The Marxist Theory of Alienation

Alienation from one’s fellow human beings is rooted in the development of class society itself, the authors argue. It can be overcome only through the revolutionary fight for a society both free of domination by the capitalist class, and with complete democratic control of the government and economy by working people.

Ernest Mandel (1923–1995) – A leader of the Fourth International and its Belgian section from the 1940s until his death. Author of Marxist Economic Theory, Late Capitalism, and introductions to each of the three volumes of Karl Marx’s Capital published in English translation by Penguin. He is also the author of An Introduction to Marxist Economic Theory (1969) and coauthor of The Marxist Theory of Alienation (1970), both published by Pathfinder Press.

George Novak (1905–1992) joined the communist movement in the United States in 1933 and remained a member and leader of the Socialist Workers Party until his death.

As national secretary of the American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky, Novack helped organize the 1937 International Commission of Inquiry that investigated the charges fabricated by Stalin’s Moscow trials. In the 1940s Novack was national secretary of the Civil Rights Defense Committee, which gathered support for leaders of the SWP and the Midwest Teamsters’ strikes and organizing drive who were framed up and jailed under the witch-hunting Smith Act. He played a prominent role in numerous other civil liberties and civil rights battles over subsequent decades, including the landmark lawsuit against FBI spying and disruption won by the Socialist Workers Party in 1986. He was also active in defense of the Cuban Revolution and against the war in Vietnam.