Phenomenological Marxism

Abstract Why “phenomenological” Marxism? Marxism needs no qualifications — so runs the “orthodox” Marxist criticism - and qualifying it is only an eclectic maneuver hiding a fundamentally anti-Marxist orientation. There is Marxism and anti-Marxism: no third way is possible. Furthermore, any attempt to modify Marxism with some extraneous element is not only objectively anti-Marxist but also pro-imperialist, since it diverts attention from, and actually obfuscates, the really crucial issue of the day: the confrontation between communism and capitalism. This objection turns out to be the official line of Soviet Marxism, and its main objective is to apologize for a political strategy that has long ceased to be revolutionary.