Before his death in 1997, leading Marxist theoretician Geoff Pilling was preparing a collection that brought together some of his most important articles, along with some previously unpublished material. Work on the volume has now been completed by Doria Pilling, and it includes a new introduction by Ben Fine.

This is a timely publication, as Pilling 's analyses were remarkably prescient of the situation that the world 's economy finds itself in today. In particular, he analyses the crises of post-war capitalism, providing a state of the art analysis of the deep-seated and fundamental problems of the capitalist system. Chapters include an explanation of the fundamental concepts of Marx 's analysis of capitalism, their irreconcilability with Keynes theoretical system and refute the contention that all Marxist theoretical development post-Marx was distorted by Stalinism. Pilling also shows how problems in British capitalism were forerunners of those in world capitalism, and defends Engels contention that the greatest significance of the industrial revolution was the development of a working class that was forced to fight against its conditions of oppression.

Geoff Pilling's work shows that Marxist theory is relevant to those struggling to understand the problems of capitalist society today, and that the work not only of Marx and Engels but that of later Marxist theorists, including Lenin is worth studying. It also shows that to understand the problems of today's society needs more than narrow specialist economic analysis, but a deep awareness of current developments in society.