Many thousands of people have read Marx, all of his works. More important, his basic ideas are clear and understandable.
Marx believed that history was driven by the means of production, and that the original means, foraging, produced societies that were egalitarian and peaceful. Then the human race switched to agriculture, and societies became unequal, oppressive, and militaristic. This went on for thousands of years, until finally some societies switched to industrialization and capitalism, which upended the old social order, but lead to new forms of oppression and suffering. But capitalism has internal contradictions that will lead to its being overthrown by the workers and replaced with anarchistic socialism which will be egalitarian and peaceful. And so everyone should join in and support the overthrow of capitalism.
That is all clear and understandable, and that is not an accident, because Marx's goal was to change the world through mass political action, and the only way that can happen is if you have a set of ideas that is understandable to ordinary people.
And that leads me back to Foucault. If is ideas are so complex and subtle that only a tiny elite of dedicated scholars can understand them, then they are of little use in helping people overcome the many things wrong in the world today.
Marx believed that history was driven by the means of production, and that the original means, foraging, produced societies that were egalitarian and peaceful. Then the human race switched to agriculture, and societies became unequal, oppressive, and militaristic. This went on for thousands of years, until finally some societies switched to industrialization and capitalism, which upended the old social order, but lead to new forms of oppression and suffering. But capitalism has internal contradictions that will lead to its being overthrown by the workers and replaced with anarchistic socialism which will be egalitarian and peaceful. And so everyone should join in and support the overthrow of capitalism.
That is all clear and understandable, and that is not an accident, because Marx's goal was to change the world through mass political action, and the only way that can happen is if you have a set of ideas that is understandable to ordinary people.
And that leads me back to Foucault. If is ideas are so complex and subtle that only a tiny elite of dedicated scholars can understand them, then they are of little use in helping people overcome the many things wrong in the world today.