Marxism

Chapter One ("Marxism") argues that among all contesting social theories now, only Orthodox Marxism has been able to produce an integrated knowledge of the existing social totality and provide lines of praxis that will lead to building a society free from necessity. It outlines the distinguishing marks of Orthodox Marxism and provides a polemical map of the contestations over Orthodox Marxism within the Marxist theories now to explain why any emancipatory theory has to be founded on recognition of the priority of Marx's labor theory of value and not repeat the technological determinism of corporate theory ('knowledge work') that masquerades as social theory today.
The chapter puts on display the parody of politics that has taken over left politics in the US and Europe. A parody in which — after the dead-end of the designer socialisms of postmarxisms — suddenly everyone is an ‘orthodox’ Marxist. Parody is always the effect of a slippage and the slippage here is that in spite of the sudden popularity of ‘orthodox’ Marxism, the actual theories and practices of the newly orthodox are more than ever before flexodox. 'Orthodox' Marxism has become the latest cover by which the bourgeois left authenticates its radical credentials and proceeds to legitimate the economics of the ruling class and its anti-proletarian politics. In Orthodox Marxism class is the central issue. But in the flexodox parody masquerading as orthodox Marxism today class is turned into a useless Habermasian communicative act.
Keywords: Orthodox Marxism; Slavoj Žižek; Judith Butler; Rosemary Hennessy; Michael Sprinker; cultural theory; labor theory; ideology; class; capitalism; inequality.