Sir, Marx was not a great philosopher (letters, June 25) but he was a great sociologist. In developing his powerful thesis about the material basis of interests, values and knowledge, Marx made a seminal contribution to modern social thought.
To imply, as Michael Gove does (Comment, June 22), that Marx is responsible for millions of deaths and untold human misery is like saying that Jesus Christ or the Prophet Muhammad are so responsible.
It is surely important to separate great texts, whether the New Testament, the Koran, or Das Kapital, from the sociopaths, demagogues and dictators who have cynically used them for their own mendacious purposes.
PETER WILSON
(Department of International Relations, LSE)
p.c.wilson@lse.ac.uk