Resurrecting Marx

Resurrecting Marx: The Analytical Marxists on Exploitation, Freedom, and Justice is a book written by philosopher and historian David Gordon first published in 1990, on the topic of analytical Marxism.

As Gordon points out in the introduction, Marxism enjoyed a revival in the American academic world in the latter half of the 20th century, albeit in a form which differed from the traditional theory. This new form of Marxism came to be termed analytical Marxism as those involved in the movement utilized the tools of analytic philosophy. The analytical Marxists while accepting the main doctrine of Marxism, attempted to rework some of the tenets which had been widely rejected by the middle of the 20th century. In doing so these thinkers believed that their form of Marxism would then stand up to the criticisms that had led many in the mainstream economic and philosophy communities to reject Marxism. Like Karl Marx, the analytical Marxists share his belief that capitalism is a system which leads to the exploitation of the laborer; however, the various approaches taken by the analytical Marxists' to defend this position differ from the original approach taken by Mark and his colleague Friedrich Engels. The purpose of the book is to show how ultimately these new justifications of the exploitation theory ultimately fail in their attack on capitalism. In the process of doing so Gordon also attempts to strengthen the case for the desirability and supremacy of capitalism. The book concentrates on arguments put forth by the analytic Marxists G.A. Cohen, Jon Elster, and John Roemer.