Democracy Opposes Capitalism - Rebuilding Historical Materialism

Author: Wood
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2007-01-01
Features: With the collapse of Soviet communism in Eastern Europe, the theoretical project of Marxism and its critique of capitalism have become more urgent and important than ever before. The current left emphasizes the rational approach of "postmodern" fragmentation, difference, contingency, and identity politics, which can hardly adapt to the new situations of capitalist change, let alone critique capitalism. This book redefines the basic concepts of historical materialism and its historical theory in a novel and imaginative way, undertakes to reconstruct the critical program of historical materialism, and on this basis explores the concept of democracy in the ancient and modern worlds, examines the relationship between this concept and capitalism, and raises the question of how democracy can transcend the limitations imposed by capitalism.