P. Anderson's book calls on the reader to deeply rethink the classical Marxist heritage, reveals and explains its theoretical weaknesses and miscalculations. The author brings to the conclusion that not every plan for the liberation of mankind coincides with the establishment of a socialist system, and calls into question the connection between practice and the long-awaited freedom. It seems that after reading his analysis of the works of Lukács, Korsch, Gramsci, Adorno, Marcuse, Benjamin, Sartre, Althusser, Della Volpe, Colletti and others, the reader will think about what this book is more about: the paradoxes of the development of Western Marxism in the 70s or about the paradox of Marxism as a socio-economic system. For specialists and a wide range of readers.