Best known for the 1862 defeat of the French empire by Mexico, 5 May was also Karl Marx’s birthday 200 years ago in 1818.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinco_de_Mayo

This May also marks the 50th anniversary of the “May 1968 events in France” which marked the peak of a global upheaval known as “the sixties” when the world was again reminded that revolution is for advanced western capitalist countries too:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_1968_events_in_France

I don’t have much to say about any of these unrelated events, and birthday’s are not in themselves historical events. But this does seem a suitable moment to suggest some reading on Marx.

As a former “suixante-huitard” I can confirm we neither knew nor needed to know much about economics. But it is all the more our duty to help the coming next generation of rebels understand that it is no longer optional. Such work has been put off for more than a century and the coming economic crisis won’t wait another century before there are more upheavals in which rebels will be far too busy rebelling to spend time figuring out how we might actually transform the world economy when we win.

This is a continuation of my initial list for “Studying Philosophy” as preliminary reading to help understand Maksakovsky’s “The Capitalist Cycle”:

https://c21stleft.com/2017/10/19/studying-philosophy/

At present the only other short item I would add to the four main short works there is Engels on Feuerbach:

https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1886/ludwig-feuerbach/

I am still working on a similar list for “Studying Economics”. Meanwhile I just came across a recent book of translations of early 20th Century “orthodox marxism” co-authored by Maksakovsky’s translator, Richard B Day with Daniel Gaido. That whole book looks very appropriate for this 200th anniversary:

Responses to Marx’s Capital: from Rudolf Hilferding to Isaak Illich Rubin

A detailed description is here, together with link for free download of the full text .pdf.

https://libcom.org/library/responses-marxs-capital-rudolf-hilferding-isaak-illich-rubin

I haven’t finished reading it but certainly intend to include on the final list the first two chapters of translations from Kaufmann and Bauer.

Marx’s “Introduction” will also need to be on the list:

https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1857/grundrisse/ch01.htm

Likewise Hilferding’s 1910 “Finance Capital” was an important follow on from “Capital” needed by Maksakovsky and indicating the vast amount of work that has to be done to seriously grasp another full century of capitalist development since then.

https://www.marxists.org/archive/hilferding/1910/finkap/index.htm

Those two chapters of recent translations from Day and Gaido explain why the above two long available “classics” are important and provide a clear link between the philosophical and economic background useful for understanding Marx and Maksakovsky.

After 200 years, of not understanding Marx, “It’s Time”.