Marx for a Post-Communist Era: On Poverty, Corruption and Banality

Was Marxism a deeply flawed blueprint for social engineering? A catechism for post-colonial insurgencies? the intellectual foundations of modern social democracy? In an age of unprecedented inequality, Sullivan tackles the multi-tentacled reach of Marx's legacy, and explores both the limits and the lasting significance of his ideas.

Structured around three obstacles to freedom - poverty, corruption and banality - the work engages both Marx and his critics in addressing unresolved issues of the current social and political order.  These include the corrupting influence of money in politics, the struggle for a living wage,  weaknesses in Frankfurt School approaches to mass culture, and human alienation in an age of media overload.  


Marx for a Post-Communist Era is credited as a foundational source in a wide range of contemporary studies. Some examples include a government-sponsored anti-corruption report in Peru, a study of neoliberalism and education reform in the UK, and an urban planning essay on museum spaces and the public good.  


Staff Pick of the Month, Politics and Prose Bookstore, Washington DC

Translated editions in Turkish and Farsi.

Stefan Sullivan is the author of Marx for a Post-Communist Era (Routledge/London, 2002) and one novel, Sibirischer Schwindel (Eichborn/Frankfurt, 2002), set in a Russian Mercedes dealership. He holds a PhD in political theory from Oxford University. His essays on politics and culture have appeared in The Washington Post, Ethnic and Racial Studies, The Washington Times, and The Baltimore Sun. He lives in Washington, DC.