20p • Issue 5 After the fall of Stalinism there is an enormous debate on the left about the validity of traditional Marxist concepts. This debate involves ques tions about the role and na ture of the working class, the environment, women's oppression, planning and the market and what production and consumption will look like in a socialist society. Here Michael Löwy, well-known author of numerous works on Marxist theory and a leader of the Fourth International, attempts to answer some of these questions. Vort the impact That is the impact tions which are developing in capitalism through the collapse of stalinism on marxist thought?
The impact, for now is, fundamentally negative. As the dominant tenutilitarianism, rationalism in its individualist version, positivism, or political and economic liberalism. This tendency is attractive to a number of currents or mass political parties, from the Italian PDS (ex communist party), to small intellectual groups in Europe and Latin America (for example, so-called analytical marxism).
On the other side, there is a strengthening of dogmatic positions, though this is not the