We should keep in mind that the obituary provided for us by John is from a Polish news source which have a vested interest in pushing the view that Kolakowski was completely anti-Marxist.
It should be noted that his three volume work, *Main Currents of Marxism* is a useful reference source, even for people who vehemently disagree with his interpretations of Marxism.
Jim F. ---------- Original Message ---------- From: SA <s11131978 at gmail.com> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Leszek Kolakowski dies Date: Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:25:00 -0400
John E. Norem quoted:
> After being thrown out of the party and losing his post at Warsaw
> University, Kolakowski became convinced that Stalinism was the logical
> conclusion of Marxism and not its aberration
Not true. Kolakowski wrote that Stalinism was the logical conclusion of *Leninism*. He held that Leninism, in turn, was one *possible* and legitimate interpretation of Marxism (among many others). By leaving that interpretation open, he believed that Marx could be blamed, in an intellectual-history sense, for Leninism. But he also repeated ad infinitum that Marx himself was a committed libertarian and that his own ideal was of a democratic society. He criticized anti-Marxists who depicted Marx as a totalitarian.
SA
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