Although the exposition of Marx’s Early Writings was fairly
lengthy, in assessment we can be relatively brief. The topics
we discussed included religion; the philosophy of historical
materialism; alienation, including alienated labour; money
and credit; liberalism; and emancipation. For myself I find
Marx’s remarks on most of these issues full of insight. This is
not to say, of course, that I am ready to swallow them whole,
and considerable questions can be raised. First I shall point to
a few of the difficulties that I find in this part of Marx’s work.