Abstract

In the 1980s, any analysis of the Leftist perspective can only begin by pondering the question of whether, as a philosophical outlook, a social theory as well as a political force, it is already dead or is still languishing in intensive care. The Reagan victory, the collapse of Eurocommunism, the burying of the Great Helmsman and his policies in China, the threat of disintegration in Eastern Europe and scores of other less sensational but equally indicative events signal not only the defeat of certain particular projects, but also the failure of a vision. Thus, a careful reexamination of the very meaning of the Left is overdue.