The purpose of this book is to serve as a map and compass. We will try to explain the radical social and intellectual change that has taken place between the 20th century – in an important sense, the century of Marxism – and the 21st century, a process of change that began in the period between 1978 and 1991. when China approached a market economy and the Soviet system collapsed in Europe and in the USSR itself. This study does not aspire to trace an intellectual history or a history of ideas, but rather should be considered as a travelogue, a set of unpretentious notes assembled after a long and arduous journey through the ups, downs, and the paths of no return of Marxism of the 20th century and the first years of the 21st.
The book has two objectives. The first consists of placing the political practice and left-wing thought of the early 21st century on the terrain of the previous century. The second, to offer a systematic vision of left-wing thought in the northern hemisphere at the dawn of this new century, and compare it with the Marxism of the preceding era.
Although I will try not to advocate a particular route or interpretation, I do not intend to hide that this is the work of a scholar who has not renounced his commitment to the left. In fact, it was precisely that commitment that prompted me to write this book.