Understanding Marxism

Richard D. Wolff

• Publisher: Haymarket Books
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN: 9798888904589
• eBook ISBN: 9798888905302
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Economic Theory
• Index: Economics

Richard D. Wolff masterfully explains why Karl Marx's analysis of class struggle is fundamental to a proper understanding of capitalism and explores how to build a more sustainable democratic society.

Class struggle is everywhere, and it influences everything and everyone in our society. Marx is the person who first explained this struggle systematically. For Marx, capitalism signified not the end of history, but rather the latest phase of human development that leads ordinary people to rid themselves of "all the muck of ages and become fitted to found society anew."

Marx's theories are deeply prescient and relevant in our efforts to understand and cope with the crises of our time. Every day, we see more evidence that the capitalist system is both undermining itself and those whose labor it depends on, as Marx predicted.

Understanding Marxism is an essential resource for looking at the power and usefulness of Marx's criticism of the capitalist economic system—and how we can move beyond it to a truly sustainable and democratic society based on workers' self-management.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1. Why Understanding Capitalism Today Requires Marxism
• 2. Capitalism vs. Slavery and Feudalism: Achievements and Failures
• 3. Employer/Employee: The Core Relationship of Capitalism
• 4. Employers/Employees: Capitalism’s Struggling Classes
• 5. Producing and Distributing the Surplus in the Capitalist System
• 6. How Contradictions Are Key in Marx’s Analysis of Capitalism
• 7. What Marx Meant by Socialism Doing Better than Capitalism
• Quotes by Karl Marx
• Acknowledgments
• Further Reading
• Index
• About the Author
• About Haymarket Books
• Back Cover