But we should conclude this section on a more positive
note. The force of Marx’s early writings is to question the
liberal democratic complacency that we find in much of the
developed world. As we have seen, Marx’s thought has much
in common with the growing anti-capitalist movement. This
shouldn’t be a surprise as he was one of its inspirations, but it
helps us to see the continuing relevance and fertility of his
thought. Here are some examples.
First, the critique of money, from the 1844 Manuscripts, is
perhaps best read as a critique of commodification: the fact
that more and more of the things we value are turned into
commodities to be bought and sold in the marketplace. Selling
children for adoption over the internet is a prominent
recent example, but other examples abound. Top-class amateur
sport barely exists any more, while stories about football
clubs appear on the business pages every day. Education is
increasingly driven by issues about financial resources and
accounting. An enormous army of people are employed to
care for the infant children and elderly parents of others.
‘Value’ now almost means ‘price’, or even ‘bargain price’.
Less and less is given out of love, an instinctive sense of duty,
or goodwill, and more and more is sold or exchanged for
economic advantage.
Second, Marx took great pains to draw attention to the
power of large corporations, especially large financial corporations,
who in their commercial decisions may even have
the power of life and death over the individuals they decide