A penetrating reassessment of Marxist thought and its relevance today, by a world-renowned historian of Marxism

"We need to take account of Marx today," argues Eric Hobsbawm in this persuasive and highly readable book. The ideas of capitalism's most vigorous and eloquent enemy have been enlightening in every era, the author contends, and our current historical situation of free-market extremes suggests that reading Marx may be more important now than ever.

Hobsbawm begins with a consideration of how we should think about Marxism in the post-communist era, observing that the features we most associate with Soviet and related regimes—command economies, intrusive bureaucratic structures, and an economic and political condition of permanent war—are neither derived from Marx's ideas nor unique to socialist states. Further chapters discuss pre-Marxian socialists and Marx's radical break with them, Marx's political milieu, and the influence of his writings on the anti-fascist decades, the Cold War, and the post–Cold War period. Sweeping, provocative, and full of brilliant insights, How to Change the World challenges us to reconsider Marx and reassess his significance in the history of ideas.

Review

"Hobsbawm has lived through so much of the political turbulence he portrays that it is easy to fantasize that History itself is speaking here, in its wry, all-seeing, dispassionate wisdom. It is hard to think of a critic of Marxism who can address his or her own beliefs with such honesty and equipoise."—Terry Eagleton, London Review of Books -- Terry Eagleton ― London Review of Books Published On: 2011-03-03

"[T]his collection shows [Hobsbawm] is a brilliant writer, erudite critic and, as he approaches his 94th birthday, a joyfully unrepentant communist. . . . [ How to Change the World ] is a book anyone interested in politics could and should devour. It is charmingly optimistic and constantly lucid, and contains the distilled wisdom of a great thinker, thinking about a great thinker." Amol Rajan, Independent -- Amol Rajan ― Independent Published On: 2011-02-20

"This is a book of serious ideas, not of politics."— Ben Wilson, Daily Telegraph -- Ben Wilson ― Daily Telegraph Published On: 2011-01-14

“Hobsbawm… is as clear and trenchant as ever in How to Change the World.”— Bookforu m ― Bookforum

About the Author

Eric Hobsbawm is professor emeritus, department of history, classics and archaeology, and president, Birkbeck University of London. He lives in London.