Historical dictionary of Marxism

Abstract

Marxism was initially a philosophy, one that could be debated and refined freely, but it soon became a movement, with organizations and even governments adhering to it and coming into conflict with the contending philosophy of capitalism. For some it became a religion, something believed in implicitly, which they would die to defend. What is most extraordinary, however, is that Marxist governments eventually ruled the Soviet Union, much of Eastern and Central Europe, China and other parts of Asia, and even bits of Africa and Latin America while being advocated by numerous political parties and guerrilla movements. This vast empire, initiated in 1917, rapidly subsided in the 1990s but still includes the world's most populous country, China.Thus the Historical Dictionary of Marxism must explain and consider philosophical terms and concepts, political organizations and parties, and the several dozen countries that both adopted and adapted Marxism. The chronology traces the long period between Karl Marx's birth to the present; the introduction attempts to define Marxism, consider it in both theory and practice, and above all determine what value it still has; the wide-ranging dictionary contains entries on significant philosophers, politicians, and activists; and the bibliography points to further reading.This book was written by David M. Walker and Daniel Gray. Dr. Walker is a lecturer in politics at the University of Newcastle and has been teaching political theory for the past 15 years. He specializes in socialism and Marxism and has written extensively on both, including the book Marx, Methodology and Science and a booklet on historical materialism. He is currently editing a book on 20th-century Marxist thought. Daniel Gray received a degree in politics and history from the University of Newcastle, has written on the Welsh socialist pioneer Robert Owen and is currently doing research for "Marxism in the Twentieth Century: A Critical Survey." Together they have produced an extremely useful reference work.