New 'True' Socialism

Abstract

In her recent book entitled The Retreat From Class, Ellen Meiksins Wood suggests that the last decade witnessed a revival of what she terms socialism. She points out that the principal feature of this 'true' socialism is the fact that it prides itself on a rejection of Marxist 'economism' and 'class-reductionism,' and as a result has virtually excised class and class struggle from the socialist project. In consequence, Meiksins Wood continues, the distinctive feature of this current is the autonomization of idealogy and politics from any social basis, and more specifically from any class foundation.1 The Retreat From Class is constructed around a series of case studies each of which closely analyzes the way in which a prominent philosopher, sociologist or historian sought to adopt and develop an approach of this kind.2 In each case, Meiksins Wood demonstrates how the attempt to 'autonomize' the instances of the ideological and state superstructures from any direct relation of determination by the economic infrastructure, is complemented by an argument which views these instances as in turn exercising a greater or lesser degree of determination over the economic base. The most important implication that may be drawn from these studies, she suggests, concerns how the school of 'true' socialism understands the working classes' role in the process of transition to a postcapitalist society. Briefly stated, by denying any necessary connection between the economic infrastructure of society and the instances of the ideological and state superstructures, these theoreticians effectively deny the Marxian view of the working class as the principal agents in the revolutionary struggle. Rather, because the development of a consciousness for social change no longer depends on the agent's direct relation to the economic infrastructure, it becomes possible to argue that the fight for a more 'just' and 'equitable' society may incorporate any group (for example, the women's movement, ecology groups, minority rights associations, and so forth) that expresses a desire to bring about changes to the current socio-economic formation. The traditional workers' movement for the attainment of a socialist mode of production is emptied of its class content and replaced by an eclectic struggle to implement, what