Why Marx Was Right by Terry Eagleton | Book Talk

capitalism is corrupt

Do you think the capitalist system is corrupt and it’s based on exploitation? If you answered “yes”, then you will definitely enjoy reading  “Why Marx was Right” by Terry Eagleton.

As the title suggests, this is a book about why the writings of Marx were correct about the capitalist system and Eagleton is trying to answer the 10 most common objections to the work of Karl Marx.

Marxism is Dead

The first thing  is trying to refute is the idea that Marxism is dead, it doesn’t have anything to say about contemporary period but as Eagleton points out as long as capitalism survives, Marxism will be there. If there is something outdated, that’s capitalism, not Marxism

Marxist Theory is Detached from Reality

The second thing is that Marxism is a great theory but it doesn’t work in practice, look at what it created: authoritarian regimes, millions of victims, poverty and so on. If we follow the same logic and look at the results of capitalism, we will see lots of similarities: poverty, slavery, two global wars, millions of people died in the past and millions and millions are exploited on a daily basis around the world.

There are other ideas that Terry Eagleton refutes like Marxist theory reduces everything to economics or Marxism supports an absolute state but all these things are bogus, defensive mechanisms to push people away from Marxism. Besides this, he is also criticizing Karl Marx and various ideologies that developed from his theories and some conservatives might agree with him on these issues.

 I don’t think Eagleton is doing all the time a god job in defending Marxism but he is able to suggest why the capitalist system is not as good as people believe it is and why a socialist society would be better than a capitalist society.

Was Marx Right?

I would suggest to read this book and make your own conclusions and see if the the arguments that Eagleton is putting forward should to be taken in consideration.