Marx's Revenge (The resurgence of capitalism and the death of statist socialism) By Meghnad Desai Verso ($27): Karl Marx said the workers of the world had nothing to lose but their chains and is best remembered as the prophet of communism, which collapsed with the Berlin Wall in 1989. More than 100 years after his death, capitalism is triumphant.
According to economist Meghnad Desai, Marx's analysis of the dynamics of capitalism has been overlooked in favour of his youthful prophesy of its destruction. Desai's viewpoint is based on his reading of Capital rather than on earlier writings.
Desai argues that Marx has had a bad press because of the distortions committed in his name by the Russian Bolsheviks and their successors. Marx is of interest here because of his focus on the ability of the capitalist system to survive, albeit through cycles and crises.
According to this logic, contemporary globalisation makes Marx relevant again. And anti-globalisation activists would do well to check out Marx's Revenge, which is an economic history aimed at the general reader.
Desai offers a broad sweep spanning over two centuries, in more measured tones than world historian Martin Gilbert. He focuses on Chancellor Schröder's Social Democratic Party (SPD), emerging in 1875 as a working-class movement with mass support. The SPD is of particular interest because it did not go down Lenin's revolutionary road - instead it plays a pivotal role in one of the world's most advanced powers.
Unashamedly revisionist, Desai still retains his socialist soul. Capitalism is not known for benevolence but it is the most effective mode of production known in wealth creation. It generates prosperity but also misery. However, over the past 200 years it has achieved the largest gain in well-being in all previous millennia.
The system created by Lenin has been consigned to the dustbin of history and since 1989 capitalism is becoming truly global. Marx has had his revenge. But will he ever get his utopian reward? Desai, wisely, leaves that question open.
John Mulqueen
jmulqueen@irish-times.ie
