Main Currents of Marxism – The Founders, The Golden Age, The Breakdown

Leszek Kolakowski's three-volume behemoth is a bible for both the Marxist thinker and historian. Not only it one of the few comprehensive overviews of the many streams of thought which shaped the Marxist debate over 150 years, but it's impressively lucid and concise to boot. Kolakowski summarises the biography, theory and critique of each thinker with an intellectual rigour that creates the standard for histories of ideas.One of the key selling points of the `Main Currents of Marxism', however, is the objectivity with which Kolakowski treats his material. Once a diligent communist, he gradually became disillusioned with the philosophy which underpinned Soviet Poland and to such an extent that he actively funded dissident groups to undermine the system. He even came to believe that that the `aberrations' of Karl Marx's original works - propagated by Stalin, Pol Pot and Ceausescu, for example - were actually credible end products of the grand mage's logic.However, Kolakowski didn't abandon his intellectual heritage altogether, and this translates into his work. He examines each thinker, each diverse form of the philosophy, carefully, and without presuppositions. His conclusions about each theory are philosophical rather than moral, singling out contradictions and paradoxes rather than the thoughts that might have provided the intellectual foundation for various atrocities.Granted, Kolakowski can only say so much in his analyses, since his overview summarises rather than studies. But as an introduction to particular strands of Marxist thought and the problems associated with them, the `Main Currents of Marxism' is unbeatable. Kolakowski's prose is as lively as it is erudite; the content as rich as it is varied.A true feast!

this was a fantastic book, my experience was reading the first two parts as someone who was still somewhat a 'believer' in Marxism, at least in it's more modern form. By the time I had reached the third book I coincidentally was re-visiting Poland for the first time since the Berlin Wall had fallen. To read Kolakowski's third book on the ugly reality of Marxism from Stalin onward, whilst seeing the contrast of a free and vibrant Poland compared to the soviet nightmare I remembered from my childhood was truly a spiritual experience. I was enthralled by Kolakowski's acute philosophical criticism of the various modern outgrowths of Marx - so idealised by both myself and my friends on the Left. By the time the third book was finished, so was my faith in Marxism, a philosophy found to be untenable when subjected to the kind of thorough breakdown that this book facilitates. A five star book by any measure.

This is the best book written about the history of roughly 100 years of Marxism. I should say "arguably", but I challenge anyone to make the case for a better single-volumen history of this topic. It supplies a vast historical canvass on which the author delivers a powerful rendition. It is specially good in the first 150 pages, when it tells the intelectual history of Marxism - how Karl Marx goes, and takes from, Epycurus to Hegel and concludes with The Capital.When you finish the book you feel that you know much more, but not only about Marxism, but of European history and philosophy of the last 200 years.

This is a superb collection of analyses of the currents into and out of Marxism, more relevant than ever in the light of the failure of capitalism becoming more evident year by year. It could do with updating... there have been many thinkers in the Marxist camp since the 60s as well as regimes and movements influenced by Marxism in Cuba, Latin America and Africa, let alone Europe.

Historical encyclopaedia of the existent communism- this ever lasting plague of society- by a philosopher, Historian somehow -insider, who lived the perversion and the triumph of the words over the facts.By his insurmountable unprecedented Work, there is a triumph of the accomplished facts over the words which have decorated the rottenness of Communism Pseudo History

"Main Currents" is comprised of three parts - "The Founders", 'The Golden Age" and "The Breakdown". The first part looks at both the antecedents ie Kant, Hegel, as well as the main protagonists - Marx and Engels. In some places, it is heavy going but if the reader can stick with it, the insights into philosophy underpinning Marxism are worthwhile. "The Golden Age" deals with the various contributions of Kautsky, Bernstein and other relatively less well known writers but at the heart of this part is the Russian contributors ie Plekhanov and Lenin, and here the examination turns from the analysis of the ideas to a straight examination of the Bolshevik and then Stalinist ideas in practise - perhaps not that original but still worth reading for the author`s insights - he was a Professor of Philosophy at Warsaw University into the 1960s. The final part covers the ideas of latterday contributors such as Marcuse and the Frankfurt School. The book pretty well finishes in the late 1960s in due part to the author`s belief that there was little more to say - the ideas of Marx et al had run their course and been found 'wanting in the balance' in their application in his country, then part of the Soviet bloc, and elsewhere. This is a book of real scholarship in its breadth and depth of the coverage of the Marxist ideal and is unlikely to be bettered.

The best review of the history of Marxism so far. It will be difficult to surpass it, and a waste of time to try.

Very scholarly in style. Ideal for a bookshelf and studying at a desk or table. Thought I'd read this in bed but its too unwieldy physically and in style, now I wish I'd bought the three volumes separately.

Un libro muy escaso en librerías. Una edición muy cuidada y con una traducción impecable del polaco al inglés.

Livro excelente sobre a história e desenvolvimento do marxismo, especialmente no início do séc. XX. Leitura muito elucidativa, apesar de complexa.

This is a essential work to understand the roots and the development of the Marxism. Kolakowski is one the great philosophers of the 20th century and writer able to expose the ideas in a clearly way.

Seuls les deux premiers tomes du tryptique sont parus en France, traitant de Marx et Engels pour le premier et du marxisme classique pour le second; d'une manière synthétique et critique extrêmement pertinente. Le troisième livre des présentations critiques et magistrales d'auteurs comme Lukacs, Adorno, Bloch, etc.et en généra du marxisme "contemporain" de l'auteur (années 70).Le climat français de l'époque a empêché la parution de ce troisième tome. La présente version anglaise reprend en un seul volume les trois tomes. Il s'agira de la somme sur le marxisme théorique, sans laquelle celui-ci ne peut être compris dans toute sa signfication.

This is an outstanding description and analysis of the history of Marxism as a philosophic enterprise and doctrine. Kolakowski's goal is a fair and lucid history of Marxism as an intellectual enterprise. This is a highly ambitious undertaking requiring familiarity with a huge range of writers and thinkers, ranging from famous figures like Marx and Hegel to obscure 19th and 20th century ideologues. Kolakowski also appears to be remarkably well versed in the secondary literature on Marxism as well. The breadth and depth of scholarship is remarkable and is matched by Kolakowski's lucid exposition. Considerably credit has to be given to the translator, PS Falla, for the fluent English. Main Currents is divided into 3 volumes, the first covering the origins of Marxism and Marx himself, the second devoted to the apogee of Marxist thought, and the last to history of Marxism since the Russian revolution.Kolokowski begins in an apparently surprising place; the Neoplatonism of the Classical world. He points out that some of of the themes implicit in Marx have very deep roots. The ideas of man alienating aspects of his essence and then being restored to completion in a dramatic and catastrophic event are ancient. Kolakowski traces these ideas and the accompanying aspects of eschatology and soteriology through major philosophers and theologians of both the Classical and Medieval period into the end of the 18th century. He then moves to a brilliant description of the Hegelian - Idealist tradition that forms the immediate background of Marx's work. Kolakowski's analysis of Marx's wholesale modification of Hegel's concepts and his synthesis of Hegelian thought with the Romantic ideals of early 19th century socialism and economic ideas is simply the best description of this difficult subject I have ever encountered. He then moves through a careful chronological reconstruction of Marx's thought, emphasizing the continuity from Marx's earliest substantial work to the last completed parts of Capital. Kolakowski particularly highlights the key role of the concept of alienation in Marx's thought. The description of Marx is lucid and evenhanded. Kolakowski is very respectful of Marx's brilliance as a thinker and provides outstanding discussions of difficult concepts like Marx's concept of surplus value and his concept of history. Kolakowski's exposition gives a very strong sense of why Marx's system was so attractive to generations of intellectuals. This is not to suggest that Kolakowski is uncritical. Quite the opposite. Kolakowski's critique of key issues in Marx such as the concept of surplus value or the claims of historical materialism are ruthlessly effective.The second volume covers the period from death of Engels to the Bolshevik Revolution. This is also approximately the period of the Second International. Kolakowski describes this as the "Golden Age" of Marxist thought, a period characterized by a diversity of Marxist thinkers and continued interaction of Marxists with other intellectual traditions. This volume has all the virtues of Vol. 1., exhibiting Kolakowski's remarkable command of Marxist and general philosophical history, his solid knowledge of European history, a fluid writing style, and his incisive judgement about the subjects under discussion. In the the first half of this volume, Kolakowski shows the interesting diversity of the Marxist tradition during this period. This includes both a variety of interpretations of Marx and also the interaction of Marxism with other philosophical traditions, such as the Kantian revival of the late 19th century. Kolakowski covers some figures not thought of usually as part of the Marxist mainstream, such as Sorel and Jean Jaures, as well as illuminating discussions of the Revisionist and Austro-Marxist movements.The second half of this volume is devoted to the pregnant subject of Russian Marxism. Kolakowski provides a very nice overview of the relevant Russian intellectual history leading up to a detailed discussion of various Russian Marxists. This concludes with an intensive examination of the work and career of Lenin, who is presented as a mediocre thinker but essentially as a successful leader of the cult that founded the Soviet state.The third volume covers the decline of Marxism as a viable intellectual enterprise. Kolakowski presents the decline as occurring in two different ways. The first and most important is the development of Marxism in its Leninist-Stalinist form in which certain aspects of Marxism were emphasized by Lenin to develop the ideology that came to underpin the Soviet State and its Eastern European conquests. Kolakowski argues convincingly that the resulting ideology was not a "deformation" or distortion of Marx but rather a logical though far from inevitable interpretation of Marx's doctrines. With the articulation of the Soviet state and the cult of Stalin, this process involved the impoverishment of Marxist thinking, disconnection from other philosophical traditions, and ultimate evolution into a sterile ideology used solely to justify totalitarianism. Providing an accurate historical analysis of this phenomenon required Kolakowski to read not only figures of real importance like Lenin and Stalin but also the painful but necessary task of thoroughly reading a number of minor Stalinist ideologues.The second aspect of the Breakdown is Kolakowski's analysis of post-Stalinist Marxism including such varied figures as Gramsci, the School of Frankfort, and others. By and large, this is a depiction of an essentially decadent intellectual tradition though Kolakowski writes relatively sympathetically of figures for whom he has some respect such as Habermas and Gramsci. Kolakowski has a very evenhanded writing style but his treatment of some of these individuals is harshly critical without using hyperbolic language. His chapter on Marcuse is a textbook example of intellectual demolition without name calling. One of the most interesting treatments in the book is that of Gyorgy Lukacs. Kolakowski presents Lukacs as someone melding both aspects of the breakdown. Kolakowski clearly respects Lukacs as man of considerable intellect. Lukacs' judgements on Marx, notably his analysis of the role of Marx's Hegelianism, his emphasis on alienation, the need to interpret history as a teleological process, and others, mirror Kolakowski's own analysis and may well have influenced the younger Kolakowski. Kolakowski also demonstrates as well that the essential thrust of Lukacs' work was to provide a sophisticated defense of Stalinism, a morally and intellectually bankrupt undertaking.Marxism as a vital intellectual tradition is probably, as Kolakowski argues, at a dead end. Still, achieving an understanding of the history of the last century is impossible without understanding the history and role of Marxism. The superb book is an invaluable resource in any effort to understand the events of the last century.