Preface to the first edition The varieties of Marxism over the last 100 years are so manifold and, at times, so subtle that any survey that aims to be fairly comprehensive is bound also to be fairly superficial. What I have tried to do is to describe the development of Marxist ideas. In order to make sense of this devel opment, a minimum of reference to their political, social and economic context is necessary; but I have not attempted to give a history of Marxism as a movement. i hope to have provided the basic information for any reader interested either in the evolution of Marxist doctrine as a whole or in the specific ideas of, say, Gramsci or Althusser. Since my text is intended only to be introductory, I have added to each section a sub stantial further reading list divided into a commentary section(to give the reader some, albeit subjective, guide as to the content of the books) and a larger section of purely bibliographical references Gay Sharp has improved the style of the book on virtually every page Tony Trivelli helped me substantially with the chapter on Gramsci; Nick Caswell and Jacqui Powell did the groundwork for the bibliography; and Joyce Macrae and Mary Nash prepared the final typescript splendidly D M Canterbury tember 1978