Conception of history and left-wing apostasies

Abstract

This paper focuses on a greatly neglected work by E. R Thompson - An Open Letter to Leszek Kolakowski. In this writing E. P. Thompson examines the metamorphoses of the thought of the Polish philosopher. Analyzing the gradual distancing of the former communist dissident from the Marxist tradition up to the complete apostasy and locating this turn on the conception of history, the British marxist was able to foresee and criticize, on the basis of this archetypal instance, the substantive theoretical foundation of those schools of thought that since the 70s have been engaged in a struggle against marxist thought under the guise of a fight against all metanarratives.