The Retreat From Class A New 'True' Socialsim

by Wood, Ellen Meiksins

• ISBN13: 9781859842706
• ISBN10: 1859842704
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-01-17
• Publisher: Verso

Summary

In this classic study, which won the Isaac Deutscher Memorial Prize, Ellen Wood provides a survey of influential trends in contemporary Marxist theory. Identifying a common trend to dissociate political analysis from class interest, she pursues her own conception of the complex but undeniable relations between class, politics and ideology. In a new introduction, Wood discusses the relevance of The Retreat From Class in a post-Soviet world. She locates post-Marxism as a predecessor to current academic trends such as postmodernism, and argues that a re-examination of class politics by academia is one way out of the current, cynical acceptance of capitalism.

Author Biography

Ellen Meiksins Wood, for many years Professor of Political Science at York University, Toronto, is the author of many books, including Democracy Against Capitalism and, with Verso, The Pristine Culture of Capitalism, The Origin of Capitalism, Peasant-Citizen and Slave, Citizens to Lords, Empire of Capital and Liberty and Property.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix	(2)
Introduction to the New Edition	xi
1 The New 'True' Socialism	1	(11)
2 The Journey to the New 'True' Socialism: Displacing Class Struggle and the Working Class	12	(13)
3 The Forerunner: Nicos Poulantzas	25	(22)
4 The Autonomization of Ideology and Politics	47	(28)
5 The Randomization of History and Politics	75	(15)
6 Politics and Class	90	(12)
7 The Non-Correspondence Principle: A Historical Case	102	(14)
8 Platonic Marxism	116	(14)
9 Socialism and Democracy	130	(10)
10 Capitalism, Liberalism, Socialism	140	(27)
11 Socialism and 'Universal Human Goods'	167	(13)
12 Conclusions	180	(21)
Index	201