title: The Frankfurt School, Postmodernism and the Politics of the Pseudo-Left: A Marxist Critique
author:  David North 
description: The polemical essays in this volume examine the complex interaction between history, philosophy and politics. The author defends historical materialism against contemporary anti-Marxist philosophical tendencies related to the Frankfurt School and postmodernism.Among the topics covered are the irrationalist assault on the traditions of the Enlightenment, the reactionary character of modern utopianism, and the importance of a historically-directed consciousness in the understanding of objective political reality. The book evaluates the work of such neo-utopian theoreticians as Hendrik de Man, Ernst Bloch, Wilhelm Reich, and Herbert Marcuse.Upholding the tradition of Marx, Engels, Plekhanov, Lenin and Trotsky, this work is vital reading for those who wish to deepen their knowledge of classical Marxism. It provides critical insight into the philosophical and political issues separating scientific socialism from the ideological tendencies that influence a wide array of pseudo-left and anti-socialist political movements.
zlib_text: There are many ways of presenting the history of the left from a theoretical 
  perspective. In this concise and cogent survey, Darrow Schecter starts 
  with Marx and moves on to examine the diverse struggles for human 
  emancipation that have characterised European and world history since 
  the French Revolution.
  Each chapter in the book builds on the previous one, analysing the 
  emergence and development of a specifically left wing understanding of 
  the relation between knowledge, left politics, and emancipation. Schecter 
  explores the crucial question of how to institutionalise the relation between 
  humanity and nature in a free society of fully humanised individuals. 
  Including discussions of Marxism, the Frankfurt School, Critical Theory, 
  Anarchism, Surrealism, and Global Anti-Capitalism, The History of the Left 
  from Marx to the Present is a valuable tool for understanding the theories 
  that have helped shape our present-day political world.
  ★
  Darrow Schecter is Reader in the School 