Socialism Unbound

Published more than twenty years ago, Stephen Eric Bronner's bold defense of socialism remains one of the best texts to reframe the movement for modern audiences. Treating socialism as an ethic and reclaiming its early intellectual foundations, while acknowledging and correcting its inherent flaws, Bronner advances a more robust theory of working-class politics for the twenty-first century. Unfolding chronologically, Bronner's study revisits the labor movement's pivotal figures-Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Karl Kautsky, Eduard Bernstein, Vladimir Lenin, and Rosa Luxemburg-and the major themes governing their work. He identifies the contributions of these individuals but also their missteps, particularly the moments in which critical innovation gave way to dogma, muddying the meaning of core principles and practices. Bronner confronts a host of controversial issues, including the relationship between class and social movements, institutional accountability and participation, and economic justice and market imperatives; the problematic processes of revolution and reform; and the tensions between internationalism and identity. Adding a new introduction examining the revival of socialist theory and the evolution of labor politics over the past three decades, Bronner's classic treatise furthers the intellectual development of a genuinely progressive politics.