Socialism as a Secular Creed: A Modern Global History

Andrei Znamenski argues that socialism arose from secularized apocalyptic sects, the Enlightenment tradition, and the Industrial Revolution, and became associated with social engineering and centralized planning. He explores the rise of the New Left in the 1960s and its role in fostering the cultural left, the global retreat of the left in the 1980s–1990s, and the renaissance of socialism in the wake of the 2007–2008 crisis.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 494 pages
Publication date: 15 September 2022
Publisher: Lexington Books

Andrei Znamenski argues that socialism arose out of activities of secularized apocalyptic sects, the Enlightenment tradition, and dislocations produced by the Industrial Revolution. He examines how, by the 1850s, Marx and Engels made the socialist creed “scientific” by linking it to “history laws” and inventing the proletariat—the “chosen people” that were to redeem the world from oppression. Focusing on the fractions between social democracy and communism, Znamenski explores why, historically, socialism became associated with social engineering and centralized planning. He explains the rise of the New Left in the 1960s and its role in fostering the cultural left that came to privilege race and identity over class. Exploring the global retreat of the left in the 1980s–1990s and the “great neoliberalism scare,” Znamenski also analyzes the subsequent renaissance of socialism in wake of the 2007–2008 crisis.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781498557320