How to change the world

By Eric Hobsbawm

Subjects: Philosophy, marxist, Socialism, Influencemarx, karl , 1818-1883, Marx, karl , 1818-1883, Marxian economics, Marx, karl, 1818-1883, World politics, Communism, 335.4, Hx39.5 .h637 2011, Influence

Description: "The ideas of capitalism's most vigorous and eloquent enemy have been enlightening in every era, the author contends, and our current historical situation of free-market extremes suggests that reading Marx may be more important now than ever. Hobsbawm begins with a consideration of how we should think about Marxism in the post-communist era, observing that the features we most associate with Soviet and related regimes--command economies, intrusive bureaucratic structures, and an economic and political condition of permanent was--are neither derived from Marx's ideas nor unique to socialist states. Further chapters discuss pre-Marxian socialists and Marx's radical break with them, Marx's political milieu, and the influence of his writings on the anti-fascist decades, the Cold War, and the post--Cold War period. Sweeping, provocative, and full of brilliant insights, How to Change the World challenges us to reconsider Marx and reassess his significance in the history of ideas." --Publisher's website.