Revisiting Marx's Critique of Liberalism

1. Chapter 1: Introduction.- 2. Chapter 2: Situating Marx with Respect to Justice and Right.- 3. Chapter 3: Marx's Radical Critique of Liberalism and the Supersession of Bourgeois Rights.- 4. Chapter 4: The Normative Argument for Communist Legality.- 5. Chapter 5: Contemporary Responses to Marx's Critique of Liberal Justice.- 6. Chapter 6: Democracy and the Riddle of All Constitutions: Marx's Enduring Lessons.- 7. Chapter 7: Conclusion

Igor Shoikhedbrod received his PhD in Political Science from the University of Toronto, Canada. He is currently Assistant Professor of Political Theory, at St. Francis Xavier University.

"Shoikhedbrod's text has the additional merit of offering illuminating solutions to some longstanding puzzles. ... Shoikhedbrod's book succeeds-more than any previous attempt-to close the 'distance' between right and Marxism, and to challenge the monopoly over normative theorization about legality ... . And, since radical movements-if not Marxist theorists-have long understood the importance of political struggles over rights and right, it also succeeds in closing a glaring gap between radical 'theory' and 'practice'." (Omar Garcia, Contemporary Political Theory, Vol. 22 (4), December, 2023)

"Igor Shoikhedbrod's Revisiting Marx's Critique of Liberalism is an engaging and worthy effort to reconstruct a Marxist account of legal rights that goes beyond a critique of liberal formalism and lays the groundwork for a positive theory of communist legality. ... There is much to recommend Shoikhedbrod's book." (William Clare Roberts, The Review of Politics, Vol. 84 (3), 2022)


"[Shoikhedbrod's] rereading of Marx is intended to accomplish two tasks: first, to show that Marx believed liberalism and liberal rights were an impressive historical accomplishment; and second, to argue that overcoming the limits of liberalism in a classless society wouldn't necessarily mean the end of legality and some transliberal conception of rights. ... It is to Shoikhedbrod's great credit that he manages to be highly convincing on both counts, writing an eminently readable book that gives us a better understanding of the relationship between Marxism and liberalism." (Matt McManus, Jacobin Magazine, jacobinmag.com, October 14, 2020)

"Shoikhedbrod makes a persuasive case for including Marx in the canon of the great theorists of liberalism and democracy ... . All in all, this is an excellent and timely book. Especially impressive is Shoikhedbrod's attention to Marx's biography and formation as a political actor in his own right." (LSE Review of Books, May 18, 2020)