Against Marxism: Counter-Revolutionary Thinking

Marxism has provided the ideological impetus to liberation movements, radical struggles and revolutions across the world. But in the 20th century, the emancipatory and democratic power of its thought has often been distorted and overridden by various Stalinist dictatorships which claimed to be acting in its name. A similar undermining of freedom of thought has been accomplished at an intellectual level; various schools have transformed Marxist thought in line with some of the most fashionable but gentrified forms of contemporary philosophy, shifting the focus from the democratic power of the masses and their ability to challenge the capitalist order to concentrate on superstar thinkers and elite theories.

The War Against Marxismtraces the war against Marxism which, paradoxically, has been conducted in the name of Marxism itself. As such it provides a fiery philosophical and polemical indictment of so-called ’Marxists’ such as Adorno, Horkheimer, Althusser, Jameson, Eagleton, Mouffe, Laclau and Zizek and asks what can be done to stem this counterrevolution.

Tony McKenna is a journalist and cultural commentator who writes regularly for Al Jazeera, The Huffington Post, ABC Australia, TRT World, New Statesman, The United Nations, New Internationalist, The Progressive, and Adbusters. He is author of Toward Forever: Radical Reflections on History and Art (2020), Angels and Demons: A Radical Anthology of Political Lives: A Marxist Analysis of Key Political and Historical Figures (2019), Art, Literature and Culture from a Marxist Perspective (2015)