Marx for Beginners by Ruis

Ruis.
Marx for Beginners.
Trans. Richard Appiagnanesi.
New York:
Pantheon Books, 1976.

Functioning as both biography and history book, Marx for Beginners is an introduction to Communism and its most well known philosopher, Karl Marx. Understanding the daunting task before him, Ruis makes an attempt at summarizing, condensing, and explaining the beginnings of Communist philosophy. Beginning with an introduction to Marx, Ruis continues with the background behind its development. As Ruis further explains how Marx came to his revolutionary ideas, there is more explanation of the revolutionary thinker as well. Though certainly not comprehensive in any aspect, Ruis does break down a substantial number of ideas, thoughts, actions, attempting to make them more accessible to the reader.

Though much of the material in Marx for Beginners is helpful and easy to understand, it gets lost somewhere between the words and the graphics Ruis creates. The book is not a history in graphics, but a history with graphics. Much of what the reader learns is presented in a typical text format, though it is in a more comic script. The characters and pictures have little sequential meaning and are typically meant to be humorous sidebars on whatever historical or informational statement the book has made. They often appear more as a distraction to the flow of the work than an addition. While the graphics certainly make the substance lighter, it does not adequately contribute to its accessibility or ultimate understanding. The book remains informative, but little is gained by its presentation in the graphic medium. Had this not been the case, it might have survived as a work worthy of presentation indefinitely as a tool to understand Communism by reluctant readers of history, but since the ending of the Cold War, it is destined to become a relic of “fun” historical works.