The writings of Karl Marx explored the tensions between the laws of socialist science and a utopian longing for socialism; between a science of history and a prophetic hope based on moral and ethical ideals. His writings examined history and argued for the necessity of communism to achieve the moral ideal of utopia. Although Marx was the last great utopian, his work has been adapted in Russia and China to rationalize and justify totalitarian regimes, but it has also inspired Western utopian writers like Walter Benjamin, Herbert Marcuse, and Ernst Bloch.
What's Left? Marxism, Utopianism and the Revolt against History
, explores what remains of the Marxist and Utopian Left after the death of totalitarian utopianism and authoritarian state socialism and how Marxism still provides a powerful critique of present day globalization.