Philosophical Arabesques

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Pluto Press, 2005 - History - 407 pages
A major work of Marxist theory now available for the first time in English Never-before translated prison writings by Bukharin - themselves a landmark in the history of prison writing Will be essential for all scholars of Marxism and the Russian Revolution Fully contextualised with a new introduction by a leading Marxist scholar Bukharin's Philosophical Arabesques was written while he was imprisoned in the Lubyanka Prison in Moscow, facing trial on charges of treason and execution after he was found guilty. After the death of Lenin, Bukharin co-operated with Stalin for a time. Once Stalin's supremacy was assured he began eliminating all potential rivals. For Bukharin, the process was to end with his confession before the Soviet court, facing the threat that his young family would be killed along with him if he did not. While awaiting his death, Bukharin wrote prolifically. He considered Philosophical Arabesques as the most important of his prison writings. In its pages, he covers the full range of issues in Marxist philosophy - the sources of knowledge, the nature of truth, freedom and necessity, the relationship of Hegelian and Marxist dialectic. against the use of his memory to legitimate totalitarian power. Consigned to the Kremlin archives for a half-century after Bukharin's execution, this work is now being published for the first time in English. It will be an essential reference work for scholars of Marxism and the Russian revolution and a landmark in the history of prison writing.

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Contents

A Voice from the Dead by HELENA SHEEHAN
7
Editorial Note by MONTHLY REVIEW PRESS
31
Authors Foreword
34
Copyright

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About the author (2005)

Nikolai Bukharin was one of the most talented of the leaders of the Bolshevik Party that led the Russian Revolution of 1917, a leader of the Soviet government, and the author of important theoretical works on Marxist theory. He was executed for treason in 1938.Helena Sheehan is a senior lecturer in communications at Dublin City University and the author of Marxism and the Philosophy of Science.

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