Radical Thinkers

An impressive re-examination of the theories of Marx and Engels on nationalism

Really Existing Nationalisms challenges the conventional view that Marx and Engels lacked the theoretical resources needed to understand nationalism. It argues that the two thinkers had a sophisticated insight into the subject, and that the reasoning behind their policy towards specific national movements was often subtle and sensitive to the ethical issues at stake.

Erica Benner identifies arguments in Marx and Engels’ writings that can help us to think more clearly about national identity and conflict today.

“In addition to being the single most important contribution to Marx studies in recent years, this is also a clarion call for a realist theory of ‘nationalism as politics.’”
—Mike Davis, New Left Review

“A brave, avowedly revisionist appraisal of what Marx and Engels themselves had to say in this field.”
—Times Literary Supplement

“A formidable and academically vigorous book in which, literally, no page of Marx’s and Engel’s voluminous literary legacies remain unturned.”
—Aleksandras ShtromasErica Benner is a Fellow in Political Philosophy at Yale University. She is the author of numerous books, most recently Be Like the Fox: Conversations with Machiavelli.