Marxism 101

[Rakesh Bhandari]

The biographical accounts of Marx by contemporaries Wilhelm Liebknecht and
Paul LaFargue are fascinating (including accounts of Marx's phrenological
sizing up of Liebknecht). The classic bio of Marx is Franz Mehring's Karl
Marx (the 'economic' sections I believe were written by Rosa
Luxemburg)--it has been too long since I read through  it. There is a
short excellent bio by Max Beer, the first attempt at psychobiography by
Otto Ruhle, and a more political bio  by Nikolaevskii--all these are from
the 20s-30s. 

After World War II, one may want to include Maximillen Rubel's Marx
Without Myth (an extremely helpful chrononical survey of Marx's
activities which I read last night only to learn of the deafening
silence Marx's magnum opus was met with). Also worth checking out is Rubel
on Marx: Five Essays, ed. O Malley. Rubel's history of Marx's attempt to
begin and complete his economics is charged and inspiring. I found the
sections of Jerrold Siegel's bio which I did read (e.g., on inversion in
*Capital*) quite stimulating. 

I don't know which bio is supposed to make the claim that Marx's outrage
at society stemmed from the humiliation his family suffered upon its
forced conversion. 

best, rakesh