A close reading of Karl Marx’s Writings on Alienation

with the Capital Studies Group

Many authors who have written on this concept over the 20th century have  primarily based their interpretations on Marx’s early writings. In this anthology, however, Marcello Musto focuses in on Marx’s later economic works, in which his thoughts on alienation were elaborated rather differently than in his philosophical manuscripts. Additionally, the writings collated in this volume are unique in their presentation of not only Marx’s critique of capitalism, but also his suggestions about communist society. This wide-ranging collection of Marx’s ideas on alienation provides an important critical tool both for understanding the past and for building a critique of contemporary society.

This group will read and discuss the Introduction to this collection and then the selections from Marx’s writings on alienation, beginning with the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844. From there we move on to key passages from Grundrisse and Capital, Volumes One and Three. We will read and discuss the book in its entirety. We welcome those who are new to Marxist ideas as well as those who have read broadly in the works of Marx and others on these topics.