Breaking the Frontiers

This is a collection of articles reflecting the most exciting recent developments in radical-Marxist thought. Just as the world is closing in on us, leaving little room for radical critique, this book raises its voice to show how rich current radical-Marxist critique is.

This book has taken on a vibrant life of its own, moving beyond its unusual origins. The book was born when Sun Liang, Professor at the East China Normal University, in Shanghai, approached John Holloway, Professor at the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma in Puebla, Mexico, with the news that he had received funding to publish a book in Chinese with a collection of articles that would introduce recent Western critiques of capitalism to a Chinese audience, and inviting John to join him in co-editing the collection. Together, we elaborated a list of topics that should be covered and then approached authors who would be knowledgeable, interesting and willing to write on those topics. This book is now complete and will be published in Chinese in the current year.

The book has developed beyond our expectations into something autonomous from its origins: an impressive collection of radical-Marxist articles covering a very wide range of topics. By radical-Marxist we mean Marxist approaches that are particularly interested in breaking conceptual frontiers, exploring new political directions and opening to new areas of preoccupation. Rather than looking for authors who share the same ideas, we looked for people who are developing the most exciting ways forward. We have an impressive list of authors, some very established, some just starting out but with very fresh ideas. This could be either for readers who want to explore what Marxists are talking about, or for readers who want to learn about debates in specific areas (on artificial intelligence or labour or time, for example). It would have something of the attraction of an encyclopaedia, but much more lively and sharp-ended.

We think the book will be appealing for a general public interested in learning more about current Marxist debates, and it should be very attractive indeed for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate courses in contemporary political theory, critical theory and Marxist theory.

There are two things that makes this book really special. The first is just the quality and range of authors. Established and less established, coming from different parts of the planet, these are people searching for a way forward, aware that the idées reçues of Marxist debate are not adequate for finding a way out of the growing catastrophe that is capitalism. And the second is the origin of the book, the surprising dialogue between the Chinese and the western perspectives. We are doing something that has never been done before, as far as we know.