The current global economic crisis, which originated in the West, has triggered a revival of interest in Marxism on a scale which was quite unthinkable even very recently. At the same time there remains the tremendous intellectual apathy for doctrinaire Marxism, associated normally with the practitioners of the mainstream Left. This prompted me to work on this select volume of 16 essays, written over a period of about three decades. The essays are reflective of different moods, times and situations, as they have witnessed both the closure of an old order in the last century and the birth of the new millennium. Despite thematic diversities, the essays question the ontological claims of the kind of Marxism which has dominated the mindset of the common man for decades, resulting in a complete disillusionment after the fall of the Soviet bloc. In its place, a case is made through the essays for an alternative perspective and an understanding marked by the spirit of pluralism, democracy and humanism. That times have changed and that the new century makes new demands—and that it is imperative to take a stock of the history of Marxism afresh, without being trapped in dogmatism—constitutes the central focus of the essays.

Most of the essays have been published previously. However, some of them are being published here for the first time. In the case of the published essays the year of publication has been mentioned at the end of the article.