Was Marx himself a ' Marxist'? Was his visionary promise of socialism betrayed by Marxist dictatorship? Is Marxism inevitably totalitarian? What did Marx really say? " Introducing Marxism" provides a fundamental account of Karl Marx's original philosophy its roots in 19th century European ideology his radical economic & social criticism of capitalism that inspired vast 20th century revolutions It assesses Marxism's Russian disciples Lenin Trotsky & Stalin who forged a ruthless dogmatic Communism The book examines the alternative Marxist approaches of Gramsci the Frankfurt School of critical theory & the structuralist Marxism of Althusser in the 1960s It marshals postmodern interpretations of Marxism & raises the spectre of 'post-Marxism' in Derrida's confrontation with Fukuyama's 'end of history' doctrine