Abstract: In today′s world, the United States stands as the most advanced capitalist society and the primary locus for examining the phenomena of capital. Consequently, a clear grasp of its actual conditions and developmental tendencies has become an essential prerequisite for deepening Marxist inquiry in the new era. Confronted with the intricate problems of American society, a number of scholars have turned to a critical re-examination of liberalism as a framework for analysis, among which the work Why Liberalism Failed serves as a prominent example. Its author attributes the troubles of the United States and the contemporary world to liberalism itself, carefully elaborates in what sense liberalism has failed, and outlines both a prognosis and a principled vision of "freedom after liberalism". While the perspectives and arguments presented in the book offer genuine stimulus for reflecting on liberal theory and practice, they also provoke deeper questions. Compared with the book′s discussion, Marx′s analysis and construction of liberalism remain incomparably scientific, realistic, and transcendent.

Key words: freedom, liberalism, community, concrete individual, Marx