ABSTRACT
In the twentieth century, Marx’s thought was subjected to conflicting interpretations, particularly about the operative means to realize his broad objectives. Some sympathizers chose terrorism, others organized revolution, others parliamentary representation, and still others, cultural criticism. Though there was a shared view that the exploitative capitalist system was the chief obstacle to freedom, beyond that, the debate broke down into numerous interpretations on kinds of capitalism (state monopoly or free market); kinds of freedom (economic or existential); and fundamentally, as to who were the chief agents and beneficiaries of the revolution-the urban proletariat, the peasantry of Third World countries, or, in the case of the later critique of mass culture, the alienated suburban housewife.
