Summary
This collection of texts by Karl Marx is a companion volume to my Introduction to Karl Marx. The texts are organized thematically under eight headings, which correspond to the main chapters of that book. Within each theme they are arranged in chronological order. The hope is that readers of the texts will draw upon the Introduction when struggling to understand the purpose and the relevance of Marx's writings, which are often obscure and difficult. Conversely, readers of the Introduction may want to consult the original texts to get a richer and more nuanced view than any analytical summary can provide. This is one reason why I have retained Marx's asides and digressions in many of the selections. One should read Marx not only to grasp his conclusions, but also to understand how his mind worked – by literary allusions, polemical asides, and historical analogies, as well as by the force of argument.
The texts collected here amount to about one or two percent of Marx's body of writing – a fact that should dispel any illusion that one can pronounce with authority on Marx after having read the present volume. Those whose appetites have been whetted should go on to read two works which represent Marx at the height of his powers: the first volume of Capital and The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte.
For reasons of space, no excerpts from Marx's correspondence are included. Many of his letters, which provide a vivid impression of his personality and intellectual profile, are collected in Saul Padover (ed.), The Letters of Karl Marx (Prentice-Hall).
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- Karl MarxA Reader, pp. vPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1986