Krótka historia „hegemonii”, czyli o niemarksowskim marksizmie

In this paper the author discusses the concept of hegemony as a tool of political analysis. He reviews the history of the concept within the Marxist tradition (Kautsky, Bernstein, Sorel, Gramsci), focusing in the key part of the paper on the idea of hegemony in contemporary context, especially on Ernesto Laclau's views. In conclusion the author interprets the theory of hegemony as a rescue strategy whose aim has been to save Marxism ,,from the inside''. In his view, Ernesto Laclau aims to achieve this goal by eliminating from the Marxist theory the residues of essentialism, and by combining Marxism with the theory of discourse and deconstruction.