Marx for Beginners - Rius, 1972

Rius was a self-educated Mexican cartoonist and political activist. 'Marx para principiantes' was translated from spanish into english in 1976 and became a huge success, sparking off the '...for Beginners' series of graphic explainers on countless other topics from Einstein and Darwin, to Freud and Postmodernism. These books are still commonly seen in stores with their own dedicated displays.

The book commences with a biographical sketch of Marx's life. Rius then gives an historical account of western philosophy from pre-historical speculations and the ancient Greeks to the Renaissance and Marx's dialectical materialism. In looking at earlier thinkers, Rius draws out ideas with radical potential that were to influence Marxism. The last third explains Marx's political and economic theories with a detailed analysis of the Communist Manifesto.

Rius' style weaves simple and whimsical cartoon interludes with longer blocks of detailed text. The reader will surge through 20 pages only to be stopped by a dense page of Das Kapital. There's a cut and paste photocopied feel about it and a self-deprecating humour here that is neither patronising overly high-brow. Although definitely of its time, the ideas are weighty and it still reads well today.