Marx's Revenge

In this provocative and enthusiastically revisionist book, the distinguished economist Meghnad Desai argues that capitalism’s recent efflorescence is something Karl Marx anticipated and indeed would, in a certain sense, have welcomed. Capitalism, as Marx understood it, would only reach its limits when it was no longer capable of progress. Desai argues that globalization, in bringing the possibility of open competition on world markets to producers in the Third World, has proved that capitalism is still capable of moving forwards.

Marx’s Revenge opens with a consideration of the ideas of Adam Smith and Hegel. It proceeds to look at the nuances in the work of Marx himself, and concludes with a survey of more recent economists who studied capitalism and attempted to unravel its secrets, including Joseph Schumpeter, John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich Hayek.“... anti-globalization activists would do well to check out Marx’s Revenge, which is an economic history aimed at the general reader.”—Irish Times

“A criticism from the Left was that it was over-optimistic to hope for ‘social capitalism.’ Well, perhaps. But capitalism is all we’ve got and Meghnad Desai’s book Marx’s Revenge, published by Verso, is brilliantly timed.”—William Keegan, The Observer

“Marx, if we did but know it, is the prophet and advocate of globalization.”—Will Hutton, Independent Magazine

“A stimulating, judicious and learned book, at times provocative and merry, but, above all, thoughtful on where the world has come from ... and the errors and breakthroughs of judgement which allow us to treat our economic world with enhanced self-consciousness.”—Development Policy ReviewMeghnad Desai was Director at the Centre for Global Governance at the London School of Economics. His previous books include Marxian Economics, Applied Econometrics, and India’s Triple Bypass.