ABSTRACT
Having been expelled from history, at least for now, Marxism has no choice but to stand back and think about the preconditions of historical re-entry. Implicit already in this opening sentence are several of what would once have been considered heterodoxies: history is not itself bearing Marxism to victory; we have real choices; action is not everything (if by action is meant practical activism). I wish to add another (for Marxists) unorthodox notion: we should not assume a priori that Marxism’s historical re-entry is desirable. That it is so needs demonstrating. Professed Marxists have done enormous harm in power. The minimum we have to be sure of before sending Marxism back into the fray is that it will do no harm next time around. But of course, if we are Marxists, we want something more positive than that: grounds for thinking that Marxist praxis will significantly benefit humanity, and in distinctive ways that other doctrines do not.
