Marxism & Scientific Socialism: From Engels to Althusser

by Paul Thomas

Engels declared at Marx’s funeral in Highgate Cemetery that "just as Darwin discovered the law of development of organic nature, so Marx discovered the law of development of human history". Scientific socialism was the term Engels used to describe Marx's socio-economic philosophy and many later theorists sought to reinforce Marxist theory with a supposedly scientific basis. This book explains the development of the idea of scientific socialism through the 19th and 20th century from its origins in Engels to its last manifestation in the work of Althusser. It provides a detailed analysis of Engel's own conceptualisation, the impact of Darwin, the relationship to the 'official' historical materialism of the Soviet states and later reformulations by Althusser and others. In so doing it provides a vivid intellectual history of Marxist and socialist thought, exploring its significant insights as well its manifest failures. Marxism and Scientific Socialism will be of particular interest to those with an interest in the development of Marxism and socialism, political ideologies and the history of Western political thought.

Genres: Politics

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

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Professor Thomas graduated from the University of Manchester, U.K., with First Class Honours in Modern History with Economics and Politics, and was one of the first John F. Kennedy Scholars from the U.K. to attend Harvard University, which awarded him his Doctorate in 1973. A specialist in Marx, Marxism and Political Theory, Professor Thomas's books include Karl Marx and the Anarchists (Routledge, 1980, second edition 2010); Alien Politics: Marxist State Theory Retrieved, Routledge, 1994; Rational Choice Marxism (co-edited with Terrell Carver), Macmillan, 1994; Culture and the State (co-edited with David Lloyd), Routledge, 1997; and Marxism and Scientific Socialism. From Engels to Althusser (Routledge, 2008 ; Chinese language edition, Jiangsu People's Publishing House, 2010). Professor Thomas's articles on Marx and Marxism include contributions to The Cambridge Companion to Marx and The Socialist Register, and he has published broadly on Rousseau, other political theorists, film and cultural studies. As one of the first Berkeley faculty members to teach a course that would satisfy the Breadth Requirement in American Cultures, Professor Thomas was a past Chair of the Berkeley Academic Senate-instituted American Cultures Committee. He also served as Secretary-Treasurer of the Research Committee on Political Philosophy (International Political Science Association). Since 2010 Professor Thomas has been a Contributing Editor of Film Quarterly, an ecumenical University of California Press journal. He is currently completing a short book on Karl Marx that is to be published in 2012 as part of Reaktion Books's Critical Lives Series, and distributed by the University of Chicago Press.