Introducing Marxism: A Graphic Guide

By Rupert Woodfin and Oscar Zárate

Book Overview

Was Marx himself a 'Marxist'? Was his visionary promise of socialism betrayed by Marxist dictatorship? Is Marxism inevitably totalitarian? What did Marx really say? "Introducing Marxism" provides a fundamental account of Karl Marx's original philosophy, its roots in 19th century European ideology, his radical economic and social criticism of capitalism that inspired vast 20th century revolutions. It assesses Marxism's Russian disciples, Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin who forged a ruthless dogmatic Communism. The book examines the alternative Marxist approaches of Gramsci, the Frankfurt School of critical theory and the structuralist Marxism of Althusser in the 1960s. It marshals postmodern interpretations of Marxism and raises the spectre of 'post-Marxism' in Derrida's confrontation with Fukuyama's 'end of history' doctrine.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1848310587
• ISBN13: 9781848310582
• Release Date: February 2009
• Publisher: Icon Books
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 4.6" x 6.6"

Customer Reviews

a great "introduction" to an overview of the history of Marxism

This introducing book-although not that "introducing" without some philosophical background-is a great historical survey of the influential system of thought. It outlines all the major changes of the thought from Hegel to Althusser and its break with postmodernism and shows that...somehow...history does move in the dialectical fashion, Although not in the materialism sense. Like any other "philosophical" thought, it flaws. And this book can concretely outlines the criticisms that come from within the Marxism circle itself and from the "out-siders" In a nut shell, this book is a great introduction to Marxism.