ABSTRACT
The collapse of Soviet communism had an impact on the Western intellectuals' relation to Marxism that remains far from fully explored. It puts pressure on those among them attracted to Marxism to give more thought to the strength and weaknesses of this theory and its relationship to the practices of the political systems which claimed to be guided by it. The collapse has also drawn attention to the relationship between Marxist theory and the socialist political systems prior to their collapse since every one of them averred that Marxism inspired their policies and was the foundation of their institutions and legitimacy. The intellectuals' aversion to capitalism is to a large extent an aversion to modernity, that is, to the combination of industrialization, urbanization, bureaucratization and secularization. In the eyes of many Western beholders the collapse of the Soviet Bloc did not resolve the question of the relationship between Marxist theory and Soviet-communist practice.
