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Although V. I. Lenin is viewed as the most important figure in 20th-century Marxism, it is contended that leftist scholars are reluctant to analyze Lenin's contributions to Marxist theory. Simon Clarke's (1998) discussion of the populist origins of Lenin's political thought is perceived as attempting to dissociate Leninism from Marxism by connecting Lenin's philosophy to Georgi Plekhanov's political thought. Clarke's assertion that Plekhanov's thought can be separated from Marxism, accomplished by locating the origins of Plekhanov's notion of dialectical materialism within the thought of L. A. Feuerbach, is strongly rejected. Moreover, it is claimed that Clarke overestimated Plekhanov's influence on Lenin's thought. In addition, Howard Chodos & Colin Hay's (1998) representation of Lenin as a dogmatist with respect to Marxism is questioned. Nevertheless, Chodos & Hay's suggestion that discussions of party organization should involve Leninist thought is supported. 3 References. J. W. Parker

Challenges post-Soviet attacks on Marxist theory, focusing on Karl Marx's notion of civil society, particularly in terms of his expansion of G. W. F. Hegel. Marx grounded Hegel's notion of the individual's moral needs existing in the context of market forces in industrial production. Further, Marx claims that the state is shaped by civil society as opposed to transcending it as Hegel suggested. However, Marx also maintained that the proletariat would abolish civil society to achieve human emancipation; civil society would be democratized & used against the market forces that constitute its base. The dissolution of the base would dissolve the existing power structure, resulting in the well-recognized contradiction of Marxist theory. Nevertheless, it is suggested that Marxist ideas are salient in the modern world where capital accumulates & public life deteriorates. The Left needs to concern itself once again with the extension of democracy into civil society. T. Noland

Reconsiders the arguments put forward in Friedrich Engels & Karl Marx's The Communist Manifesto (1848) in the context of recent debates in the US about the revival of civil society. It is suggested that the contemporary Left would do well to revisit the central role of politics in The Communist Manifesto as a means of organizing the working classes & subserving a wider economic revolution. Calls on the Left for greater attention to the institutions of civil society are taken to rely on Alexis de Tocqueville's view that the state represents the greatest threat to freedom. Evidence from recent scholarship is marshaled to demonstrate that civil society is fundamentally structured by class relations. Thus, it is argued that economic stratification represents the greatest threat to political freedom; a politics of social class must go through the state rather than ignore it. It is concluded that a revival of the labor movement will eventually shatter the leftist intelligentsia's fascination with culture, identity, & civil society. Meanwhile, it remains essential to stress the importance of the political struggle against it & for the state. D. M. Smith

AbstractWe live in strange, frustrating and paradoxical times. Like other trends on the left, Marxism is immobilised by theoretical confusion and practical ineffectiveness just when a relentless state-led war against the working class is nearing the end of its second decade, the greatest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in human history has reasserted the centrality of class with a vengeance, the international capitalist financial system teeters on the edge of collapse, whole countries are bankrupt, and hundreds of millions of people are undergoing absolute immiseration and devastating attacks on their standard of living. The gap between what the objective situation demands and what the Left has to offer is so profound that public affairs has become little more than a debate between a powerful right and an eviscerated 'centre' – all this at a time of unprecedented crisis and opportunity. Indeed, we do not even seem to know what to talk about. Reminders of how theoretical blind alleys and historic openings have often gone hand in hand may help us orient ourselves to broad trends, but they only underline how essential it is that we begin addressing the profoundly important questions of contemporary life. Until we do, we should not be surprised that people put their trust in angels, consult soothsayers, and are not interested in what we have to say.