Intended Contribution

Intended to contribute, in his own words, to a "left-wing critique of Stalinism that would help put some substance back into the revolutionary project here in the West," they are the record of a shared history.

Althusser's Critique and Practice

At the same time they chart Althusser's critique of the theoretical system unveiled in his own major works, and his developing practice of philosophy as a "revolutionary weapon."

Historical Significance

Attesting to the unique place which Althusser has occupied in modern intellectual history—between a tradition of Marxism which he sought to reconstruct, and a "post-Marxism" which has eclipsed its predecessor—these texts are indispensable reading.