On the stakes of marxism's future: Philosophy, science and politics again

Baltas, A

dc.contributor.author	Baltas, A	en
dc.date.accessioned	2014-03-01T01:48:41Z
dc.date.available	2014-03-01T01:48:41Z
dc.date.issued	1999	en
dc.identifier.issn	09654313	en
dc.identifier.uri	https://dspace.lib.ntua.gr/xmlui/handle/123456789/25558
dc.relation.uri	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-0033004634&partnerID=40&md5=bc508cd20c3dbaf1792d3ee0496a8264	en
dc.subject.other	Marxism	en
dc.subject.other	theoretical study	en
dc.subject.other	Greece	en
dc.title	On the stakes of marxism's future: Philosophy, science and politics again	en
heal.type	journalArticle	en
heal.publicationDate	1999	en
heal.abstract	The downfall of the regimes in Eastern Europe poses a whole set of new questions to marxists as to the whys and the wherefores of this downfall. Moreover, it offers a kind of new, 'negative', vantage point from where marxism's history as a whole can be examined and assessed. However, marxists cannot be content by the mere appearance of such new avenues for research. The political and ideological conditions created by this downfall push them to a very narrow corner and force them to re-examine, almost from scratch, the very foundations of their theory and of their world-view. If they do not undertake this with all the seriousness required, this theory and this world-view risks nothing less than a total loss of meaning; in addition, if marxists were to continue to hold fast to their theory and their world-view independently of such a profound re-examination, they would show a total lack of political responsibility. Questions of theoretical meaning and of political responsibility have always been intricately interwoven in all aspects of marxist practice and marxist thought as well as in all significant episodes of the political and theoretical history of marxism itself. Assessing this opens up the question of marxism's 'conditions of possibility', at least as regards the present conjuncture. Among other things, this conjuncture seems to put into question the function of strategic unification, a function which has traditionally been considered as the main task of marxism both politically and theoretically: at present, different social movements with varying particular goals seem to hold the front of the scene disregarding or downplaying the issue of their political and theoretical unification. We will try to examine the existing tension between particular goals and the function of strategic unification by referring both to the new problems facing marxism and to the constraints set by Greece's social structure and recent history.	en
heal.journalName	European Planning Studies	en
dc.identifier.volume	7	en
dc.identifier.issue	1	en
dc.identifier.spage	51	en
dc.identifier.epage	63	en