In the midst of a worldwide social crisis, Marxism has apparently lost momentum and, in many quarters, has been abandoned as obsolete. Cyril Smith reinstates Marx's work as a relevant source of inspiration, arguing that the Marxist tradition has essentially ignored the fundamental ideas of the man himself. By examining the theoretical views of Lenin and Trotsky alongside those of Marx, Smith reveals a discrepancy which can be traced back to figures such as Kautsky and Plekhanov during the Second International - and even to Marx's contemporaries. This work addresses Marx's fundamental question of what it means to be human, demonstrating its validity as we move towards the 21st century.