Marx’s vision of the evolution of capitalism-a critical look

In the preface to the new American edition of his Main Currents of Marxism [2005 Main Currents of Marxism [2005, p. vi], Leszek Kołakowski accurately observes that philosophical doctrines that have enjoyed considerable popularity for a long time never completely die out. Even when seemingly rejected by the mainstream, they only change their style and language and continue to permeate various areas of culture, still capable of culture, still capable of arousing in people the same hope or the same fear, as before. Marxism, Kołakowski says, is therefore still alive, if only in the dusty faculties of French universities. But if Marx’s thought has not lost its provocative potential, neither has the many voices of its critics. And it is in this, somewhat dialectical, statement this paper finds its justification in the following statement