Press release for the new journal 'Marxist Thought'

October and our Age, a collection of essays on the October Revolution, was published at November 2010 by Topos Editions. The work includes texts by Bolshevik leaders of the 1917-24 period, later progressive analyses and testimonies, as well as recent studies by Greek and foreign Marxist researchers.


Marxist Thought, a periodical for Marxist theory, is a project based essentially on the same team of contributors to the October collection. We were motivated by consciousness of the need to unite the efforts of Marxists in Greece and internationally, in order to be able to face the consequences of the theoretical crisis after the historic defeat of the movement during the 1990ies.


A basic precondition of that overcoming lies in a fertile interaction between Marxists in various fields of theoretical research. This becomes even more necessary today, when the worldwide crisis of capitalism, while reviving the interest in Marxism, sets Marxists in front of big and complex tasks.
The aim and aspiration of out periodical will be to rally Marxist intellectuals and offer serious elaboration of strategic subjects of the movement, motivating further research.


We will give particular emphasis to the completion of Marxist critique of Stalinism and of the various neo-Stalinist currents. We consider Stalinism a hostile current to Marxism, a form of petty bourgeois bureaucratic reaction that caused enormous harm to the socialist cause. We are equally opposed to the various attempts of reviving Stalinism, which are a herald of new disasters for the movement. At the same time, this criticism will go hand in hand with a defense of every positive element in the experience of existing socialism and of the worldwide communist movement.


The world economic crisis and an analysis of the problems of capitalist globalization will also be central to our project. It is clear that without a serious scientific elaboration of these problems, it will prove impossible to formulate a modern revolutionary program and provide guidelines for mass action. In this connection, particular interest will be given to ecological and environmental problems, immigration, racism, ultra-right revival, etc; problems brought to the foreground by the present capitalist stage and intensified by the world capitalist crisis.


Questions of history of the revolutionary movement and reclaiming the Marxist tradition will also be one of the central axes in the periodical’s work. We will regularly present tributes to Marxist classics, the work of whom was put aside during the last decades, as well as to original pursuits of modern Marxists. A central position will be taken by the most eminent Marxists of the 20th century (Lukacs, Gramsci, Trotsky, Plekhanov, Bukharin, Luxemburg, Ilyenkov, etc.), as well as criticism of religion, the dialectical achievements of modern science, etc. In this search, we share the view, defending the bases of Marxism should be combined with their elevation to the new world situation, through a valuation/assimilation of the recent decade’s experiences and a criticism of misconceived and mistaken tendencies. Finally, taking a look at progressive artistic tendencies and book criticisms will also be of systematic interest in our attempt.


Marxist thought will come out each 4 months, in January, May and September. In facing the Rhode of the present, remarks by readers and all conscientious contributions will be welcome.