Teppo
This weekend I read Leszek Kolakowski‘s 1974 essay “My Correct Views on Everything” (well worth the read) – a response to British historian E.P. Thompson, who took Kolakowski to task in a scathing article (titled “Open Letter to Leszek Kolakowski”) arguing in effect that Kolakowski had sold out his Marxist ideals. While Marxism undoubtedly is highly influential theoretically, it is hard to dismiss the practical of it all (particularly if we believe Lewin’s epithet of [roughly] ‘nothing is quite as practical as theory’). As Kolakowski notes – the practical outcomes of Marxism, theoretical ideals and potential misconstruals aside, have been devastating.
My reading of the Kolakowski essay coincides with a recent translation of his 1,283-page tome Main Currents of Marxism, published by Norton. The book is reviewed by Tony Judt in the NYRB here (also recommended). On the Kolakowski essay mentioned above, Judt notes:
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Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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