Karl Marx: A Nineteenth-Century Life

A detailed account, most fair in balance as trying not to purposely make the man a monster (but by objective criticism you cannot come to any other conclusion).The great hypocrite and false prophet himself. This poisonous tree of Marxism produces gleaming fruits that are lustful to the eye but its "nutrients" are filled with diabolical poison fatal to its Victim. That tree is Karl Marx. The man wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote without end a study of economics without ever coming to the solution. Despite a mixture of laziness and brilliant discipline, he was hardly ever producing anything on time, nor was he ever working a job that demanded labor or anything productive. He, like a parasite, lived off others his whole life, shirked his debtors, drank into belligerence, was hated by Leftist, and committed adultery on his loving wife (their relationship is somewhat to be admired despite their hatred for Christians) with a servant girl he exploited despite speaking out against patriarchal exploitation of women! He despised the very workers he wanted to liberate and produced nothing but hatred and venom for the inhabitants of the earth. His hate is directly responsible for the Communist demon born in Russia in 1917. Verdict: He is a bad man. Know the false prophets by their fruits, not just their utopian promises.Any good? He loved his wife (despite his adultery, bastard son with the servant girl, and cover up) and his children.

The closer you look at a thinker, the harder it is to say what he thought. The simplifying of Marx, often inspired by those both pro and con, reduces him to class struggle, theory of surplus value, dialectical materialism, the dictatorship of the proletariat, the falling rate of profit, etc. Sperber's biography goes a good way towards showing that Marx's actual thinking is much more dynamic, more complex, and less consistent.Sperber's intention is to treat Marx, as the subtitle indicates, as a nineteenth century figure, in the context of nineteenth century thought and events. And he does so admirably. He avoids the iconic Marx, created primarily by twentieth century thought and events, allowing us to see Marx as a thinker among thinkers and as a revolutionary among revolutionaries and counter-revolutionaries of his own time.I am not a Marx scholar by any means. I have not studied Marx as closely as other 19th century thinkers (Hegel, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche), and I don't have the background in the history of economics to pick up the subtleties of Capital or to criticize Marx's principal contentions there and elsewhere. But Sperber's book does give me the broader context and at least the rudiments of Marx's thinking to put together for myself an historical picture of Marx's intellectual development and something of the development of the culture of revolutionary thinking during the mid-nineteenth century.Marx never had the leisure to be a "philosopher" in the traditional sense. He never held academic positions. Instead he pieced together a career as a journalist, surprisingly even a popular journalist at times, to help make ends meet for himself, his family, and his causes. He didn't always succeed, and, of course, he famously depended on the support of Engels to remain afloat financially.But through the journals he founded or contributed to and through mostly unfinished manuscripts of a more theoretical nature, we can see something of the evolution of his thought, sometimes punctuated by issues of personality and struggles within the politics of revolutionary movements. Sperber is particular adamant in his portrayal of Marx as an Hegelian to the end, somewhat contrary to the portrait, encouraged by Engels, of Marx as a positivist economist, constructing theories from hard economic data. Underlying the theories is always the sense of historical development, a rationale, in Hegelian manner, to the progressions that Marx saw in the forms of labor and the organization of production.The book is also a personal biography. Sperber presents a convincing account of Marx's troubled devotion to his family. In fact, he goes some way toward pointing out the apparent contradiction between the traditional attitudes Marx had toward family, the role of men as fathers and breadwinners, and bourgeois morals and respectability. The personal Marx was inescapably a man of his time.It's no sanitizing account of Marx as a person, though. Marx could certainly be petty. Sperber follows a running theme of Marx's penchant for attacking those around him, both personally and publicly. Within the circles of revolutionaries, it was if Marx attempted to monopolize what was (and still is) a broad spectrum of what could be called "socialism" and even covered the tracks of his own intellectual development by harshly criticizing those who thought what he once thought but has changed his mind about.It's hard to write a book about Marx. Everybody already knows who Marx is, or they think they do. For us, Marx is polarizing. Are you pro or con? It's a sucker's question, and a way to close, not open, thinking. Hopefully, Sperber's book will help a little bit to bring discussion of Marx back to the real Marx rather than that iconic Marx of twentieth-century making.

Marx and his theories can evoke all sorts of responses. As a theory that has launched a thousand rebellions it is useful to understand the man himself. This book does quite a reasonable job at that. The author is a clear writer and he manages to cohesive take one through Marx's life and the times that influenced him.The author is an expert of the revolutions of 1848, a period which managed to change Europe and set the stage for the next hundred and fifty years. Marx is a product of that time, building on Hegel and German thought, conflicting with Proudhon and French throught, and assimilating in a dialectical manner Locke and English thought. Marx as a writer can be ponderous and exhilerating.The book takes one step by step through his development and the forces that created Capital. This is not a book describing Marxism, it is a book about Marx. It is definitely something one should read to better understand the man, his ideas and the times that made them.

I found the book very interesting in the sense that the author describes the external influences of Marx's life rather than the theories and economics. Although there are some very basic elements of his economic positions the essence of the book is on the life of Marx. The book is well written and provides sufficient detail to provide a strong understanding of what influenced his views including Darwin and many others. I was not educated with a strong understanding of Marx but after having lived in Brasil and other countries where his influence is ingrained in the education system more than the american system I found the book to be very revealing and an interesting view of the man, Marx, rather than the math of Marx.

For too long Karl Marx has been treated like a demon or a saint rather than an extraordinary man living in ordinary times. I applaud the re-contextualisation of Marx's work in the appropriate time of history.

This is an excellent biography. It's unfussy, well-written and excellently researched. Sperber does an outstanding job of locating Marx in his 19th century context and separating him from some of the 20th century myths about him. As with any biography of Marx, it's helpful to have SOME grasp of what Hegel stood for, but Sperber does a good job of unpicking and presenting the relevant parts of that too. Not every chapter gripped me, as some of the detail and personality conflicts of the revolutionary movements during Marx's life were not so interesting to me. But every chapter was expertly crafted. A great book for anyone interested in 19th century history and revolutionary thought, or simply curious about the life of Karl Marx.

Enfin une biographie authentiquement authentique d'un personnage autour duquel il y a tant de rumeurs... il était temps ! un magistral exemple de méthodologie historique... je la conseille à mes étudiants

This review concerns the hardcover edition, which, while a solid purchase, does seem a little cheaply made, with the outside edges of the pages quite roughly cut. Other than that, though, it is a thoroughly good book, this – the kind of book you want to read for your own enlightenment, and put on your shelf for visitors to see and discuss at length.Marx’ ideas are thought by many to be universal, and they have indeed been adapted and applied to situations and ideologies throughout the 20th century. It is, however, difficult to escape the fact that Marx was long dead at that point; he could have no opinion about those changing times long after his passing. More than describing a utopic future, he was doing social analyses for his contemporary age. This is the main point in Jonathan Sperber’s ”Karl Marx: a nineteenth-century life”. Sperber places Marx squarely in the society of the 19th century, and underlines the point that everything he did must be seen in the light of his contemporary age. Over the next hundred years, social thinkers, revolutionaries and philosophers alike have placed the marxist ideas in a 20th century context, often leaping straight over the fact that Marx’ life and works should instead be seen in the light of his own times.It’s a fairly big book, this: Sperber bases much of his work on the MEGA, a wealth of information consisting of all known writings made by Marx and Engels, be it published papers, newspapers, minutes of meetings or family letters. It is evident that Sperber is not only trained in the use of sources, but revels in the interpretation of them. He spends much of his time using the MEGA to unveil and deal with details of Marx life, including his family life, economic situation and working life in addition to the development of his political ideas. The exchange of opinions between friends and rivals, issues both big and small, give the reader a thoroughly deep look into what made Marx tick. As his ideas were changing over time with changing political and economic developments, you can see how much the contemporary situation matters in the forming of ideas. This book truly emphasizes that Marx was a man of his time.It should be noted that this is not an in-depth analysis of various Communist ideas or social theory. Sperber sticks with his subject. Still, Marx’ relationship with other socialists are covered, and it is interesting to see how much he was influenced by personal matters. This is perhaps best illustrated by the conflict between Marx and Karl Grün, another revolutionary intellectual with many of the same characteristics. As Sperber points out, one might think that two such similar characters would find done another appealing and start working out a social theory together, but instead, they became rivals, both wanting a central position in the Communist movement. This book also describes relationships between other intellectuals and revolutionaries, where Marx might end up embracing or rejecting their ideas, based (at least in part) on personal grounds – indeed, possibly even whether his wife got along well with them. Reading Sperber’s work, we are constantly reminded that ”the father of Communism” was but one of many people at the time who were working for a social revolution, and that his work is tied to the political development in Western Europe – but also that personal experiences and rivalry could be just as important in shaping his ideas.The book is divided into sections, each dealing with Marx as a man, as a father, as a revolutionary, as a political thinker, as a news editor – so many areas of a man’s life that can all have an impact. ’Who knows’, you are left to ponder, ’perhaps Marx had not developed his revolutionary stance if he had not experienced suppression of his work by Preussian authorities?’ Perhaps his ideological legacy had been less potent if his personal economic situation were better and he had been able to develop his work as a newspaper editor?Sperber outlines philosophies, but stays true to the intention of writing a biography, not an interpretation of Marxist ideology. Rather than focus on his work alone, as many other biographers do, Sperber’s focal point is the life of his subject. ”Karl Marx: a nineteenth-century life” is a truly interesting and enlightening look into the life one of the most important thinkers of modern times. Karl Marx: A Nineteenth-Century LifeKarl Marx: A Nineteenth-Century Life

Well written, although one gets the feeling that the author does not like his subject ; this bio is slightly better than Mehring's and/or Nicolaievsky's yet one cannot help but feel that the Sperber downplays the originality of Marx's thought or the importance of his work. This is NOT an intellectual biography and/or an exploration of Marx's ideas. It's a conventional biography that adds little to what we already know. One of the most promising chapter deals with Eduard Gans' influence on Marx - a question that still needs to be answered. Unfortunately, instead of exploring that question, Sperber implies that Marx borrowed or copied from Gans instead of treating it in termes of an intellectual history. And that's the major flaw with this book : Sperber claims to put Marx back in his historical context. But what he realy does is (politely) say that Marx was just stealing, copying, borrowing, etc., from this or that author, that Marx really didn't have anything of value to say, that he was derivative at best, etc. Thus, in the end, we are left with a biography that feels a little dishonest, to say the least. Sperber's book is inferior to McLellan's " Karl Marx : A biography" or Hunt's amazing "Marx's General: The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels".

後半ほど面白い伝記である。特に、経済学者としてのマルクスに焦点を当てた１１章だけでも読む価値がある。ただし、当時は、「全世界のプロレタリア団結せよ！」ですが、いまは、「全世界の１％団結せよ！」の時代ですが。　哲学的な側面では、１９世紀初頭の流行であるヘーゲル哲学と、科学技術の発展にともない１９世紀後半にますます主流となってくる種の起源に代表される実証主義の潮流に揺れ動くマルクスの論理の揺らぎを見事に分析している。　また、当時マルクス自身、ユダヤ人である認識がなく、政敵のユダヤ人を人種的偏見丸出しで口汚くののしっていた事実など詳しく紹介されている。この反ユダヤ主義は、マルクスの死後、マルクス主義によって活性化された労働運動に対抗して出現したナチズム等の独裁思想に受け継がれ、２０世紀前半の世界的大混乱へとつながってゆく経緯は、まさに歴史の皮肉である。

Strange how the West has always kept so quiet about Karl M. Perhaps they realised how right he was and how he still may cause the pillars of capitalism to crumble - we need someone like him to sort out the terrible mess the world now finds itself in.Thank you Jonathan Sperber.

Jonathan Sperber delivers a deeply researched, very readable and engaging human narrative of Marx, whilst also offering a critique of his intellectual position. The account is always interesting, but at times repetitive - some editing might have usefully reduced the book's length.Marx as person comes across as highly opinionated, egotistical, and tyrannical. He deployed the fierce widespread crude denunciation of anyone he disagreed with which was to become the devastating hallmark of later Soviet and Chinese communism. Similarly, Marx is strong when in opposition, ie to capitalism, but weak in any advocacy or even definition of what he favours, ie communism.Where he rules, for example in his family life, Marx is benign, but he is an irascible colleague and correspondent. He worked diligently and furiously, famously developing his thinking more through library research than through peer engagement. His output was prodigious, but thereby confusing as he developed his thought, for example on price in a market economy, almost like someone thinking aloud. He might have communicated his theoretical thinking more powerfully by a smaller, less frequent, more considered output.Sperber traces the shift in Marx's thinking from an intellectual reliance on Hegel's metaphysical interpretation towards the emerging logical positivism of his time. Engels espoused the latter and is responsible for the more analytical version of the inevitability of a crisis in capitalism and the advent of communism. This is part of a wider intellectual issue of the active or passive existential standing of humanity which Marx and Engels needed to explore more explicitly. In his critique of capitalism Marx failed to consider the fundamental flaw in humanity itself, what Isaiah Berlin later called `the crooked timber of humanity', which was to plague communism as much as it did capitalism, the working class as much as the aristocracy.

There was a wealth of detail mapping the connections between Marx and dozens of other politicos of his time. excellent. But, I was slightly surprised by the shortage of discussion and references to the interaction of his life with that of Engels and also of the poor detail concerning his Rheinland actions in 1847-48. Also a surpise was the rather nineteenth-century style of poor or rough cut of the pages of each folio although that for me was a pleasant surprise. Review made by receiver of the book as a gift from Beverley Russell

It fullfills all my requirements for a comprehensive and desireable presentation of the theories and views held by Marx during a period of rapid and far reaching social changes.