It’s been a good year for socialists. Bernie Sanders is leading the early crop of Democratic presidential hopefuls, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has become a national obsession on both ends of the political spectrum.
But for the more rarified world of socialist theory, the field recently lost one of its major thinkers —the pioneering Marxist theorist Erik Olin Wright, a University of Wisconsin-Madison sociologist, died in January.
Last year, as we were putting together our show about contemporary socialism, I wanted to interview Erik, but I also knew he was very ill with acute myeloid leukemia. He lived near our studio, but getting here and actually doing an interview was an ordeal. But he really wanted to do the interview, so we planned for a day in between his treatments when he would, hopefully, have enough energy. When he finally sat down for the interview, we chatted about his medical prospects. He knew the odds were stacked against him, and when I thanked him for making the effort, he said, “No, this is a gift for me.” There was a sense for both of us, I think, that this would be one of his last interviews.
Once the interview began, Erik was lively and passionate about the prospects for a socialist America — brilliant, in fact, as I expected he would be.
I never saw him again after that day. We’re re-airing an updated version of our show about socialism, and once again you can listen to Erik Olin Wright. He will be missed.