Overview

Revisiting Marx’s Critique of Liberalism offers a theoretical reconstruction of Karl Marx’s new materialist understanding of justice, legality, and rights through the vantage point of his widely invoked but generally misunderstood critique of liberalism. The book begins by reconstructing Marx’s conception of justice and rights through close textual interpretation and extrapolation. The central thesis of the book is, firstly, that Marx regards justice as an essential feature of any society, including the emancipated society of the future; and secondly, that standards of justice and right undergo transformation throughout history. The book then tracks the enduring legacy of Marx’s critique of liberal justice by examining how leading contemporary political theorists such as John Rawls, Jürgen Habermas, Axel Honneth, and Nancy Fraser have responded to Marx’s critique of liberalism in the face of global financial capitalism and the hollowing out of democratically-enacted law. TheMarx that emerges from this book is therefore a thoroughly modern thinker whose insights shed valuable light on some of the most pressing challenges confronting liberal democracies today.                        

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9783030301941

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Reviews

“Shoikhedbrod’s text has the additional merit of offering illuminating solutions to some longstanding puzzles. … Shoikhedbrod’s book succeeds—more than any previous attempt—to close the ‘distance’ between right and Marxism, and to challenge the monopoly over normative theorization about legality … . And, since radical movements—if not Marxist theorists—have long understood the importance of political struggles over rights and right, it also succeeds in closing a glaring gap between radical ‘theory’ and ‘practice’.” (Omar Garcia, Contemporary Political Theory, Vol. 22 (4), December, 2023) “Igor Shoikhedbrod’s Revisiting Marx’s Critique of Liberalism is an engaging and worthy effort to reconstruct a Marxist account of legal rights that goes beyond a critique of liberal formalism and lays the groundwork for a positive theory of communist legality. … There is much to recommend Shoikhedbrod’s book.” (William Clare Roberts, The Review of Politics, Vol. 84 (3), 2022) “[Shoikhedbrod’s] rereading of Marx is intended to accomplish two tasks: first, to show that Marx believed liberalism and liberal rights were an impressive historical accomplishment; and second, to argue that overcoming the limits of liberalism in a classless society wouldn’t necessarily mean the end of legality and some transliberal conception of rights. … It is to Shoikhedbrod’s great credit that he manages to be highly convincing on both counts, writing an eminently readable book that gives us a better understanding of the relationship between Marxism and liberalism.” (Matt McManus, Jacobin Magazine, jacobinmag.com, October 14, 2020) “Shoikhedbrod makes a persuasive case for including Marx in the canon of the great theorists of liberalism and democracy … . All in all, this is an excellent and timely book. Especially impressive is Shoikhedbrod’s attention to Marx’s biography and formation as a political actor in his own right.” (LSE Review of Books, May 18, 2020)

“No one book can say everything, on any given subject. Good books say a lot, and say it well. Igor Shoikhedbrod’s Revisiting Marx’s Critique of Liberalism: Rethinking Justice, Legality, and Right in our view says an extraordinary amount, on subjects of the greatest collective concern in the present moment (2024).” (Matthew King and Matthew Sharpe, Critical Horizons, March 20, 2024) “Shoikhedbrod’s text has the additional merit of offering illuminating solutions to some longstanding puzzles. … Shoikhedbrod’s book succeeds—more than any previous attempt—to close the ‘distance’ between right and Marxism, and to challenge the monopoly over normative theorization about legality … . And, since radical movements—if not Marxist theorists—have long understood the importance of political struggles over rights and right, it also succeeds in closing a glaring gap between radical ‘theory’ and ‘practice’.” (Omar Garcia, Contemporary Political Theory, Vol. 22 (4), December, 2023) “Igor Shoikhedbrod’s very good Revisiting Marx’s Critique of Liberalism: Rethinking Justice, Legality and Rights provides a systematic reconstruction of Marx’s attitude toward the rule of law … . No doubt, though, we still have a great deal to learn from Marx’s critique of liberal rights, and Shoikhedbrod’s achievement is to help us see that Marx remains a powerful resource for thinking through the possibility of rights in an era of resurgent capitalism.” (Steven Klein, Perspectives on Politics, Vol. 20 (3), September, 2022) “Igor Shoikhedbrod’s Revisiting Marx’s Critique of Liberalism is an engaging and worthy effort to reconstruct a Marxist account of legal rights that goes beyond a critique of liberal formalism and lays the groundwork for a positive theory of communist legality. … There is much to recommend Shoikhedbrod’s book.” (William Clare Roberts, The Review of Politics, Vol. 84 (3), 2022) “[Shoikhedbrod’s] rereading of Marx is intended to accomplish two tasks: first, to show that Marx believed liberalism and liberal rights were an impressive historical accomplishment; and second, to argue that overcoming the limits of liberalism in a classless society wouldn’t necessarily mean the end of legality and some transliberal conception of rights. … It is to Shoikhedbrod’s great credit that he manages to be highly convincing on both counts, writing an eminently readable book that gives us a better understanding of the relationship between Marxism and liberalism.” (Matt McManus, Jacobin Magazine, jacobinmag.com, October 14, 2020) “Shoikhedbrod makes a persuasive case for including Marx in the canon of the great theorists of liberalism and democracy … . All in all, this is an excellent and timely book. Especially impressive is Shoikhedbrod’s attention to Marx’s biography and formation as a political actor in his own right.” (LSE Review of Books, May 18, 2020)

Igor Shoikhedbrod's Revisiting Marx's Critique of Liberalism is an engaging and worthy effort to reconstruct a Marxist account of legal rights that goes beyond a critique of liberal formalism and lays the groundwork for a positive theory of communist legality. ... There is much to recommend Shoikhedbrod's book. (William Clare Roberts, The Review of Politics, Vol. 84 (3), 2022) [Shoikhedbrod's] rereading of Marx is intended to accomplish two tasks: first, to show that Marx believed liberalism and liberal rights were an impressive historical accomplishment; and second, to argue that overcoming the limits of liberalism in a classless society wouldn't necessarily mean the end of legality and some transliberal conception of rights. ... It is to Shoikhedbrod's great credit that he manages to be highly convincing on both counts, writing an eminently readable book that gives us a better understanding of the relationship between Marxism and liberalism. (Matt McManus, Jacobin Magazine, jacobinmag.com, October 14, 2020) Shoikhedbrod makes a persuasive case for including Marx in the canon of the great theorists of liberalism and democracy ... . All in all, this is an excellent and timely book. Especially impressive is Shoikhedbrod's attention to Marx's biography and formation as a political actor in his own right. (LSE Review of Books, May 18, 2020)

Shoikhedbrod makes a persuasive case for including Marx in the canon of the great theorists of liberalism and democracy ... . All in all, this is an excellent and timely book. Especially impressive is Shoikhedbrod's attention to Marx's biography and formation as a political actor in his own right. (LSE Review of Books, May 18, 2020)

Author Information

Igor Shoikhedbrod received his PhD in Political Science from the University of Toronto, Canada. He is currently Assistant Professor of Political Theory, at St. Francis Xavier University.

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