With parallel to the current credit crunch and global financial crisis, lately an interest into economy and finance has arisen in me. I started to wonder how economy works. In the last couple of months, I read couple of popular economic books such as The Undercover Economist. Unfortunately they failed to answer some of my questions. So i decided read something from a critics of liberal capitalist economic system such as Karl Marx. As many of you know, as a philosopher, academic and theoritical revolutionist, he is one of the most influential person of the modern times. My research on the net led me to an interesting free online e-book "The Revolutionary Idea of Karl Marx" by an British academic Alex Callinicos. You can download it from following address :
http://www.istendency.net/pdf/revideas.pdf
http://www.istendency.net/pdf/revideas.pdf
This book gave me an absolutely different perspective on original idea of Karl Marx. As he pointed out in his latest years ("All I know is that I am not a Marxist") many of of Marx's ideas are misunderstood, twisted or not implemented in the correct way. In this biography Callinicos explains the revolutionary idea and life of Karl Marx in a plain way. Even more, in a way, the book gives an insight to the fundamental reasons of latest financial global crisis as Trotsky also pointed out:
"Capitalism does live by crises and booms just as human being lives by inhaling and exhaling... Crises and booms were inherent in capitalism from birth; they will accompany it to its grave." (This quote from Trotsky always comes to my mind whenever a financial expert on TV try to explain the fundamental reason of latest crisis and bonus culture in the city.)
Although i think some of Karl Marx's ideas are irrelevant now, it is still a great book to read to understand modern politics, economy and class based social life.
