Marxist crisis theory to 1932 and to the present: reflections on Henryk Grossman’s ‘Fifty years of struggle over Marxism’

Abstract

Henryk Grossman's article and pamphlet ‘Fifty years of struggle over Marxism, 1883‐1932' provided a survey of Marxism and particularly Marxist crisis theory since Marx’s death. He identified both innovations in and major departures from Marx's own approach amongst those who called themselves Marxists. The processes of innovation and departure have both continued over the period since. This paper explores Grossman's assessments of Marxist crisis theories up to 1932, subsequent theoretical developments and grounds these in an account of the material circumstances of their production.