Harry Cleaver's article “Karl Marx: Economist or Revolutionary?” was first presented in 1983 when it brought the need for a critical re-examination of Marx’s works to a wider audience than ever before. As a landmark in the move to return to Marx’s own writings as opposed to his interpreters, we have reproduced this article on Marx Myths and Legends as it was published in 1986.
Source: Originally written for the Centennial Symposium on Marx, Schumpeter and Keynes held at the University of Colorado at Denver, August 20-22, 1983. Published in Suzanne W. Helburn and David F. Bramhall, eds., Marx, Schumpeter and Keynes: A Centenary Celebration of Dissent, Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 1986, pp. 121-146. Used with permission of the author, as per Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Licence 2.0.
Harry Cleaver works at the Economic Department of the University of Texas at Austin, where he teaches a web-based course on the History of Economic Thought. Harry has in fact pioneered the use of the internet to extend the reach of University education to those who would otherwise be excluded.
Since his 1972 critique of “green economics,” Harry has published innumerable books and articles, the most famous and recent of which is probably Reading Capital Politically (2000). Harry has also written extensively on the Zapatista insurgency.
See also: Harry Cleaver's home page