File spoon-archives/marxism2.archive/marxism2_1996/96-04-30.191, message 60


Date: Mon, 22 Apr 1996 20:23:19 -0400 (EDT)
From: Justin Schwartz <jschwart-AT-freenet.columbus.oh.us>
Subject: Re: Biography of Marx



I do not think Cliff's bio of Lenin is even as good as the other
(bourgeois) biographies, particularly Service's. It strikes me as a
chronological narrative interspered with sometimes tendentious,
occasionally astute comments on L's ideas and tactics. The bio of Trotsky
is similar. That of Luxemburg, really a commentray, is a good deal better.
Callinicos' little book on Marx is pretty good, although for a survey of
Marx's ideas I much prefer Richard Schmitt's Introduction to Marx and
Engels (Westview). Neither stands, on a literary level, up to Berlin's
Karl Marx.

--Justin

On Mon, 22 Apr 1996, Jorn Andersen wrote:

> While I was trying to make a clean up in my
> mail boxes I found this:
> 
> Justin Schwartz wrote:
> > There are no good bios of Lenin.
> 
> Justin then lists some of the "no goods".
> 
> One unmentioned biography is Tony Cliff: Lenin (3 vols).
> I would recommend it as an easy read (even for those
> of us who don't read English as our first language).
> 
> If you get an older edition it was in 4 vols - in the
> newest vols 3+4 are put together.
> 
> Tony Cliff also wrote a short biography of Luxemburg and
> has recently finished a 4 vol biography of Trotsky (I
> think especially vol 4 about Trotsky in the 30's is really
> worth reading.
> 
> About Marx Alex Callinicos has written "The Revolutionary
> Ideas of Karl Marx".
> 
> All of them are published by Bookmarks (London, Chicago,
> Melbourne) and the authors are leading members of the
> Socialist Workers' Party (UK) - Just a warning :-)
> 
> 
> Yours
>  
> Jorn Andersen
> 
> IS
> Denmark
> 
> 
> 
> 
>      --- from list marxism2-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---





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