From Conference Convener: Marx at 200

Abstract

"In accordance with Marx's whole worldview ," writes Rosa Luxemburg in her discussion about scound volume of "Capital" ,"his magnum opus is no Bible containing ultimate truthes that are valid for all time, pronounced by the highest and final authority; instead it is an inexhaustible stimulus for further intellectual work, furthur research and the struggle for truth." Written at the turn of twientieth-century, Luxemburg's candid estimation of Marx's chef-d'oeuvre spells out how we should approach the German revolutionary's work as we engage with him. Marx is no prophet; nor is he a source of eternal truths. He is, however, an inexhaustible wellspring of wisdom who can be summond into service in our struggles to create better society. Luxemburg's clearsighted approximations on Marx's legacy leaves it to a subsequent generations to figure out what their own relationships with the German philosopher and revolutionary will be like. Two centuries after Marx's birth in 1818, we see ourselves having to grapple with the long and intimidating shadow of Karl Heinrich Marx, either trying to coalesce around him or briskly fending off his troubling specter.