by Teodor Shanin and Nicola D’Elia

Independent Researcher, London, UK

ABSTRACT

The reprint of Late Marx and the Russian Road on the 200th anniversary of Karl Marx’s birth offers a valuable opportunity to discuss the impact of this path-breaking miscellaneous volume on Marx scholarship. The first aim of this paper is to highlight the original approach of the work, which looked at Marx’s views on Russia from a different perspective to those of previous studies. This paper then deals with the main criticism raised by critics regarding the line of argument advanced in the book. Emphasis is placed on two aspects: (1) the debate over whether Marx believed in the possibility of socialist development in Russia without a proletarian revolution in the Western countries; (2) the argument that the shifts in Marx’s perspective after 1870 were not limited to his writings on the Russian question, which were part of a wider rethink of the political forms suitable for the emancipation of labour from capitalist exploitation.

ARTICLE HISTORY

Received 16 September 2018

Revised 8 February 2019

Accepted 1 March 2019

KEYWORDS

Karl Marx; Paris Commune; Russian commune; Teodor Shanin; Vera Zasulich

From: International Critical Thought 2019 9 (4)

Editor: Wang Yi