In Praise of Roots
In Praise of Roots

Summary/Abstract: Kopeček, Michal. Hledání ztraceného smyslu revoluce: Zrod a počátky marxistickéhorevizionismu ve střední Evropě [In Search of the Lost Meaning of the Revolution: TheBirth and Beginnings of Marxist Revisionism in Central Europe]. Praha: Argo, 2009,386 pp. In a detailed review-essay of Michal Kopeček’s book, the reviewer assesses the theoretical roots of Kopeček’s interpretations, the subtlety of his analysis of terminology, and his broad range of sources. He notes that “revisionism” already had a long history in the 1950's, and points out that in addition to the author’s analyses of revisionist tendencies in philosophy and sociology one could trace it in their application to economics, jurisprudence, and belles-letters. The part of the book that makes the greatest contribution to our understanding is, according to the reviewer, the discussion of the development of revisionism in Poland, where the ground was best prepared for revisionism and where, in the intellectual activity of Leszek Kołakowski, it reached its apex in Central Europe. Of similar importance was Georg (György) Lukács, in Hungary, but he sought mainly to justify Leninismin theoretical terms. In Czechoslovakia, unlike in these two neighbouring countries,revisionism lacked political support and had to wait till the second half of the 1960's to become fully developed. But that part of the story is beyond the scope of the publication under review.

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