The Last Years of Karl Marx: An Intellectual Biography
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Overview
“Brilliantly demonstrates that Marx spent these years opening new and important theoretical horizons.” ―Étienne Balibar, author of The Philosophy of Marx
In the last years of his life, Karl Marx expanded his research in new directions—studying recent anthropological discoveries, analyzing communal forms of ownership in precapitalist societies, supporting the populist movement in Russia, and expressing critiques of colonial oppression in India, Ireland, Algeria, and Egypt. Between 1881 and 1883, he also traveled beyond Europe for the first and only time. Focusing on these last years of Marx’s life, this book dispels two key misrepresentations of his work: that Marx ceased to write late in life, and that he was a Eurocentric and economic thinker fixated on class conflict alone. With The Last Years of Karl Marx, Marcello Musto claims a renewed relevance for the late work of Marx, highlighting unpublished or previously neglected writings, many of which remain unavailable in English. Readers are invited to reconsider Marx’s critique of European colonialism, his ideas on non-Western societies, and his theories on the possibility of revolution in noncapitalist countries. From Marx’s late manuscripts, notebooks, and letters emerge an author markedly different from the one represented by many of his contemporary critics and followers alike.
“Musto takes us by the hand and invites us to discover a new Marx.” ―Antonio Negri, author of Marx beyond Marx
“Highly recommended.” ―M. J. Wert, Choice
“Fills a huge gap in our understanding of Marx.” ―Kevin B. Anderson, New Politics: Journal of Socialist Thought
“[A] bold socio-political reading of Marx.” ―Arkayan Ganguly, Critique: Journal of Socialist Theory
In the last years of his life, Karl Marx expanded his research in new directions—studying recent anthropological discoveries, analyzing communal forms of ownership in precapitalist societies, supporting the populist movement in Russia, and expressing critiques of colonial oppression in India, Ireland, Algeria, and Egypt. Between 1881 and 1883, he also traveled beyond Europe for the first and only time. Focusing on these last years of Marx’s life, this book dispels two key misrepresentations of his work: that Marx ceased to write late in life, and that he was a Eurocentric and economic thinker fixated on class conflict alone. With The Last Years of Karl Marx, Marcello Musto claims a renewed relevance for the late work of Marx, highlighting unpublished or previously neglected writings, many of which remain unavailable in English. Readers are invited to reconsider Marx’s critique of European colonialism, his ideas on non-Western societies, and his theories on the possibility of revolution in noncapitalist countries. From Marx’s late manuscripts, notebooks, and letters emerge an author markedly different from the one represented by many of his contemporary critics and followers alike.
“Musto takes us by the hand and invites us to discover a new Marx.” ―Antonio Negri, author of Marx beyond Marx
“Highly recommended.” ―M. J. Wert, Choice
“Fills a huge gap in our understanding of Marx.” ―Kevin B. Anderson, New Politics: Journal of Socialist Thought
“[A] bold socio-political reading of Marx.” ―Arkayan Ganguly, Critique: Journal of Socialist Theory
"Marcello Musto, arguably the greatest connoisseur of Marx’s life, offers us one revelation after another. Whereas many have understood the period after the Paris Commune as a time of divulgation and implementation of his already established political doctrine, Musto instead brilliantly demonstrates that Marx spent these years opening new and important theoretical horizons upon which we must meditate in order not to remain ‘Marxists’ against Marx himself!"—Étienne Balibar, author of The Philosophy of Marx"Marcello Musto’s work is essential for his analysis of Marx’s life and thought. In this book, Musto focuses on Marx’s inquiries in his final years. The anthropological manuscripts, the studies on the transformation of property, and the criticism of colonialism written in this period are striking. Musto takes us by the hand and invites us to discover a new Marx."—Antonio Negri, author of Marx beyond Marx"This volume is a major contribution to the study of Marx and revolutionary thought. Beautifully written, constructed through an insightful examination of thousands of pages of Marx’s unpublished writings and notes, this book represents a timely contribution to the contemporary Marx revival. It is a gift to the many who still look to Marx for political inspiration."—Silvia Federici, author of Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation
- Title: The Last Years of Karl Marx: An Intellectual Biography
- Author: Marcello Musto
- Publisher: Stanford University Press
- Print Publication Date: 2023
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Pages: 208
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781503612532, 9781503612525, 150361252X, 1503612538
- Resource ID: LLS:9781503612532
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-21T18:04:55Z
Marcello Musto is Associate Professor of Sociology at York University. His most recent books are Another Marx: Early Manuscripts to the International (2018) and, as editor, The Marx Revival: Key Concepts and New Critical Interpretations (2020).