Reinventing Marxism

The collapse of the Soviet Union provides the opportunity to re-evaluate Marxism as an alternative to conventional pro-capitalist perspectives. Arguing that Soviet Marxism distorted Marxian thought, this book acknowledges that Marxism must move beyond its traditional Soviet formulation. What is needed is a new, critical Marxism that is integral to a radical political economy - a Marxism that sees society as an organic whole, dependent upon an integrated set of relationships. The author applies his relational-historical approach to four problems: poverty and exploitation, unemployment, the state and the history of the Soviet Union. Then, using the same approach, he explores several important subjects of classical Marxism - dialectics, materialism, determinism, and Marxian humanism. In the final part of the book, Sherman reconstructs contemporary Marxism as a political economy and uses it as a critique of such failed communist societies as the former Yugoslavia and Soviet Union. He also shows how Marxism can be a valuable tool for examining society, economics, and politics in the United States.