The Downfall and future of socialism

Abstract

Translation of a new analysis of revolutionary Marxism by an influential German theorist. Professor Holz examines, in particular, the rise and fall of socialism in Eastern Europe and the USSR. He outlines a theoretical basis for continuing the tradition of revolutionary Marxism in developed capitalist countries.

Hans Heinz Holz, a German journalist turned philosopher (Ph.D. University of Leipzig 1969) is coeditor with Domenico Losurdo of the European philosophy journal Topos and is author of several books on philosophy and art. Arguing for the validity of Marxism-Leninism, and emphasizing what he sees as its many achievements, Holz is sharply critical of the shortcomings of its practitioners in the past, culminating in their failure to extend their theoretical understanding of capitalist and socialist society in the light of a changing social reality. --Publisher's summary