Ever since the collapse of socialism in East Europe and the Soviet Union the political project of Marxism has been seriously questioned. A spate of philosophies and social movements has arisen casting doubt about the relevance of Marxist theories for understanding contemporary problems. The present volume is a revised and enlarged edition of a book first published in 1986. Twenty-two essays and articles, sixteen from the old collection and six fresh additions, have been put together for this new collection. The issues with which the book are indirectly concerned are relatively familiar. Not only have Marx’s doctrines given rise to a host of widely conflicting interpretations, but he has himself been extolled or alternatively denounced, as contributing to the advance of oppressed political regimes. Some have treated his historical prophecy about socialism as faulty and the regimes created in his name inhuman.
February 2004, volume 28, No 2