Revival Of Marxism, The Book

"If the judgment on Marx and Marxism here given is considered too severe, at any rate it was made after a very careful reading of the evidence available, and the examination was undertaken without prejudice.
"In my opinion, as I have shown in other writings, the war disclosed serious weaknesses in the capitalistic system. As the result of these defects, debt and taxation, including that worst form of indirect taxation, the great rise in prices, are higher than they ought to have been.
"The war also, it is true, revealed the strength and the benefits of the capitalistic system and the weaknesses of governmental management.
"I was, however, quite prepared to find on re-reading the Marxian critique of capitalism some ideas that might be of service under present conditions. Other socialists, from Robert Owen downwards, have done good service in spite of their Utopianism in stimulating thought and suggesting practical reforms.
"But the more I read of Marx and his methods the more hopeless and depressing the effect. Marx is the Mad Mullah of socialists. Marxism in practice on a national scale becomes Leninism."

At the time of original publication in 1920, J. Shield Nicholson, Sc.D., LL.D., was Professor of Political Economy in the University of Edinburgh.