EBOOK
Rehabilitate Marx!
The Czechoslovak Party Intelligentsia And Post-stalinist Modernity
Jan MervartSeries: Russian and East European Studies(0)
About
Rehabilitate Marx! conceptualizes new forms of socialist modernity during the post-Stalinist era in the second half of the 1950s and 1960s. After the demise of Stalinism, Czechoslovak intellectuals within the Communist Party realized that the primary challenge they faced wasn't merely the further development of socialism, which would lead to communism, but that they needed to reformulate the entire socialist project. These intellectuals gradually abandoned the Marxist orthodoxy of their time and began searching for new interpretations of classic Marxist works that would provide an adequate conceptual framework for addressing contemporary problems. Mervart and Růžička present post-Stalinist thought as an autonomous sphere, showing a world of varying socialist visions.
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Reviews
"This important study of post-Stalinist thought between the mid-1950s and 1968 in Czechoslovakia considers it as a coherent intellectual space overcoming the limitations of orthodox Marxism. Through its recovery of reflexivity and mediation, Rehabilitate Marx! articulates a concept of universal humanity that ultimately failed by narrowing it into the nation and modernity. A valuable contribution t
Ian H. Angus, professor emeritus, Simon Fraser University
"In the years following the death of Stalin, intellectuals in Eastern Europe-nowhere more so than in Czechoslovakia-sought to refresh Marxist thought and establish a new socialist vision. Mervart and Růžička's absorbing book examines three interwoven schools of thought-Marxist humanism, techno-optimism, and dialectical determinism-and explores the insights and achievements, and the frustrations an
David Bakhurst, Queen's University
"Rehabilitate Marx! is an exceptional journey into intellectual history and a leading contribution to understanding post-Stalinist socialism in Czechoslovakia and Eastern Europe. Jan Mervart and Jiří Růžička offer a deeply historical account, recovering a plurality of unique tendencies that make up the post-Stalinist period in Czechoslovakia, while highlighting their broader relevance for the soci
Zhivka Valiavicharska, Pratt Institute