An Anthology of Western Marxism: From Lukacs and Gramsci to Socialist-Feminism

This anthology brings together readings from the works of the most significant post-Leninist Marxist thinkers. The selections reflect the diversity & high intellectual accomplishment of 20th-century Marxism & show how these theorists have transformed traditional Marxism’s general philosophical orientation, interpretation of historical materialism, models of socialist political practice & conception of human liberation. The writings reveal the evolution of a sophisticated & democratic Marxism with a theoretical emphasis on class consciousness & subjectivity, a resistance to all forms of domination–including sexism–& a belief in the political power of consciousness-raising. The selections include the work of forerunners Karl Korsch, George Lukacs & Antonio Gramsci; figures from the 1930s, including Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno & Wilhelm Reich; post-war & New Left thinkers Jean-Paul Sartre, Andre Gorz, Herbert Marcuse & Jurgen Habermas; & contemporary socialist-feminists Sheila Rowbotham, Juliet Mitchell, Barbara Ehrenreich, Heidi Hartmann & Ann Ferguson. Gottlieb places the readings in historical & theoretical context, providing an insightful account of the intellectual problems & historical events that gave rise to the Western Marxism & describing how it both anticipated & influenced contemporary radical movements. Each selection is prefaced by a biographical sketch. The book concludes with a bibliography suggesting further research.