trust a scientist, it is no surprise that Marx dons the mantle of the scholar,
highlighting his lengthy research, carried on under the most disagreeable cir-
cumstances. Expelled from France and Belgium because of his fearless inquiries
(wisely, he doesn’t mention Germany), continuously set upon by necessity,
Marx has finally arrived. His “whole material lies before” him, and he is pre-
pared to guide his reader – who, if they “want to follow,” “must decide to
climb from the singular to the general” (1970:19) – the decision is theirs. When
Marx comes to the end of his self-portrait, he is finally in a position to make
a demand. He has established the basis on which he can be trusted – as a
scientist and fearless seeker of truth – and he has cast himself as the sort of
brave soul who can challenge others to be brave. Science is not for everyone.
It is for the fearless few. Marx asks his readers to elect themselves fearless
enough to enter science with him.
This tactic is redeployed and further developed in the Capitalpreface. Marx
alters the Virgilian command he cites. Virgil rebukes Dante; “Follow me and
let the people talk.” Marx says only, “Follow your own course and let the
people talk,” and not as a command, but as a simple report of his own motto.
This alteration follows from the difference between Virgil’s personal rela-
tionship to Dante and Marx’s impersonal relationship to his readers. Marx
cannot possibly draw upon any personal authority; to flatly command his
readers to follow him would get him nowhere. Yet, his feigned solitude and
indifference is belied by his efforts, frequently attested, to popularize Capital
as much as possible. Marx wants his audience to follow him, but he also
knows his audience. If he claims to be following his own course, then those
who follow him can tell themselves the same thing. He has hit upon a rhetor-
ical device that could only work in modernity: “Be an individual – like me.”
Only self-election will suffice.
3. Getting Past the Inscription
If rhetorical analysis shows that Marx tries to provoke his readers into trust-
ing and following him, we must now ask: How does Marx approach politi-
cal economy such that he can make this attempt? Why does Marx think he
can guide us into political economy? And why do we need a guide in the
first place? What is at question here is Marx’s entire conception of science:
what it is, what value it has, and how a revolutionary must engage with it.
To reiterate, the common wisdom would claim that science breaks through
40 • William Clare Roberts