Leszek Kolakowski "The Concept of the Left" (1968)

This 1968 paper by Polish Marxist by Leszek Kolakowski appeared in English via the The New Left Reader edited by Carl Oglesby. (1969). Kolakowski’s writings were pretty much ignored by the official left circles in India. But New left groups in India in the 1970s on widely read and shared Kolakowski writings. Shyam Lal the celebrated left liberal editor of the Times of India wrote a number of commentaries and reviews of the work of Kolakowski. His Main Currents of Marxism was widely available in India. His valuable essay on the Concept of the Left is little known in India and South Asia and needs to be widely read at this time of the crisis of the left. It is being reproduced here for educational and non commercial use.