Marxism: Is it Science ?

Abstract

MAX EASTMAN is a somewhat odd critic of Marxism. He appears to accept at the outset most of the aspects of Marxism that have made it anathema to orthodox opinion. Not only does he agree with the economic analysis Marx made of the capitalist system, but even with the revolutionary application of this analysis by Lenin. But this seeming agreement covers a fundamental objection to the whole method of Marxism. He is an inveterate opponent of dialectical materialism, not because of its results, but because it represents a type of thinking profoundly different from his own. Max Eastman is a perfect type of nineteenth–century intellectual radical, a believer in common sense and engineering, with a violent antipathy to all forms of philosophy and religion. The book itself represents only one stage in retrogression towards older views. Since it was written, Max Eastman, from being a critic of Marxist logic and philosophy, has moved to a rejection of Marxist economic theory and political ideas.

Marxism: Is it Science ?

By Max Eastman. Pp. 343. (London: George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 1941.) 8s. 6d net.