Introduction

Marxism has always had its share of internal critics, but from the 1970s onwards a distinctively post-Marxist critique of the Marxist tradition began to emerge. Certain key texts of that era set out to question the Marxist tradition, often in a quite radical way. Among the most prominent were, in chronological order of original publication, Jean Baudrillard’s (1973) The mirror of production, Jean-François Lyotard’s Libidinal economy (1974), Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s (1985) Hegemony and socialist strategy, and Jacques Derrida’s (1994) Specters of Marx. Collectively, these built up a formidable body of critique of Marxism and its cultural legacy, ranging in approach from outright rejection – anti-Marxist to some – to calls for substantial revision of both its concepts and objectives. Laclau and Mouffe (1985: 5) insisted in Hegemony and socialist strategy that they saw their enterprise as being both ‘post-Marxist’ and ‘post-Marxist’. To a certain extent, although with qualifications, the same could be said of Specters; but Baudrillard and Lyotard can both be described as post-Marxist, rejectionists rather than revisers. Clarifying his position in an interview in the aftermath of Hegemony and socialist strategy’s publication, Laclau (1990: 201) was to state that ‘I haven’t rejected Marxism. Something very different has occurred. It’s Marxism that has broken up and I believe I’m holding on to its best fragments.’ From the standpoint of several decades on, however, what has been the legacy of each text: a dead end, or a signpost to the future of left-wing thought? This chapter reassesses these four key works to consider whether they still resonate meaningfully today, either theoretically or politically, given the many significant social changes that have taken place since they were written. How do they appear in what has been for some time now a climate of rampant neoliberalism? Or, for that matter, one where religious fundamentalism, particularly the Islamic variety, is thriving? And where there has been a marked shift to the right in the political complexion of the Western world, with nationalism becoming an ever more important factor, and the phenomena of Brexit and the Trump presidency signalling a marked downturn in the appeal of the left among the general population.