Eugene F. Miller on Between Ideals and Reality

Between Ideals and Reality: A Critique of Socialism and Its Future By Svetozar Stojanovic, translated by Gerson S. Sher Oxford, 222 pp., $7.95 The Yugoslav Marxist philosophers who edit and write for the noted journal Praxis have gained wide attention in the West for their bold and incisive critique of socialist thought and practice. Svetozar Stojanovic is a member of the Praxis group and a leading exponent of its “critical” or “humanistic” Marxism.

Quoting Marx, Stojanovic argues that a true Marxism will dedicate itself to “the merciless critique of all existing conditions.” He disagrees strongly, however, with those who would confine this critique to capitalism and not extend it to conditions in the socialist countries. In Stojanovic’s view, “Marxists must be even more critical in socialism than in capitalism, precisely because they are so concerned about socialism.”

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Eugene F. Miller

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Between Ideals and Reality: A Critique of Socialism and Its Future By Svetozar Stojanovic, translated by Gerson S. Sher Oxford, 222 pp., $7.95 The Yugoslav Marxist philosophers who edit and write for the noted journal Praxis have gained wide attention in the West for their bold and incisive critique of socialist thought and practice. Svetozar Stojanovic is a member of the Praxis group and a leading exponent of its “critical” or “humanistic” Marxism.

Quoting Marx, Stojanovic argues that a true Marxism will dedicate itself to “the merciless critique of all existing conditions.” He disagrees strongly, however, with those who would confine this critique to capitalism and not extend it to conditions in the socialist countries. In Stojanovic’s view, “Marxists must be even more critical in socialism than in capitalism, precisely because they are so concerned about socialism.”