Reading Marx's Capital with David Harvey

[Sosa]

http://davidharvey.org/reading-capital/

I have to say that his video lectures on Capital are pretty good. I'm starting this "class" today. I've already skimmed through some of his video lectures.

[Scrooge]

I'm about halfway through class 4, reading along.

[u.s.red]

I am also watching the Harvey video....I wonder if anyone else has had the same thought: that Harvey is not very revolutionary. I don't mean bomb throwing or anything, but it seems he's somewhat..tame. I wonder what Marx would have thought about him?

[The Idler]

Someone said I. I. Rubin's History of Economic Thought is better.

[Clarksist]

I started the video series to study Capital Vol. 1, but decided to get his book instead (A Companion to Marx's Capital from Verso). It has really helped me comprehend what I am reading and to connect concepts.

Also, it helps to read a summary of a chapter right after reading a chapter. That deep concentration on argument followed by the grander view of the arguments helps me so very much.

I think something Harvey really does well is promote the literary value of Capital, along with the sheer entertainment value of the thing. To any comrade who hasn't picked it up out of intimidation (both in size and content), I think you will be very pleased. It is actually a rollicking good read with colorful bits all the way through. I've even laughed out loud several times and I'm just now on Chapter 5.

To u.s.red, I don't think this is a helpful way to approach a teacher. Harvey has done a lot of good thinking and educating on the subject of historical materialism and Marxism. This is what I hate about leftist forums (on the internet or in real life): it skews your perspective on what ideologies are accepted and respected. Conversations become so academic and abstract that a lot of the actual revolutionary value vanishes, and it becomes a race towards the most left. I don't mean to pick on you specifically, I'm sure you could point out many things Harvey has said that smell very "tame", but I urge you to keep in mind that David Harvey is a Marxist of the possible and the real, as well as a very informed and competent guide through a complex but worthwhile read. He is not above criticism, granted, but he has spent a lifetime trying to improve the lives of the world working class in the best role he could serve. That is as revolutionary as it gets in my book.

[Ismail]

I am also watching the Harvey video....I wonder if anyone else has had the same thought: that Harvey is not very revolutionary. I don't mean bomb throwing or anything, but it seems he's somewhat..tame. I wonder what Marx would have thought about him?Obviously he's restrained to being an academic who teaches Marxian economics since that seems to be his actual focus.

He's a professor who encourages people to read Capital and helps in its readability. He really doesn't need to do much more. If he like led the Revolutionary David Harvey Martyr Liberation Front or something and called on all revolutionaries to valiantly ally with the Democrats then it'd be a different story.

[Robespierre Richard]

I think after the third or so chapter, when he finishes explaining the mindset Marx was in while writing the theories, the whole thing becomes a little incomprehensible.

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/2628/harvey.jpg

[u.s.red]

That is as revolutionary as it gets in my book.

Harvey is helping me to understand Capital and Marx. I've been reading Marx, Engels, Trotsky, Lenin, etc. on and off (mostly off) for the last 15-20 yrs or so.
Looking at the political and economic situation the u.s. is in right now, I wonder if just "Reading Capital" is sufficient, if it ever was, to revolutionize society? I realize that Harvey is an academic; and Marx was a political revolutionary until he was exiled from Germany, France and Belgium. When he got to London I assume he mostly wrote and studied; I don't think he engaged in much political activity. I wonder if Marx's life has become a theme for later Marxists.

Except, I suppose, for those who had revolution forced on them, Lenin, Luxembourg, Trotsky, Mao, Ho, Castro, etc.

[Ismail]

Well early on both Marx and Engels predicted revolution in Britain, but that came to pass (which they linked with imperialism and the formation of a labor aristocracy in Britain). By the end of Engels' life he was more focused on the SPD's electoral campaigns and giving advice to its leaders, IIRC. He also had high hopes for a revolution in the USA after visiting it.

You don't really read Capital to "revolutionize society." You read it to understand the internal dynamics of capitalism.