Could Lenin, Trotsky, Kautsky, and other prominent Marxists have misunderstood what Marx meant by the phrase “dictatorship of the proletariat”? In this engrossing study, Hal Draper strips away layers of misinterpretation to show that they did indeed misunderstand, and then proceeded to build elaborate ideological constructs on this warped base. | more…
In this third volume of his definitive study of Karl Marx’s political thought, Hal Draper examines how Marx, and Marxism, have dealt with the issue of dictatorship in relation to the revolutionary use of force and repression, particularly as this debate has centered on the use of the term “dictatorship of the proletariat.” Writing with his usual wit and perception, Draper strips away the layers of misinterpretation and misinformation that have accumulated over the years to show what Marx and Engels themselves really meant by the term. | more…
The essays in this volume, by veteran economists as well as younger scholars, are part of a radical attempt to grapple with the problems of advanced capitalist development without discarding the real theoretical breakthroughs made by Keynes. The contributors argue that Keynes was correct in pointing to the economic contradictions stemming from unemployment, incoming inequality, and speculative finance, but failed to consider the class composition of social output, the macroeconomic effects of the modern firm, and the atrophy of investment under conditions of capitalist maturity. | more…
Explores Marx’s attitude to “developing” societies. Includes translations of Marx’s notes from the 1880s, among the most important finds of the last century. | more…
One of the 20th century’s foremost Marxian economists discusses the dialectical method, the contradictions of capitalism, and the future of Marxism. | more…
This classic collection of essays by E.P. Thompson, one of England’s most renowned socialist voices, remains a staple text in the history of Marxist theory. The bulk of the book is dedicated to Thompson’s famous polemic against Louis Althusser and what he considers the reductionism and authoritarianism of Althusserian structuralism. In lively and erudite prose, Thompson argues for a self-critical and unapologetically humanist Marxist tradition. Also included are three essays of considerable importance to the development of the New Left. | more…
This is the second installment of Hal Draper’s exhaustive and incomparable treatment of Marx’s political theory, policy, and practice. In forceful and readable language, Draper ranges through the development of the thought of Marx and Engels on the role of classes in society. | more…
Volume I of Hal Draper’s definitive and masterful study of Marx’s political thought, which focuses on Marx’s attitude toward democracy, the state, intellectuals as revolutionaries, and much, much more. | more…
“This book is a must for those who would follow the Marxist-feminist argument. Most of the authors are developing their arguments within the general outline of Marxist theory, yet their work here exposes some of the tensions and conflicts within that same theory. This is certainly the stuff of dialectics!” — Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews | more…