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I n a recent publication, David Leopold mounted an attack on a theory long treated as received wisdom : the notion that Marxist thought is radi- cally opposed to human rights claims. This thought-provoking revision is not enough to inva- lidate Marx's early critiques of human rights, which became more categorical in his mature writings.
Yet we can identify a logical weakness in Marx's thought on the subject whilst fully recognising that the author of Capital was no positive advocate of rights either. The basic paradox is this : how can individual emancipation – the ultimate goal of com- munism in Marx's view – be achieved without rights being claimed ? This question opens the way for a rethinking of Marxist ideas on human eman- cipation as part of the tradition of human rights – Marx's own critiques of that tradition notwithstanding.
