Introducing Marx E-Book

Rius Rius

• Herausgeber: Icon Books
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Serie: Graphic Guides
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 141

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Compact INTRODUCING guide to the influential philosopher, sociologist and economist. INTRODUCING MARX - A GRAPHIC GUIDE explores the life of the most famous Socialist figure, from his early years to meeting Engels in1842. It provides a readable, understandable biography of Karl Marx as well as a fundamental account of his original philosophy, its roots in 19th century European ideology, his radical economic and social criticism of capitalism that inspired vast 20th century revolutions.

Leseprobe

Published by Icon Books Ltd, Omnibus Business Centre, 39–41 North Road, London N7 9DPEmail: [email protected] 

ISBN: 978-184831-981-3

Text copyright © 2012 Icon Books Ltd

Illustrations copyright © 2012 Icon Books Ltd

The author and illustrator has asserted their moral rights

Originating editor: Richard Appignanesi

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Editor’s Introduction

Preface

Karl Marx

Little Dictionary

Recommended further reading

About the author

Index

Editor’s Introduction

This first English translation of Rius’ Marx para Principiantes was originally published in 1976. It was an instant hit! I was his British editor at the time and I knew we were on to a winner when a local Tory party HQ in Kensington ordered a half-dozen copies. The popularity of Marx for Beginners clearly signalled the existence of a readership hungry for information on “big topics” which could be supplied by the revolutionary means of non-fiction comic books. This persuaded me to originate other Beginners on Einstein, Freud, Darwin and so on. This whole series has now been renamed Introducing…

In the early 1970s I was already aware of Rius as a legendary Mexican cartoonist, singlehandedly producing a weekly comic, Los Agachados (The Underdogs), for the delight and instruction of the underprivileged. Humorously, but with deadly accuracy, Rius enlightened his public on every sort of social and political issue. His wit got him into trouble with the authorities. Rius then had the genial idea of introducing Karl Marx to his readers. And so, the people of the barrios came to know this German heavyweight, “Carlito”. The world was soon to follow and Rius’ brilliant primer was to sell over a million copies in 12 languages. The huge international success of Marx tells us something interesting. It obviously meant that a basic primer on Marx was badly needed, not only among the poor of Mexico but in the supposedly more advanced and sophisticated countries too.

We are perhaps inclined to think of the 1970s as the fashionable “age of Marx”. Karl might have appeared as a pop totem on T-shirts, though very few actually read him. Too difficult. But by 1976 the radical culture was not as optimistic as it might seem to us now. The heroic moment of the Vietnam protest, student movements and socialist hopes generally were over. Che Guevara had perished in his Bolivian misadventure in 1967, the social democratic experiment in Chile had been suppressed with almost genocidal fury by Pinochet in 1973, and the Portuguese revolution of April 1974 had withered away. Reaction had triumphed and the Cold War was coming to a conclusion, with definitive winners and losers. By the end of the next decade the Berlin Wall had disintegrated, and the Soviet command economy had vanished overnight without trace.

No one laments the passing of the Berlin Wall, except the apparatchiks and Cold War profiteers on both sides of it. What saddened me was the unthinking naive joy at the prospect of a neo-capitalist future, expressed by even those who ought to have known better. It was depressing to encounter lifelong “Marxists” in the streets who breathlessly exclaimed, “Isn’t it wonderful what’s happening in Eastern Europe?” What’s so wonderful? To witness the unholy rush of Communist parties to change their names? The spectacle of self-professed Marxists suddenly transformed into bom-again liberal capitalists? Was it really so hard to foresee, especially by those with practiced habits of Marxist analysis, that we were entering into a period of acute economic instability and nationalistic crisis in Eastern Europe which made civil war virtually inevitable? Are we shocked that the primitive accumulative phase of capitalism in the former Soviet Empire has taken the shape of Mafia-style criminality? What did we expect, that somehow Eastern Europeans would come to mature capitalism without going the same pirate route that we had earlier followed to arrive at transnational supermarket capitalism?

In the light of what has happened since 1989, it is high time for a reconsideration of what Marx was really about, warts and all, without dogmatism and sanctification. What was done in his name in the Soviet Union, in Eastern Europe, China and elsewhere, has for too long been passed off as “Marxism”. The first thing to remember is that Marx was an economic critic and philosopher, not a prophet. He gave no blueprint whatsoever of “socialism” or “communism”. What he has principally and essentially left us is a critical analysis of capitalism. “Marxism” is, and should be, nothing else but the means of criticism.

The closest to a programme proposed by Marx is found in the famous 10 Points of the Communist Manifesto which Rius reproduces in this book. Look closely at these aims, considered revolutionary when Marx stated them in 1848, and you will notice something curious. Although they have never been fully implemented, it is nevertheless startling to recognize how many of his aims have in part at least been adopted in many industrially advanced countries, not by revolutionary means but by parliamentary reform. The truth is, much of Marx’s economic programme – nationalization, state education and so on – became the agenda of Keynesian state management in the 40s and 50s. Thatcherism and Reaganomics in the last decade have almost entirely succeeded in rolling back these basic social democratic reforms. We are being told, constantly, that we have no alternative to the capitalism shaped by the monetarist deregulated “free market”. That is not the view Rius takes. He neither apologizes for nor disguises his confidence in Marx’s ideas, and that’s unusual these days. Rius has done his job by making Marx a little more familiar. The rest is up to us.

Richard Appignanesi Icon Books

PREFACE…

What?! try to summarize Marx? That’s not only a sacrilege (as most “Academic” Marxists will say), but a complete waste of time – because Comrade Karl is supposed to be completely beyond the range of simple minds.

Maybe so, maybe not. But I’ve written this book anyway, on the principle that the worst kind of battle is the one not confronted.

Another reason for trying to take on Charlie was my wish to understand him – an ambition which I haven’t satisfied.

Marx – ladies and gents – was truly a “Tough Guy”. A “Teutonic Genius” towering over much of the scientific knowledge of his day. He just went on producing philosophy on philosophy, without worrying how many people would understand him. Result? A whole series of high – level works. Really heavy stuff and much too dense for the ordinary reader. Marx is hard to digest!

This Book tries to provide a “Digest” – an extract of Marx’s ideas. Something easier to get down. Being aware of my limits (5th. Grade elementary!), I am happy if the thing isn’t completely incomprehensible.

Marx himself hasn’t made my job any easier by forgetting to provide a summary of his works. I got even less help from all those scholarly volumes which pretend to clarify Marx, But end up being more difficult than Charlie himself.

An attempt to “popularize” Marx raises another problem – the difficulty of putting into everyday language the philosophic and economic terms he uses. Because there aren’t only 20 or 30, But 200 or 300! To try translating this number without losing their meaning is really Dog Work. I hope the average reader who gets through this book will have the courage to confront the complete words of Marx and come out of it better than I did.

I should also like to thank the illustrious Marxist theoreticians who, when I asked them for a hand, replied politely that I must be out of my mind to start such a work. I really appreciate their “spirit of co-operation” and regret not heading their advice before settling down with Herr Doctor Karl Marx.

After this introduction, if you still want to go on reading – be warned! You do so at your own risk. I cannot answer for the damages.

One last excuse for this light-weight book (Beside my own ignorance): The stubborn and insistent pressure of my publisher who left me hardly any time to write it. I’m sorry to see my efforts haven’t “jelled” as I would have liked.

It’s incredible that Marx, working under far worse conditions and pressures than mine, could write all those Thousands of pages without ever losing his way or making a botch of it.

But that just goes to prove in the end that Marx is Marx, and Rius is… well, just a poor guy!

London in Karl Marx’s day …

First things first – the readers would like to know who this character Marx was!!

Wasn’t he one of the Marx Brothers?

Karl Marx

Hmm… well … not exactly …

Charles Marx (‘Karl’ as he’s called in German) was a Jewish-German Philosopher who lived and struggled from 1818 to 1883. Everywhere in the world he’s blamed for having invented

Holy jesus! The Anti-Christ!

Based on his writings and ideas, one third of humanity practices communism, while the other two thirds keep arguing about them …

marxist! copper!

Anywhere you go, words like Bolshevik, Marxist, Socialism, Leninism, Red, Fidelists, Maoist, Materialist, communist and so on rub lots of people up the wrong way…

Capital, class-struggle, labour-power, proletariat…

Actually, Marxism today divides the world into two camps: those who hate him and those who place all their hopes in him…

And I’d mention a third group: those who don’t know him…

Because Charlie Marx is just like the Bible or the Koran: many quote him, but very few know him, and even fewer understand him… (or better… make him out…)

Boy! He sure had lots of interests, the hairy old guy!

Marx has something to say to everybody: there’s not a major change in the last hundred years which doesn’t owe something to comrade Charlie’s Influence…

Economy, Literature, Space, Travel, The Arts, History, Human Relations, The Vatican, The Unions, Revolutions, Social Changes, Education, Medicine, Industry, Agriculture, Journalism… everywhere you’ll find a hair or two of Charlie’s!!

And he wasn’t short of hair…!

Knowledge – and practise – of his ideas now makes possible what was impossible for twenty centuries: freedom from the exploitation of man by man…

In short: If in every sense we’re better off today, we owe that to Marx especially…

That’s not true!… I owe it to my Boss!

(Social Security, Pensions, Paid Holidays, Unions, Scholarships, and many other Victories are indirectly due to Marx!)

All revolutions, even those which claim to be spontaneous and without “putative” fathers, have a Marxist Origin…

Not to mention some constitutions…

You hear talk of that **** Marx even in the Vatican Council!!!

Worker Priests are accused of being Marxists, South American Generals talk about him. He’s studied in Jesuit Schools. Others have fled Cuba when it declared itself the first Marxist country in Latin America… but still you hear it said there’s no interest in Marx…

His father was a well-to-do lawyer, which allowed the young Marx to study what was in fashion then:

LAW.

(Do what Daddy tells you to – some fashion!)What kind of ideas did they teach then?All kinds – but we’ll go into details later…

Briefly: Marx went to Bonn University to study Law. But he worked harder at raising hell ANC (so his teachers say) pursuing wine, women and song… to such a point that he ended up fighting a duel for a lady’s favours, which earned him a wound on the Eyebrow! You can’t really say that he kept his nose to the Grindstone…

Well, what do you expect of a 19-year-old?

From Bonn he went to Berlin where he finished his studies. Then he returned to Bonn to try teaching, but his bad name didn’t open any doors: in Berlin he’d turned Atheist AND subversive…

What? Both at once?

That was too much! His society Barely tolerated artists, so just imagine what they made of Subversives!!!

It is important at this point to clear up a detail about Marx’s life: although his origins were Jewish, he didn’t consider himself Jewish, or ever practise that Religion. His father had become a Lutheran and Marx himself was one, but only in his youth…

How true! Youngsters today don’t believe a damn thing! Blame the ideologies, you lordship, the ideologies…

The University of Berlin was in a terrific Turmoil of new ideas. Religious explanations of man and the universe had been challenged and thinkers were looking round for other answers to the eternal questions of mankind …

The same old eternal questionsWho is God?Life is a RiddleWhat is man?Why do we live?What is life?

What’s to be done?

The young Marx didn’t ask himself “what to do?” in the sense of “how can I earn a living?” But “what is the meaning of my life and what purpose should it serve…?

To answer this thorny question, Marx decided to study philosophy…

Is he crazy, mum??

His father grows angry worrying about his son’s future…

Someone called Frederick Hegel seems to have found the answers to the big questions.German Philosophers Gravitate round him, some to oppose and others to support his theories… Marx begins studying Hegel’s ideas.Too bad the great philosophers had already died, alas!…

Immanuel Kant (Hegel’s great predecssor) argued that you could suppose God’s existence, but no system could prove it. Hegel instead seeks to justify the IDEA of god… How? Hegel proposes a system of panlogism (from the Greek pan, all, and logos, reason).

(Note: a little dictionary at the back of this book explains some of these terms)

Kant separates science from religion…Hegel wants to make religion into a kind of science…

Reason in constantly evolving in history towards an absolute goal.“World history is the progress in the consciousness of liberty.”God exists only as world-spirit, which is real because rational (and vice versa).

God is restless, according to Hegel!

“It is in the organization of the state that the divine enters into the real.”

Maybe this justifies Hegel’s God. But it doesn’t justify any particular established religion or state …

Am I making myself clear? No?

Well, Heinrich Heine, A poet and disciple of Hegel’s explains it more clearly:

“Thanks to Hegel I learned that the ‘good’ god doesn’t dwell in heaven, as my Grandma believed, but instead that I myself, here on earth, might be God”…

Or – God didn’t create man, but the other way round …

Besides which, Hegel didn’t believe in the immortality of the soul, but persecuted by the Church and state (in those days allied), he was forced to give in a bit and not allow his ideas to be spread among the people. His ideas were – so he said – “nothing more than philosophy” and it was necessary that people should still follow their customary religion…

Remember: He was a respected civil servant of the Prussian State…

But it was really Hegel’s Philosophy of History which attracted Marx. According to Hegel, humanity advances and progresses only because of conflicts wars, revolutions; that is, through the struggle of the oppressed against oppressors.Peace and Harmony – he used to say – don’t make for progress…

Hegel’s wasn’t talking about social struggle, but only about Religious Struggle. He wasn’t thinking of the struggles between workers and bosses, between oppressed peoples and oppressive Governments… only of a purely “spiritual” conflict, a struggle between ideas…

When Hegel died, Contradictions like these divided his followers into “Hegelians of the right” and “left”. The left defended their teachers most progressive ideas, the right stuck to Hegel’s spiritual and conservative side…

That’s when (1830) the terms ‘left’ and ‘right’ came into use…

Ludwig Feuerbach, a supporter of the Hegelian left, wants to put Hegel’s theory into practice. He denies the “sacred” origin of royal authority.Marx is 100% with him…

Looks like Feuerbach’s a man after my own heart…

The pupil rapidly surpasses the teacher: Marx is more radical, more clear-headed and more practical than the Hegelian leftists. Marx is the active type and not one for blah blah blah blah blah…………

The Hegelians got lost in endless Philosophical and Theological debates: Their meetings always finished with more smoke than fire… to avoid ending up Neurotic, Marx accepted a job on the “Rhenish Gazette”… That was in 1842

A philosopher and honest journalist? Does he plan to die of hunger?

Marx made such as impact on the editorial committee that he was soon made editor-in-chief. Under his direction the newspaper gained real prestige… so much so that the government decided to shut it down… to shut it down…

Liberty is fine, so long as it’s not used to show me up as a crook (even if I am one)…

Political journalism came to life with Marx: The of the press to spread ideas, to criticize bad government and to let public opinion on the awful misery of the people…