svega u ideji o solidarnosti i saradnji između životinjski vrsta u cilju emancipacije svih živih bića.

Autorka se tokom dužine rada naravno najviše oslanja na samog Marksa, ali i na druge srodne mislioce (marksiste) kakvi su Lenjin, Gramši, Anđela Dejvis... A kada pričamo o Marksu i marksizmu ne može se izbeći ni Ruso, Hegel, post-modernisti...

Bivajući bestijarij, Marx for Cats nas upoznaje sa raznim stvorovima iz bogatog sveta mačaka - kraljevskim, imperijalnim lavovima Stare Evrope, revolucionarnim tigrovima Novog Sveta i Azije, Crnim Panterima SAD, anarhističkim domaćim mačkama i tako dalje.

Sudbina pre svega domaćih mačaka ovde opisana je uzbudljiva i često tragična, baš kao i sudbina seljaštva, proleterijata, robova, buržoazije, aristokratije... Mačke su često tokom istorije klasne borbe ostajale na dnu, vezane za one najnesrećnije homo sapiense - kmetove i proleterijat. U srednjem veku prezrene, satanizovane, često mučene, ubijane, no bivajući čudnovata, dijalektička bića nisu mačke mogle biti samo saborci onih potlačenih. Usponom buržoazije postaju omiljene domaće životinje, uspevaju da se uvuku u kuće, generalno da žive i jedu bolje od samog napaćenog proleterijata. Jedan od prvih sukoba dve klase novoga doba - radništva i vlasnika sredstava za rad - se upravo oko njih i odvio, radnici su u Parizu kao vid osvete pohvatali desetine, stotine mačaka, sudili su im i onda ih masakrirali. Ipak u 19. i 20. veku radništvo i mačke bolje sarađuju - krznati prijatelji postaju simboli komunističke i anarho-sindikalne borbe... Nije spajanje marksističke kritike kapitalizma, kao i teorije klasne borbe i samih mačaka uvek najsrećnije u ovom radu, do kraja sama ideja ostaje nedorađena, nedovršena i toga je i sama autorka svesna, ostajemo čak upitani da li nam je ova knjiga i bila potrebna, no i pored toga, ako ste, kao ja, ljubitelji mačaka, a uz to marksističko-radoznali - ovo jeste knjiga za vas.

[Austin Simcox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought at first that Marx for Cats would be a fun, gimmicky exploration of cats and Marxism. It turned out to be a comprehensive view of how people throughout history have used feline imagery to their own advantage. La Berge shows quite effectively that, for example, the use of lions to reinforce imperial hegemony or the use of wildcats to indicate labor actions is more than just historical accident.

Where I got lost is in understanding exactly how and why that pattern emerged. This book is dense and packed with so many anecdotes that it can be hard to keep them all straight. La Berge also assumes that the reader has done the prerequisite reading, which turns out to be most of Western economic theory for the past several hundred years. This makes for a book that I think I will need to peruse several times in order to grasp its message. I’m fine with that though, as I had so much fun chewing on the little tidbits and considering how I had encountered them in my studies of history without consciously recognizing them.

Its ultimate message though is one that I grappled with and came to love, summed up nicely near the very end:

“Cats have been our symbolic and philosophical comrades. We must consider them our comrades in a more robust sense, too, as friends, equals, teachers, and students.”

[Lemon Sage · Rating 4 out of 5]

TLDR: Good primer on Marxism, can be dense at points.
Marx for Cats: A Radical Bestiary, by Claire La Berge was an unexpected find on the shelf of my local bookstore. I bought it as a gift, so I could read it and give it to a family member so we could chat about it. While I wish that I could give a better review with commentary on the theory, I do not know enough theory to produce a coherent analysis. What I can give you is my feelings and thoughts after reading the book as your standard working class 20-something.
This book gave me far more of an history of both the capitalist and communist worlds than any of my schooling has (like the American occupation of Haiti). I learned about the transition of feudalism to a new, yet to be named capitalism, the revolutions that occurred in the centuries to follow, the rise of fascism, and the odd characters (and their kitties!) throughout. I wish I understood more of the base knowledge to be able to truly understand the arguments being made, but I give La Berge props for the brilliant idea to use cats as a metaphor. I would give this a 3.5/5 if I could, but in honour of "The Mitten" I elected to round up.
I look forward to more from this author.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Almost 300 pages into this book, author Leigh Clare La Berge describes Carl Van Vechten's 1920 book The Tiger in the House with this sentence: "Indeed, the reader can never be entirely sure whether she is reading a proper academic study or a farce." I might describe La Berge's book the same way. In Van Vechten's case, La Berge cites the lack of politics in the book that takes away from its gravitas. In La Berge's case, it isn't a lack of politics that causes the confusion, but the inclusion of puns, playful metaphors, and a distinct sense throughout the book that the author had a twinkle in her eye as she wrote it. In fact, I feel sure that she wrote the sentence above knowing that it applied to her book as well.

Ostensibly about the way that cats have served as symbols for different elements or forces in political life from feudal times to the present, the book also asks whether Marxism can expand to include non-human animals in its scope. The style is academic, but also a bit mischievous, and includes tiger's leaps of imagination. Nerdy fun for left leaning animal lovers.

[Orion · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great and easily digestible delve into Marxism through cats. One of the better examinations of it, I wasn't sure what to expect when I first bought it, but was very pleasantly surprised at the various parallels between cats, humans, imagery, and struggle across classes.


Definitely a more academic book and on the denser side, so it may not be for everyone, but the language is easier to follow and more accessible than most. It's a very current read, with the current global power struggles and shadow of the pandemic, and is a great reminder that we can look to those species we've walked beside for advice on how to make a better future for all. In this case, it's cats, one of the oldest companions to humans, showing us how to reach for true class consciousness.


"As the kings and nobles who rule in the feudal mode of production become signified by the lion, that other feline, the domestic cat, appears as a threat precisely because it is so similar"

[Douglass Gaking · Rating 4 out of 5]

We found this at a little indie bookstore in Cincinnati, and on our drive back to Indianapolis I started reading it and basically never put it down. I don't think I've ever read a bestiary. This particular flavor of bestiary, combined with history and Marxist theory, reminded me of some micro-histories and other history books I have read. Some of the cats-to-communism connections, are a bit of a stretch, but it is random, interesting, and funny, and the text is very digestible. Had I been assigned to read this in college instead of The Communist Manifesto, I would have been less annoyed, and I probably would have had a much better understanding of Marxist theory!

[Nico Cornejo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marx for cats is, ironically, lacking in terms of cats. The premise is intriguing, with an author comfortable with the usual categories of what can be called the US academic Marxist tradition.
However, the book focuses more on the representation of cats in history, of cats as a symbol, than on the material existence of cats. Probably the author, with her post-structuralist influenced Marxism, would reject the dichotomy. And up to some point she would be correct. But I wanted to read about the life of cats themselves.
Anyway, it is a fun book, and a good introduction to basic Marxist historiography and theory.

[Sofie Berg · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 - I rounded down. This is an excellent way to begin to learn about the history of the emergence of Marxism and other economic transitions in history. The intermezzos were my favorite part, as they were snappier and mostly analysis. My gripe with the book is that it was a LOT of evidence. So many quotes and repeating of other Marxist thinkers, and I would have loved more analysis on the info, especially relating back to the feline thesis. I enjoyed the tracking of the feline cultural social symbol with different economic history, but I found the comradeship with cats a little reaching.

[Madison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captivating and delightful! This radical bestiary chronicles the history of the cat: as symbols of class status, heretics, kings, and so much more... all with a Marxist lens of history. It serves as an excellent introduction to Marxist concepts for the uninitiated, but also provides great value to the learned lefty. Filled with photographs and anecdotes about great thinkers and their cats, this book serves as a bestiary, a history, and a manifesto - all of these and so much more!

[Jonathan Shaheen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Turns out there were furries all throughout history. As much as I enjoy reading about royal lion fetishes, I’m not really sure what this book is trying to do. Was it explaining Marxist history using cats? Was it explaining animals also should be marxists? Who knows. Some interesting nuggets of information, but an unclear purpose for me.

[Hanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fun read, but at the same time theoretically innovative and very insightful. The lens of cats was a nice way to revisit the history of capitalism, and offers a new way of thinking about interspecies Marxist comradeship.

[Mariam Rawwas · Rating 3 out of 5]

La Berge attempts to extend Marxism towards the direction of animal liberation, through a historiography of feline symbology, but this seems to at least partially reinscribe the anthropocentrism she's attempting to move away from.

[Käärme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nyt on kissa nostettu pöydälle

[anarcho-lesbian · Rating 4 out of 5]

veeerry interesting. nya :3

[Ziikii · Rating 3 out of 5]

puurfect for radicalizing your vegan friends and slowly turn them away from the dark side of the left wing spectrum

[Garu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, complex ideas made easy and fun with cats. It also gave me lots of interesting books/movies/paintings to keep investigating and reading.

[Clara y Confusa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitivamente con el marxismo puedes explicar cualquier cosa. Gracias, método científico.