Marxism's Retreat From Africa (RLE Marxism)

The collapse of Marxism in much of the Third World as well as Europe was so sudden and spectacular that it is hard to believe that in the space of seven years The Journal of Communist Studies could bring out special issues both on the creation of ‘Military Marxist Regimes in Africa’, and on their demise and the wider collapse of Marxist governments on the continent. This volume, first published in 1992, derives from a roundtable on the theme of ‘The Retreat from Moscow: African and Eastern European Experiences of Disengagement from Marxism’, held at the University of Birmingham in September 1991. The conference examined the recent experiences of African countries in transition from Marxism and Marxist-influenced ideologies to an uncertain future based on the market economy and a plural political system. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Original Title Page 6 Original Copyright Page 7 Table of Contents 8 Introduction 10 The Appeal of Marxism to Africans 13 Moscow's Retreat from Africa 30 One-Party State, No-Party State, Multi-Party State? 35 Years of Democracy, Authoritarianism and Development in Ghana 50 'Goodbye to all That': The Short and Sad Story of Socialism in Benin 72 The Democratic 'Rectification' in Burkina Faso 91 The Socialist Experience in Ethiopia and Its Demise 114 Angola: Continuity and Change 135 The South African Communist Party and the Collapse of the Soviet Union 154 Index 169 Introduction / Arnold Hughes -- The appeal of Marxism to Africans / Arnold Hughes -- Moscow's retreat from Africa / Margot Light -- One-party state, no-party state, multi-party state? 35 years of democracy, authoritarianism and development in Ghana / Jeff Haynes -- 'Goodbye to all that' : the short and sad story of socialism in Benin / Chris Allen -- The democratic 'rectification' in Burkina Faso / Rene Otayek -- The socialist experience in Ethiopia and its demise / Christopher Clapham -- Angola : continuity and change / Mark Webber -- The South African Communist Party and the collapse of the Soviet Union Marx's Grundrisse is acknowledged as the vital link between Marx's early and late work. It is also a crucial text in elucidating Marx's debt to the idealist philosopher G.W.F. Hegel. This book, first published in 1988, is the first full-length study of that relationship, in a thorough textual analysis which makes the connections explicit and also the Grundrisse's relations to the works of Adam Smith and Aristotle. This book argues that Marx's critique of political economy, and his critique of Hegel, are double interrelated. Not only did Marx adapt Hegelian logic in order to analyse the economi This book, first published in 1986, presents a radical challenge to socialist orthodoxy, subjecting a key component of that orthodoxy - Marxism - to sustained criticism. Les Johnston argues that Marxism cannot provide the foundations for a rigorous socialist theory or an effective socialist politics. A fundamental element of this criticism is the suggestion that the problem of 'reductionism' which has preoccupied Marxists is a red herring. Marxism's problem is not its reductionism but its theoretical incoherence. Marxism is not 'deterministic', for there is invariably an indeterminate relation Discusses material in the exhaustive edition of the works of Marx and Engels, the Historisch-kritische Gesamtausgabe, 1927-1932