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Description of  Raymond Williams at 100

Raymond Williams was by common consent one of the two most commanding intellectual figures in the New Left that emerged in Britain at the turn of the sixties, the other being Edward Thompson. Williams published in 1961 a text entitled The Future of Marxism. In that essay, Williams has some remarkable things to say about imperialism, the successes of actually existing socialism, balanced against its failures, and the continued relevance of socialism as the horizon of human liberation. He also makes a characteristic methodological point: the relation between systems of thought and actual history is both complex and surprising. The future of Marxism, that is to say, will not depend on dogma, but will instead rest on historical developments, on how well are able to actualize Marxs ideals in our own unique conjuncture. This volume takes up the challenge of reading and extending Williamss thought in light of the actual history that has occurred since his passing but with the same ideal of socialism as its guiding horizon. If there is one thread visible throughout all of Williamss work, it is the felt presence of a living, thinking individual, of a person continually testing ideas in experience in order to see whether they fit the world they are meant to describe. The aim of this volume, timed to coincide with what would have been Williamss 100 Read more