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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
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Crisis-Stricken Germans Turn to Marx

As the economy founders, sales of Das Kapital soar

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(Newser) – The financial crisis has made interventionists out of the most laissez-faire politicians, but in Germany the affection for state control seems to have attained new heights. The Guardian reports that sales of the works of Karl Marx have skyrocketed, with purchases of Das Kapital reportedly up 300%. As Europe's largest economy feels the pinch, one publisher said, "Marx is in fashion again."

Once the whipping boy for the worst excesses of Communism, the economic theorist is receiving a second look; even the country's finance minister admitted that "certain parts of Marx's theory are really not so bad." His writings on economics are famously abstruse, but his journalism remains accessible; as he wrote to Engels in 1857, "the American crash is a delight to behold and it's far from over."

Karl Marx
Karl Marx   (©tpholland)
Sales of the work of Karl Marx have soared in Germany as the credit crisis has slowed Europe's largest economy.
Sales of the work of Karl Marx have soared in Germany as the credit crisis has slowed Europe's largest economy.   (©abragad)
Sales of the work of Karl Marx have soared in Germany as the credit crisis has slowed Europe's largest economy.
Sales of the work of Karl Marx have soared in Germany as the credit crisis has slowed Europe's largest economy.   (Wikimedia)
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Readers are typically of a young academic generation, who have come to recognize that the neoliberal promises of happiness have not proved to be true. - Jörn Schütrumpf, Marx's German publishing house, Karl- Dietz

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