The Socialist Fetter: A Cautionary Tale

Abstract

The dreams of many have been dashed by the failures of actually existing socialism. For those who consider themselves Marxists, however, there are special complications. Few others are so congenitally disposed to accept historical experience as the Verdict of History. The real as rational is the particular petard which has deprived Marxists of their footing. Prepared to accept every apparent crisis of capitalism as the reward for patient perseverance, as the revelation that the old is indeed dying, we look in shock at a machine gone mad. In the light of the economic and political crises of actually existing socialism, the Marxian conception of history appears as the intellectual weapon not of the proletariat but, rather, of capital.