| Summary: | This text suggests that Marx was right to reject utopian socialism on the grounds that it undermined the principles of proletarian self-emancipation and self-determination. As a theoretician of the proletarian class, Marx sought to capture the spirit of revolution in a manner which precluded the need for utopian philanthropy and the messianic elitism which invariably accompanied it. In his central argument, the author suggests that the categories which together define Marx's own utopia were nothing more than theoretical by-products of the models employed by Marx in order to supersede the need for utopianism. As such, Marx was an accidental utopian. Rather than legitimating utopianism, however, the author argues that this conclusion reinforces the need to develop Marx's anti-utopian project further. Emphasizing the contemporary relevance of Marx's original critique, the conclusion suggests that the future of socialism lies in its ability to harness, not the spirit of utopia, but the spirit of adventure.
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