History, Labour and Freedom: Themes from Marx - Hardcover

G. A. Cohen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198247796 ISBN 13: 9780198247791

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 1989

Synopsis

Marx saw history as a protracted process of liberation - from the scarcity imposed on humanity by nature, and from the oppression subjects by the ruling classes. The growth of the human power to produce enables humanity to free itself from both material and social adversity, but exploitation and humiliation are the price which the mass of humanity are forced to pay for the part they play in contributing to that growth. Professor Cohen gives a fresh exposition of the theory of historical materialism and defends it against familiar objections; but he also expresses reservations of his own about the theory and offers reformulations of it which seek to accommodate them. In the final part of the book he discusses the unfreedom and exploitation under which workers labour in contemporary class society. Many of the articles which the book brings together are well known, but most have been substantially revised for the present collection. History, Labour, and Freedom is a sequel to the author's influential Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence (OUP 1978).

About this title

Review:

` the reader is rewarded with many valuable insights' Labour Research

`the familiar precision of argument and the relevance to contemporary debates make the continuation of this work all the more desirable ... It is political philosophy at its best' Times Literary Supplement

`Very valuable for exposition and criticism.' S. Ludlam, Sheffield University

'This is a collection of 14 essays marked by the lucidity and sharpness of argument that Made G. A. Cohen's Karl Marx's Theory of History: a Defence such an impressive tour de force. All stimulating and relevant stuff.' David McLellan, University of Kent, Political Studies (1990), XXXVII

About this edition

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0198247796
• ISBN 13: 9780198247791
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336