Whither Marxism?: Global Crises in International Perspective [Paperback]

Bernd Magnus (Editor), Stephen Cullenberg (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415910439 | ISBN-13: 978-0415910439 | Publication Date: November 28, 1994 | Edition: 1

Whither Marxism considers the fate of Marxism after the global collapse of communism. This ground-breaking collection, the companion volume to Jacques Derrida's Specters of Marx , reassesses Marx as a philosopher and political thinker and examines the wider questions about the current status of Marxist social goals. What is living and what is dead in Marxism? Has the collapse of communism also spelled the death of Marxism and of Marx as an important political thinker? Have we reached the end of history' as Frances Fukayama has argued, where pluralistic democracies and capitalist economies reign supreme? Given the plight of the homeless, the lack of adequate health care, environmental degradation, racism and enormous national debt burdens, what sort of a model for the future do we have? Whither Marxism? raises these questions in an international and interdisciplinary context. It brings leading scholars from North America and Western Europe into conversation with scholars from former communist countries who lived through and often participated in these transformations.

Editorial Reviews

Review

They hold conferences on the future of Marxism, when what they are anxiously discussing is the future of themselves. This volume is the product of such a conference...There are ten papers of various kinds, from high theory to practical advice..
– Philosophy in Review, Vol. 17, No. 1-3, 1997

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (November 28, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415910439
• ISBN-13: 978-0415910439
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,593,785 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Walking Forward While Looking Backwards, December 17, 2010

By 

S. J. Boatwright (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Whither Marxism?: Global Crises in International Perspective (Paperback)

It is impossible to speak of where socialism may be going without a discussion of its recent history. The Soviet and Chinese "Communist" systems were certainly failures, but were they failures of Marxian theory? This book answers with a resounding no! The all-star cast of academics picks apart both right and left-wing myths on Marxian ideology; from the fictional depiction of Marx as a totalitarian, to demonstrating how the work of Foucault owes much to Marx's Labor Theory of Value.

It is wrong to deify any political thinker, a mistake the authors are sure to avoid as they remain critical of Marx himself, but to abandon one of the most important critiques of modern society is a far worse offense. Much of Marx is outdated; it's not the 19th century anymore. However, this book gives readers a chance to discover the true Marx and the aspects of his thought that are more relevant today than ever.