The collapse of the Soviet Union apparently sounded the death knell for Marxism as a blueprint for social change. Why has this doctrine—the repository of so many hopes and dreams—failed in its grand ambition to liberate the human race from poverty and oppression? Through a critical and systematic analysis of what Marx and his disciples had to say about democracy, the book tries to shed light on the reasons for this failure. It explores the bewildering variety of Marxist attitudes to democracy and relates this diversity to Marxism's inconsistent goals: active political participation and all‐emb ... More

The collapse of the Soviet Union apparently sounded the death knell for Marxism as a blueprint for social change. Why has this doctrine—the repository of so many hopes and dreams—failed in its grand ambition to liberate the human race from poverty and oppression? Through a critical and systematic analysis of what Marx and his disciples had to say about democracy, the book tries to shed light on the reasons for this failure. It explores the bewildering variety of Marxist attitudes to democracy and relates this diversity to Marxism's inconsistent goals: active political participation and all‐embracing central planning, human emancipation and collective submission to the dialectical ‘truths’ of history. The book explains why Marxism's internal contradictions have always, in practice, been ‘solved’ through the imposition of despotic modes of government. Marxism's tragic flaw, it is concluded, is its unwillingness to recognize the distinctiveness and independence of the individual.