What Grimes can learn from ‘The Communist Manifesto’ (and her split from the world’s richest man)

The Canadian singer Grimes has recently been photographed reading The Communist Manifesto after her split from the world’s richest man, Elon Musk – CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.

Grimes, otherwise known as, Claire Elise Boucher, was photographed in full fantasy costume on a street corner in Los Angeles while absorbed in the book. She has since taken to Instagram to explain that she is not a Communist, more that she got sick of paparazzi following her so used it as an opportunity to troll. Though she did add that “there are some very smart ideas in this book”, so it seems she has read at least some of it.

The Communist Manifesto was composed in late 1847 by German social activists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It analyses and dramatises the divide between rich and poor in industrialising economies and argues in favour of a classless, democratic society.

As a political theorist I have specialised in Marx, Engels and Marxism and have translated this work afresh, so I appreciate what Grimes was referring to as the “smart ideas in this book” – and can imagine how she might be inspired as a reader and artist.

Capitalism and globalisation

As Marx and Engels observe, capitalism “concentrates property in a few hands”. They point to “industrial millionaires” who sit atop the “world market” – those known since the…

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