ABSTRACT
Socialist pedagogy (as well as Marxism) has had several conceptual and historical uses both in social theory and in various political practices. It has become fashionable even among leftist intellectuals to abandon the socialist movement as a rite of passage of becoming political “mature.” In addition to the largely mythological uses that are functional for the reproduction of the transnational capitalist class, socialism and its pedagogical principles have been treated as a worthy political philosophy containing highly pertinent ideas, insights and arguments for social scientifi c analysis as well as for developing diverse social and educational practices that offer a much needed counterpoint to a society imprisoned by capital’s law of value. In this sense the aim for truly critical social and educational theory has always arguments for the ongoing development socialist theory and pedagogy by recognizing their potential but also by their limitations. Our attempt to develop a radical humanistic socialism and socialist pedagogy-in part by de-writing socialism as a thing of the past-assumes the position that socialism and pedagogical socialist principles are not dead letters, but open pages in the book of social and economic justice yet to be written or rewritten by people struggling to build a truly egalitarian social order outside of capitalism’s law of value.
