Marx: a Guide for the Perplexed

BOOK REVIEWS John Seed of modernity and postmodernity in East and West? How is it possible to teach Marx with- Marx: A Guide for the out trying to normalise the tensions inherent Perplexed in the double project not only to interpret the world but to change it as well? In what ways Continuum: London, 2010. should a university teacher handle the polar- 191 pp. ised attitudes of his/her students to Marx’s thought – ideological and dogmatic attitudes Eleni Andriakaina often ranging from total and unconditional approval to strong opposition? Is it feasible Panteion University to teach Marx ignoring, omitting and skipping the various and often contradictory interpre- “In our cheerful discourses, tations of his texts by subsequent scholars better than in the formal reasoning of the without sacrificing the fruitfulness of its con- schools, is true wisdom to be found.” tradictions and falling into the trap of a quasi- — David Hume, The Epicurean religious search for its real, final meaning? “Alas! Another book on Marx!” I jabbered, In John Seed’s book one may find not only a wresting John Seed’s book Marx: A Guide for precious companion for an intellectual jour- the Perplexed from the selves of Foyles book- ney through Marx’s major works but also a shop at Charing Cross, London, while most lucid and comprehensive accompaniment of the customers were rushing to the second for the teaching of contemporary, modern floor to attend a concert of a young violin vir- or postmodern, interpretations of Marxian tuoso. Since the 1960s, studies on Marx and thought. The author is an English historian. Marxism have been booming. What might a His main interests are in social history, pub- new title offer to the existing wide assortment lic memory and politics in the eighteenth cen- of books, interpretations, conferences and ar- tury and he currently works on the history of ticles in the field of Marxian studies? Owing migrants in London. In a 191-page book, he more to the perversion of the collector rather traces the development of Marx’s thought than the interest of the scholar, I left Foyles and maps out the interconnections and ten- holding my fetish firmly in my hand while the sions between its layers – philosophical, po- virtuoso’s violin was agonising over Donizet- litical and scientific. ti’s Una Furtiva Lagrima. Armed with an acute reflexive awareness, the ❖ product of a long practical experience as an academic teacher and a historian, Seed de- Teaching Marx today is not an easy task. How cides to limit the breadth of his subject by it is possible to familiarise university students focusing on “what Marx himself prioritised” with a thinker whose philosophical, political (11). The book shows the relevance of politi- and sociological writings marked the history cal intervention for historical understanding, 175 Book Reviews of practice for critical theory, of lived experi- tionary intellectual who came to talk of abol- ence for philosophical reflection as it focus- ishing philosophy and of overthrowing the es selectively on some key texts: Grundrisse bourgeoisie! Social being determines social and Capital, The Class Struggles in France thought but this determination isn’t automat- and The Eighteenth Brumaire, The Critique of ic. It is always mediated by imagination, expe- Gotha Programme along with various news- rience, interpretations and dreams. paper articles and polemics written with the purpose of guiding the politics of the work- In a similar vein, Seed is equally distanced ing-class movement. The aim of the study is from historicist and “presentist” approach- stated loud and clear: “to return to the texts es, keeping instead a balanced critical view of Marx and to explore ways of making sense that permits him to shift between two lev- of them” (6), not with a view to manufacture els of analysis: on the one hand, the author yet one more final interpretation of Marx but highlights the utility and the continuing rel- rather “to indicate how different and equally evance of Marxian writings for the present. productive readings are often possible” (13). In doing so, he shows their value for ana- lysing the problems of contemporary socie- And indeed, this laconic statement conveys ties today without falling prey to the fallacy the purpose of a book that doesn’t claim to of anachronism. On the other hand, he reads be a revealing new “truth” about Marx or add- Marx’s texts for their own sake; namely, with ing some new arguments to Marxology and an aesthetic and historical sensitivity to the to the vast literature on Marx. Yet, I think plurality of Marx’s voices and demands. In that the contribution of the book lies less in other words, I think that Seed’s study helps what Seed writes about Marx and more on us comprehend the creative inconsistencies, how he writes – how he approaches, reads contradictions and tensions in Marx’s vari- and interprets the Marxian texts. It seems to ous writings. These tensions were, to a great me that the primary value of the book lies in extent, the product of Marx’s creative gen- its specific historical outlook on the exposi- ius: his desire to appeal to heterogeneous tion and the interpretation of Marx’s ideas – audiences, to connect scholarship and parti- a mode of thinking, reading and interpret- sanship, to overcome the contradictions that ing texts that especially suits the historian’s marked his own life-history, the fragmented craft. The readings of Marx’s texts that Seed’s nature of modernity and the positivistic dis- book provides are distinguished by historical tinction between abstract theorising and con- sensitivity – a sensitivity very different to the crete empirical analysis. kinds of contextualisation of theory that especially characterise the sociology of knowl- The merits of Seed’s approach are best ex- edge. Although the book situates Marx’s ide- emplified in two chapters of the volume: as in their social, cultural and intellectual chapter 3, entitled “Materialist histories”, and context, it doesn’t slide into any kind of so- chapter 4, named “Political economy and the ciological reductionism. Marx: A Guide for the history of capitalism”. Here the presentation Perplexed tones down arguments about a follows the distinction between the two levels “seamless web” connecting thought and so- of analysis – the abstract and the concrete, ciety, as it traces the process through which the theoretical and empirical historical anal- a student of philosophy, a German youth of ysis – in order to show how Marx succeeds bourgeois origins, turned out to be a revolu- in overcoming these sterile oppositions. As 176 HISTOREIN VOLUME 11 (2011) Seed comments, the theoretical schema of avoiding dogmatism, determinism, reduc- “historical materialism” could not be conjured tionism and excessive abstraction in favour out of the air by thinking that is abstracted of a flexible, concrete approach to Marxian from careful empirical research: writings. He therefore manages to provide us with a precious guide to the thought of Marx, The importance of empirical research and a guide that could be used in order to intro- historical specificity was something Marx duce university students to the various sub- and Engels insisted on throughout their ca- sequent interpretations of his theory. reer. “Empirical observation must in each separate instance bring out empirically, Yet, the expert scholar familiar with the lit- and without any mystification and specu- erature on Marx may note an absence in this lation, the connection of the social and po- concise Guide for the Perplexed. Although the litical structure with production,” The Ger- book is written in the light of the subsequent man Ideology had stated. This was a point interpretations of Marx’s writings, it doesn’t that Engels was forced to repeat again and enter into a direct dialogue with the existing again in the years after Marx’s death as in- literature on Marx. Should one consider this creasing numbers of young disciples seized “absence” as a defect? I don’t think so. Some- on “the economic interpretation of history” times, in seeking in a study an answer to a as the magic key which opened the door to question that the author doesn’t seek to ex- an understanding of the past (65). plore, one runs the risk of missing the target. Seed reads Marx’s texts fully aware of the By misusing the distinction between theoret- controversies over their interpretation and ical reflection and concrete analysis, “a rigid this enables him to bring out their complexity and mechanistic Marxism reduces complex without sacrificing their heterogeneity. As he realities to simple abstractions” (72). But for puts it, “the heterogeneity of Marx’s texts . Marx “in any historical situation attention has destabilises the position of the reader who to be paid to the historically specific charac- must constantly submit himself, herself to teristics of an entity such as the petite bour- revision and re-reading” (14). The purpose of geoisie which make it always a unique reality” the book (which appears in the Guides for the (71). On the other hand, Seed shows the dia- Perplexed series, published by Continuum) is lectic between theory and experience, stress- to provide us with a guide to reading Marx’s ing Marx’s sensitivity and critical attitude to- key texts and to make these more accessible. wards both the rationalistic and the empir- In Seed’s Guide, university teachers and stu- icist fallacies. As he puts it, “it is impossible dents may discover not a perplexing study of to deduce the concrete either from concepts Marx but a clear path through the perplexity or from empirical data” (76). Contrary to what of reading and teaching Marx today.

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