It is this Marx, "the political man", that Draper says is the subject of his volumes. But Draper imposes boundaries on his own work. He "resists" the "temptation to follow questions farther than Marx and Engels" did themselves by exploring what subsequent Marxists had to say. Doing this avoids extending the work too far, but Draper could simply not be definitive and there inevitably would be a risk that his work would be dismissed by those arguing over the interpretation of Marx through later events rather than their actual ideas.
As an opening work volume one begins where Marx began, with his early Hegelian ideas and Marx's break with Hegel. Marx did this, as Draper forensically shows, through an engagement with several key struggles taking place at the time. In particular the struggle for democracy, which led Marx to examine issues like private property, economics and so on. The "embarrassment" of "material interests" that Marx refers to. Draper writes that:
Marx was the first socialist figure to come to an acceptance of the socialist idea through the battle for the consistent extension of democratic control from below. He was the first figure in the socialist movement who, in a personal sense, came through the bourgeois-democratic movement: through it to its farthest bounds, and then out by its farthest end. In this sense he was the first to fuse the struggle for consistent political democracy with the struggle for a socialist transformation.
At this point it's worth noting that Draper's book does not attempt to avoid using the words of Marx (and Engels). Draper is trying to show the development of Marx's thought as it took place, and rather than relying on choice quotes isolated from broader context he frequently uses Marx's own words, often in lengthy quotations. And so it ought to be with Draper, because this is an extremely lucid and quotable exploration of Marxism.
Much of volume one focuses on the question of the democratic struggle, and how Marx develops this into a socialist view. It means that Draper explores some complex issues that might not be necessarily known to those who've engaged primarily with Marx's mature, published work. There is, for instance, a fascinating discussion of Marx's writing on the issue of Jewish emancipation, and a brilliant appendix that explores Marx's thoughts in his work the On the Jewish Question. Draper shows how for Marx the emancipation of Jewish people was not about debates about religion, but rather debates about democracy and society in general. In Draper's words:
The point of the Jewish question in 1843, then, was to get away from controversary over religion in general or the Jews in particular, and to establish that religion was a private matter with relation to the state, thereby emancipating the state from the religious question. The political emancipation of the Jews was a means to general political emancipation.
It's an analysis that shows how Marx rose above the more parochial questions of the radical movements he was engaged with and fitted these issues into wider struggles and understandings of society and history.
As the title of volume one State and Bureaucracy indicates, much of the book is concerned with Marx's theory of the state. Here Draper again delivers a more nuanced exploration of Marx's ideas than we usually get. For instance he notes that the state itself is more than just a directly, violent, coercive body. But one that also uses less direct means of coercion to protect its interests. Marx linked the state to the class nature of society, and Draper shows how Marx explained the state in the context of historical change and the rise of class society. As such there are some lengthy discussions about Asiatic means of Production etc, and what Marx and Engels thought and wrote. Some of these are quite opaque to the general reader, but they build up a consistent framework for Marx's ideas.
It ought to be noted that a great success of the book is that it bases itself on the author's encyclopaedic knowledge of the works of Marx and Engels. There are numerous references to obscure letters or lesser texts and even a short appendix on Marx's early poetry. Draper doesn't do this for completeness or because he is showing off, but because the poetry demonstrates how Marx's ideas matured. That said, most readers will be amazed at the range of sources used and Draper's knowledge of his source material.
Reading volume one I was struck by how valuable and insightful a book this is. Draper's desire not to expand on Marx is valid. But it is impossible not to read Draper and think how Marx's work applies to events, institutions and political and economic questions today. That Hal Draper has made such a massive work so accessible is a testament to his own clarity as a Marxist. I certainly look forward to reading subsequent volumes and seeing how he builds on this excellent first book.
Related Reviews
Draper - Karl Marx's Theory of Revolution Volume 2: The Politics of Social Classes
Mehring - Karl Marx: The Story of his Life
Liebknecht - Karl Marx: Biographical Memoirs
Löwy - The Theory of Revolution in the Young Marx
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