Citizen Marx - by Bruno Leipold (Hardcover)

About the Book

"A compelling and comprehensive analysis of Marx's social and political thought, primarily as it relates to his underappreciated republicanism"--

Book Synopsis

The first book to offer a comprehensive exploration of Marx's relationship to republicanism, arguing that it is essential to understanding his thought

In Citizen Marx, Bruno Leipold argues that, contrary to certain interpretive commonplaces, Karl Marx's thinking was deeply informed by republicanism. Marx's relation to republicanism changed over the course of his life, but its complex influence on his thought cannot be reduced to wholesale adoption or rejection. Challenging common depictions of Marx that downplay or ignore his commitment to politics, democracy, and freedom, Leipold shows that Marx viewed democratic political institutions as crucial to overcoming the social unfreedom and domination of capitalism. One of Marx's principal political values, Leipold contends, was a republican conception of freedom, according to which one is unfree when subjected to arbitrary power.

Placing Marx's republican communism in its historical context--but not consigning him to that context--Leipold traces Marx's shifting relationship to republicanism across three broad periods. First, Marx began his political life as a republican committed to a democratic republic in which citizens held active popular sovereignty. Second, he transitioned to communism, criticizing republicanism but incorporating the republican opposition to arbitrary power into his social critiques. He argued that although a democratic republic was not sufficient for emancipation, it was necessary for it. Third, spurred by the events of the Paris Commune of 1871, he came to view popular control in representation and public administration as essential to the realization of communism. Leipold shows how Marx positioned his republican communism to displace both antipolitical socialism and anticommunist republicanism. One of Marx's great contributions, Leipold suggests, was to place politics (and especially democratic politics) at the heart of socialism.

Review Quotes

"A richly detailed and meticulously argued intellectual archaeology of both congruities and divergences between Marx's socialism and his republican contemporaries. . . . Leipold's comprehensive and convincing tour de force surveys not only Marx's thought but also various strands of leftist thinking in 19th-century Europe, including neglected republicanism. . . . Essential."-- "Choice"

"[A] highly readable debut. The book's clear strengths include its intensive source material, its conscious consideration of the historical context, and Leipold's ability to identify the specific content of Marx's 'republican communism.'"---Joshua Graf, Portal für Politikwissenschaft

"Citizen Marx presents a compelling, deeply researched, and elegantly written analysis of Marx's relationship to republicanism, and it will no doubt become an important point of reference in future discussions about Marx's thought. . . . [It] is an excellent reconstruction of the debates in which Marx's communism was forged, and it succeeds in contextualizing Marx's thinking without burying it in the nineteenth century. Although the book is clearly a work of intellectual history, it also engages with several issues that remain relevant for twenty-first century revolutionaries."---Søren Mau, Spectre

"[A] brilliant systematic study of Marx's relationship to republicanism as a form of radical politics in his lifetime, and the heavy influence on Marx's ideas of the republican conception of freedom. . . . [Citizen Marx] ought to be very widely read. . . . [and] it should be comprehensible and useful to activists in the organized and disorganized left."---Mike McNair, Jacobin

"Leipold boldly argues that 'republican freedom suffused Marx's critique of the social domination of capitalism'. . . . [and] convincingly shows that Marx did not really convert to a preexisting communist vision so much as fashion his own version of communism by combining elements of republicanism with it. . . . provocative."---Andrew Hartman, New Labor Forum

"Many non-socialist 19th-century radicals shared much of Marx's diagnosis of the problems with capitalism. But they disagreed sharply with his proposed cure. They dreamed of reversing the process by which the working class had lost access to its own means of production. Bruno Leipold gives us a fascinating look at these debates. . . . [and] showcases the ways in which classical republican themes about freedom from arbitrary power influenced Marx's own thought."---Ben Burgis, Unherd

"In his informative and enjoyable new book [Leipold] examines the political opinions of Karl Marx and their place in the rather neglected field of 19^th-century republicanism. . . . [H]ighly original."---Jonathan Rée, Literary Review

"Leipold meticulously documents Marx's vacillating journey between the philosophies of republicanism and socialism. . . . Classical history of political thought tends to present Marx's thought as a stand-alone, independent reflection on the political tensions of industrial capitalism, as if Marx's socialism emerged out of an intellectual vacuum. But Leipold shows that Marx continuously positioned himself vis-à-vis rival thinkers and activists."---Tim Christiaens, LSE Review of Books

About the Author

Bruno Leipold is a fellow in political theory at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is the coeditor of Radical Republicanism: Recovering the Tradition's Popular Heritage.