In 1983 the death centenary programmes of Karl Marx took place in almost every part of the globe and the scale was truly quite impressive. However, after about two decades, when the world will have the opportunity to observe the 120th death anniversary of the same man, in the year 2003, it will not be surprising if it is found that the occasion goes virtually unnoticed. This can certainly be explained as the effect of the disintegration of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the end of the Cold War, the retreat of the Left and the enormous tilt of the global balance of power in favour of the kind of aggressive capitalism represented by the United States. The neo-liberals will point to these developments of the last decade of the twentieth century and argue that Marx is then finally dead, as his thoughts are out of tune with modernity. The new radicalism, on the other hand, represented for instance by postmodernism, would argue that Marxism today has no longer any major taker in the Left camp, as it has come to be recognized philosophically as an integral component of western modernity. As a result, it fails to present itself as any real critique of, and alternative to, the modernity of capitalism.

The neo-liberal argument is not very new. It has gained ground especially after the economic failure of socialism.