MARXISM AFTER MARX: An Introduction

by David McLellan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 1979

The history of Marxism is a convoluted lineage of social movements, theories, and dogmas, and it sometimes seems as if the only way to follow it through is with the aid of a map. Cartographer McLellan (Politics, Univ. of Kent), author of several books on Marx--including a biography and Marx Before Marxism--takes the traveler's aid approach to the subject, which has the merit of showing where everything is, but cannot provide the feel of any place in particular. Beginning his survey with Marx's collaborator Engels--whom McLellan portrays as a rigidifier of Marx's more fluid method--McLellan passes through the various factions of German Social Democracy, from reformist Eduard Bernstein to radical Rosa Luxemburg, and on to Russian Marxism's troika of Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin (with a stopover at the ""father of Russian Marxism,"" Plekhanov). Moving west, McLellan backtracks and covers European Marxism between the wars, with brief chapters on Georg Lukacs and Karl Korsch (successors of the Luxemburgian radical tradition), and the Council Communists (advocates of workers' control), and a longer chapter on Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci, whose emphasis on ""cultural hegemony"" shifted the focus from purely economic concerns to the more diffuse cultural barriers to revolution. Things get really scattered after that, as McLellan takes a sharp turn to the east and the Chinese Revolution and Maoism, and then moves on to Latin America and Cuban Marxism, where the emphasis falls on underdevelopment and tactics of guerrilla warfare. Back now to Europe, where the subjects are the various ""schools"" of Marxism divorced from political parties but theoretically sophisticated, like the Frankfurt School, existentialist Marxism (Sartre), structuralism (Althusser), etc. A final stop in the U.S. ends this whirlwind journey on a down note, as recent advances in Marxist theory are contrasted with the complete failure of Marxist movements. Each chapter is accompanied by a full bibliography, which helps, but the overall effect is vertigo. The reader who wants merely to identify and situate a theory or movement, however, will find McLellan a reliable guide; anyone who wishes to understand how these different streams could all have the same source should see Gouldner's new The Two Marxisms (p. 1303).

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1979

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1979

Categories: NONFICTION