Max Adler’s text is central to understanding the German-Austrian approach to Marxism. It rejects the claims of Lenin and others that Marxism in a culture is a necessary objective reality. Instead, it focuses on the cultural needs of a population at a given period of time. Thus, an assessment of the political, economic, and social-cultural milieu must be made continually. Since this milieu changes constantly, a Marxist must maintain a cultural awareness of the ever-changing state of affairs and act accordingly.

This English translation, the first since the publication of Adler’s book in 1930, makes available a key contribution of the Austro-Marxist current in European Marxism.