Bertell Ollman is an American Marxist political scientist and Professor of Politics at New York University. Raised in a Jewish family in Milwaukee, he studied at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Oxford. His academic work focuses on Marxist philosophy, dialectics, and the theory of alienation.
Ollman’s foundational scholarship includes his 1971 book, “Alienation: Marx’s Conception of Man in Capitalist Society,” which analyzed Marx’s use of the “theory of internal relations” to understand social structures. Beyond academic writing, in 1978 he created “Class Struggle,” a popular political board game designed to illustrate social and economic concepts through gameplay. That same year, his appointment as department chair at the University of Maryland was blocked due to political opposition over his Marxist methodology, resulting in a landmark academic freedom lawsuit (Ollman v. Evans).
Ollman is a vocal opponent of Zionism, analyzing Israeli state policies toward Palestinians through the lenses of Marxist political economy and anti-colonialism. In 2005, he published a widely circulated essay, “Letter of Resignation from the Jewish People,” in which he argued that the military occupation and displacement of Palestinians contradicted universal human rights and ethical traditions. He maintains that opposing state nationalism and supporting Palestinian rights are necessary applications of Marxist internationalism and universalist ethics.