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The impact of Communism on the twentieth century was massive, equal to that of the two world wars. Until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, historians knew relatively little about the secretive world of communist states and parties. Since then, the opening of state, party, and diplomatic archives of the former Eastern Bloc has released a flood of new documentation. The thirty-five essays in this Handbook, written by an international team of scholars, draw on this new material to offer a global history of communism in the twentieth century. In contrast to many histories that concentrate on the Soviet Union, The Oxford Handbook of the History of Communism is genuinely global in its coverage, paying particular attention to the Chinese Revolution. It is 'global', too, in the sense that the essays seek to integrate history 'from above' and 'from below', to trace the complex mediations between state and society, and to explore the social and cultural as well as the political and economic realities that shaped the lives of citizens fated to live under communist rule. The essays reflect on the similarities and differences between communist states in order to situate them in their socio-political and cultural contexts and to capture their changing nature over time. Where appropriate, they also reflect on how the fortunes of international communism were shaped by the wider economic, political, and cultural forces of the capitalist world. The Handbook provides an informative introduction for those new to the field and a comprehensive overview of the current state of scholarship for those seeking to deepen their understanding.

This book deals with the main doctrines of Marxist politics. Clearly and simply written, the book explores the views of classical Marxists along with the findings of Western and Analytical Marxists. It also shows a distinction between Marxist and non-Marxist views on politics. Their points of difference as well as their common roots are thus clearly accounted for. Marxist politics is a coherent system of ideas and theories of class, class struggle, party, revolution and the state developed in response to a series of major and interrelated changes – the emergence of a capitalist economy, the rise of the modern nation-state and the development of modern science, which transformed both the society and politics. This book is intended to explore these ideas and theories. Particular emphasis has been put on the ideas and views of critical Marxists in a separate chapter. The book includes brief bibliographical details of major individual thinkers as well as an annotated bibliography for further reading. Print edition not for sale in South Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Bhutan)

This major reassessment of the relevance of Marxism in the social sciences decisively rebuts claims that it has been consigned to the dustbin of history by the collapse of communism and apparent triumph of capitalism and liberal democracy. The book first considers how Marxism has engaged with various critiques including Postmodernism, New Right theory and Feminism before assessing its continuing utility as a framework for analysis of a range of substantive issues from class and the state to culture, ecology and globalization.

First Published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.