Conversation

@Iguanadelmar @HeavenlyPossum @PallasRiot I get your point! First of all, I didn't say "Marxism", I said Marx's critique of political economy, i.e. his critique of capitalism, primarily in Capital. One reason that I find that critique important, as because it analyzes capitalism as a historical dynamic, a system with a beginning and (at some point, in some way) and end, with its own limits and crisis tendencies, and closely related to the state. If the modern state-form is dependent on capital, understanding the limits of capital also helps us understanding the limit of state socialism, in all its forms.
On the other hand, if you want a book imagining or proposing solutions, you shouldn't take up Capital. I'd say that falls outside the scope of the project (i.e. the critique of political economy). I also don't think we really need Marx to see coercive power as a fundamental problem. People have understood that for centuries and centuries. But with capitalism, coercive power takes on certain new forms that we need to understand, and I do think Marx' critical theory is vital for this (and that most of what is known as "Marxism" stands in the way of that understanding).