New Realism, New Barbarism: Socialist Theory in the Era of Globalization

by Boris Kagarlitsky

In this radical and controversial overview of the post-communist world, Boris Kagarlitsky argues that the very success of neo-liberal capitalism has made traditional socialism all the more necessary and feasible. Kagarlitsky argues that leftists exaggerate the importance of the 'objective' aspects of the 'new reality' - globalisation - and the weakening of the state, while underestimating the importance of the hegemony of neo-liberalism. As long as neo-liberalism retains its ideological hegemony, despite its economic failure, the consequence is a 'new barbarism' - already a reality in Eastern Europe, and now also emerging in the West. Kagarlitsky challenges the political neurosis of the left and prevailing assumptions of Marxism to argue that Marx's theories are now more timely than they were in the mid-twentieth century. He analyses theories of the 'end of the proletariat' and the 'end of work', and assesses the potential of the new technologies - such as the Internet - which create fresh challenges for capitalism and new arenas for struggle.

176 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1998

About the author

Boris Yulyevich Kagarlitsky is a Russian Marxist theoretician and sociologist who has been a political dissident in the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. He is an associate of the Transnational Institute.

Reviews

[Bart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boris zeg. wat een man

[Jooseppi Räikkönen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Naturally rather aged in concrete analysis, but also many bangers:

"One has the feeling that the left has been possessed by an instinct for suicide. The left is afraid of itself. Politicians are afraid of their own success, and instinctively or unconsciously try to thwart it or reduce it to a minimum. Since 1989 a neurosis has paralysed the left’s will to struggle. Socialists do not believe the liberal theory that any form of collectivism is totalitarianism, but they suspect that this theory is true. The tragic experience of the Russian Revolution lies with a leaden weight on their consciousness. The basis of the neurosis of the left lies in a feeling of guilt for the mistakes of others, combined with a sense of powerlessness. It all comes down, in practice, to a readiness to blame yourself for everything."