The Life and Teaching of Karl Max

by Max Beer

First published in English in 1921, this work was originally written by renowned Marxist historian Max Beer to commemorate the centenary of Marx’s birth. It is a definitive biography, full of interesting personal details and a clear and comprehensive account of Marx’s economic and historical doctrines A special feature of this unique work is the new light thrown on Marx’s attitude to the "Dictatorship of the Proletariat" and Bolshevist methods generally.As an example of stern compression and yet lucid exposition of Marx's teachings, this little book deserves high praise. In 132 pages of fair-sized type there is given a sketch of the life of Marx, his development in knowledge and thought, his work in the various movements of the Working Class, his theories of history and class struggles, and his economic discoveries. In addition, a brief account of the Hegelian Philosophy, so far as it deals with the Dialectic, is placed in 19 pages of the Introduction. Marx's connection and debt to this school of philosophy is well shown.How familiar, even stale, all this reads to the student of Marx. How long, for instance, is it since W. H. Mallock said very similar things and tried to justify the Capitalists' ownership of wealth by claiming that it was due to the wonderful intellectual endowment "of the Few."And in another respect M. Beer is like Mallock and Co.—he is unable to give any alternative explanation. Nay, more; he does not even attempt to demonstrate or prove his case—he merely states it and passes on. Fortunately, there is one author who has met the objection of M. Beer that "creative and directive work" does not count in the theory of value. This author "All combined labour on a large scale requires more or less a directing authority in order to secure the harmonious working of the individual activities, and to perform the general functions that have their origin in the action of the combined organism, as distinguished from the action of its separate organs. A single violin player is his own conductor; an orchestra requires a separate one."Further on the same author "As co-operation extends its scale this despotism takes forms peculiar to itself. Just as at first the capitalist is relieved from actual labour as soon as his capital has reached that minimum amount with which capitalist production, as such, begins, so now he hands over the work of direct and constant supervision of the individual workman and groups of workmen to a special kind of wage labourer."This author's name is Karl Marx, and the quotations will be found on pages 321 and 322 of "Capital" (Sonnenschein Ed.). It is the wage-labourer who provides exchange value, and, as here seen, the organisers, chemists, physicists, etc., are but "special kinds of wage-labourers."

Genres: Biography, Economics

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Max Beer (1864 - )...

Reviews

[Dilek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Max Beer'in yazdığı bu kitapla Karl Marx'ın yaşamı, kitapları ve fikirleri hakkında genel bir bilgi sahibi olabilirsiniz.

Karl Marx, fikirlerini şu iki ilkeye bağlayarak yavaş yavaş teorilerini oluşturmaya başlamıştır:
1.A=A ilkesi
2.Çelişmemezlik ilkesi

Karl Marx, Hegel'in felsefesinden ve Yunan filozoflarından fazlasıyla etkilenmiştir. Başlarda Hegel'in çalışmalarını okumuş ve Sosyalizme ilgi duymuştur fakat sosyalizmi bir ütopya olarak görmüştür. Hegel'den esinlenerek şu teoriyi oluşturmuştur:
Tez=Özel Mülkiyet
Antitez=Kapitalizm
Sentez=Ortak Mülkiyet

En bilinen eseri "Das Kapital" olup üç cilttir. Fakat sadece 1.cildi Marx yazmıştır, diğer iki cildi birlikte çalışmalar yaptığı Engels onun ölümünden sonra müsvetteleri toparlayıp yazmış ve yayınlamıştır.

[Titus Hjelm · Rating 3 out of 5]

A brief survey of Marx's thought by a second-generation Marxist, this is a solid short intro still usable. As with all old books (the first edition was published in 1925), this one's charm is partly as a historical document itself. Beer is a Marx enthusiast, but his contemporary politics is not up front in the text. Written before his Moscow year and KPD membership, his attitude towards the Bolsheviks and Spartacists is ambivalent here--which also makes this a welcome exception from the Moscow-approved biographies.

[Jay Booth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Major Takeaways
Human nature is defined by class/context. We must remake human nature
Religion/thoughts/theories reflect the historical social state of man, which is most influenced by class relations
Economics and form of production is the basis of society, forms progression of class thoughts

Overall a really thought-provoking book with eloquent writing and thorough historical context.

[Aygül Anavatan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Felsefi yönü biraz ağır sayılır. İdealizmin hazin sonu, yine el yazmalarının hepsini yakmak olmuş. Kurtulabilenlerden bir parça: “El ve beyin işçileri olarak ya da hammaddenin nakliyatında görev alarak üretim sürecine katılmayan tüm toplumsal kesimler asalakça bir yaşam sürdürmekte ve kapitalist sınıf tarafından proletaryadan sızdırılan, bedeli ödenmeden el konan artı değeri tüketmektedir.”