Deconstruction's promise: Derrida's rethinking of Marxism

Derrida's treatise on Marxism, Spectres of Marx; sheds light on the politic s of Derridean deconstruction. It is worth taking seriously Derrida's effor ts to ally his project, both strategically and critically, with a "left," " democratic," even Marxist one, and to advance the debate regarding the stat us of deconstruction within such a project. Nevertheless, his reading of Ma rxism and his call for a New International indicate the limitations of deco nstructive theory for precisely the kind of strategic and radically democra tic project that Derrida advocates, These limitations arise from a number o f sources, including: an abiding ambivalence regarding the "materialist" st atus of his project, the difficulties that arise from his definition of "ju stice" as differance in application to an analysis of oppression, an oversi mplification of debates about the ontological status of class in Marxist th eory, confusion regarding the political logic of the radical democratic pro ject, and both inconsistency and vagueness in the theorization of the "pres ent" proposed in deconstructive terms.