Magical Marxism

Subversive Politics and the Imagination

Andy Merrifield

Magical Marxism demands something more of traditional Marxism–something more interesting and liberating. It asks that we imagine a Marxism that moves beyond debates about class, the role of the state and the dictatorship of the proletariat. In escaping the formalist straitjacket of orthodox Marxist critique, Merrifield argues for a reconsideration of Marxism and its potential, applying previously unexplored approaches to Marxist thinking that will reveal vital new modes of political activism and debate.

This book will provoke and inspire in equal measure. It gives us a Marxism for the 21st century, which offers dramatic new possibilities for political engagement.
 

Contents

• Preface
• Introduction: The Circulation of Revolt: Real and Fictitious Marxism
1. Living an Illusion: Beyond the Reality of Realism
2. Subscribing to the Imaginary Party: Notes on a Politics of Neo-Communism
3. Spontaneous Overflow of Powerful Feeling: Activism and Immateriality
4. Militant Optimism and the Anti-Capitalist Transition
5. Macondo of the Mind: Imagination Seizes Power
6. Butterflies, Owls, and Little Gold Fishes: Conjuring up Revolutionary Magic
• Notes
• Index
 

About the Author

Andy Merrifield is an independent scholar based in France. He is author of numerous books, including Metromarxism, Dialectical Urbanism, Guy Debord, Henri Lefebvre, and The Wisdom of Donkeys.