The essays collected in this book reflect the author's conviction that the Marxist tradition can be kept alive as an essential political component of the Left not through dutiful conservation, but through ruthless recycling. The book draws lessons from the blind alleys to which Marxist thought led, and preserves and develops the most precious insights it contains. In particular, it spells out and defends the controversial notion of a "capitalist road to communism" that would remain true to the Marxian ideal while embracing capitalism.