This book re-examines and brings to light the libertarian components of Marx's and Engel's political and economic thought. Central to the book is a discussion of the notion of freedom in Marx and Engel's work. In a post-Soviet world, there is a need to revise Marxism in the search for a libertarian foundation of political economy. The book argues that the libertarian foundations were present in Max's and Engel's work and utilizes contemporary theory's of freedom to re-interpret and analyse their original work.

'It is a book that needed writing. Its overall conception is outstanding, especially for the emphasis placed on communism as a real movement of individuals engaged in the practice of emancipation. Also the rejection of all distributionist explanations of communism is fundamental.' - Howard Engelskirchen

'Libertarian communism is an excellent idea for a book and one which is well executed. I think it can have a real impact in progressive circles.' - Gerald Levy

Introduction
PART I: A THEORY OF WELFARE?
Communitarian Communism
The Communism of Abundance
PART II: A THEORY OF FREEDOM
Freedom and the Individual
The Emancipation of Labour
PART III: A REFORMULATION
Foundations of the Liberation Theory
The Politics of Communism

ERNESTO SCREPANTI is Professor of Political Economy at the University of Siena, Italy. He has published extensively on the institutions of capitalism, the history and methodology of economics, the theory of value and the theory of freedom. His recent publications include The Fundamental Institutions of Capitalism, 'Freedom and Social Goods: Rethinking Marx's Theory of Communism', in Rethinking Marxism, An Outline of the History of Economic Thought (with S. Zamagni) and 'Taxation, Social Goods, and the Distribution of Freedom' in Metroeconomica.