This book, first published in 1985, considers the state of Marxist thought in China at the time, a time when the country’s leadership appeared more concerned with attaining modernisation and economic development than Marxist theory. It considers the problems that Chinese Marxist intellectuals were facing and relates them to the actions of the political leadership. The Gang of Four, their ‘utopianism’ and ‘dogmatism’ had been denounced and this book argues that rather than being in retreat, Chinese Marxism was in fact enjoying a productive period.