Open Marxism
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Open Marxism is a collection of critical and heterodox Marxist schools of thought which critique state socialism[1] and party politics, stressing the need for openness to praxis and history through an anti-positivist method grounded in the "practical reflexivity" of Karl Marx's own concepts.[2] The "openness" in open Marxism also refers to a non-deterministic view of history in which the unpredictability of class struggle is foregrounded.[3]
It is very strongly anti-structuralist in both its Marxism–Leninist[4] and Althusserian[5] forms, and there are some overlaps with elements of post-Marxism.[6] It often (though not always) aligns itself with humanist Marxism, and libertarian, anarchist or left communism.[7] It draws strongly from value-form criticism.
Overview
[edit]Derrida describes an 'open' Marxist tradition in an interview from 1980.[8] Alvin Gouldner also describes 'Two Marxisms' in the 1980s; one scientific, and one critical.[9]
Originating from a term used by Agnoli in a debate with Ernest Mandel, Open Marxism began in the 80's as an effort to unite heterodox Marxist tendencies against the dogmatism of revisionist Marxism-Leninism, and mainstream sociological structuralist[10] versions of Western Marxism, such as Althusserian Marxism and Gramscian cultural studies.[11] Open Marxists returned to basic Marxist concepts such as value, labour and the state-form,[12] and argued against social-democratic state-led and Marxist-Leninist party-led utilisations of Marxism.
The sources of critical, Open Marxism (sometimes called the 'warm stream of Marxism'[13]) are many, from György Lukács' return to the philosophical roots of Marx's thinking, to council communism, the New Left, elements of Autonomism and situationism and also the Neue Marx-Lektüre of 70s Germany.[14] Hegel is often the common thread within these tendencies.[3]
Intellectual affinities with autonomist Marxism were especially strong and led to the creation of the journal The Commoner (2001–2012) following in the wake of previous open Marxist journals Arguments (1958–1962)[15] and Common Sense (1987–1999).
In the 1970s and 1980s, state-derivationist debates around the separation of the economic and the political under capitalism unfolded in the working group Kapitalistate and the Conference of Socialist Economists[16] journal Capital & Class, involving many of the theorists of Open Marxism and significantly influencing its theoretical development.[17] Endnotes journal references itself as influenced by OM.[11]
Theorists
[edit]- Theodor Adorno[18]
- Johannes Agnoli[19]
- Kostas Axelos[20]
- Hans-Georg Backhaus[21]
- Zygmunt Bauman[22]
- Ernst Bloch[23]
- Werner Bonefeld[24]
- Peter Burnham[25]
- Simon Clarke[26]
- Harry Cleaver[27]
- Ana C Dinerstein[28]
- Alfonso Garcia Vela[23]
- Edith Gonzalez[23]
- Richard Gunn[29]
- John Holloway[29]
- Karl Korsch[30]
- Henri Lefebvre[31]
- Michael Löwy[32]
- György Lukács[33]
- Rosa Luxemburg[34]
- José Carlos Mariátegui[35]
- Ernest Mandel[36]
- Mike Neary[37]
- Antonio Negri[2][38]
- Evgeny Pashukanis[30]
- Frederick Harry Pitts[39]
- Moishe Postone[40]
- Michael Heinrich[41] (Disputed - Heinrich is influenced by Althusserian structuralism)
- Kosmas Psychopedis[24]
- Helmut Reichelt[24]
- David Roediger[34]
- Mike Rooke
- Isaak Illich Rubin[42]
- Victor Serge[43]
- Gáspár Miklós Tamás[44]
- Sergio Tischler[45]
- Adrian Wilding[46]
Publications
[edit]Three volumes entitled Open Marxism were published by Pluto Press in the 1990s. A fourth volume, again published by Pluto, appeared in 2020. The authorship of the latest volume showed how far the influence of Open Marxism has spread from Europe to Latin America.[47]
'Open Leninism'
[edit]Some scholars discuss the existence of an 'open Leninism', or a Neo-Leninism,[48] that is, a critical[49] Hegelian, or post-structural Leninism that is critical of Marxism-Leninism[50] as it existed in the 20th century.[51][52] The work of Lars T. Lih,[53] Kevin B. Anderson,[54] Kai Heron,[55]Jodi Dean,[56] Andreas Malm,[57] Antonio Negri,[58] Alberto Toscano[59] and Slavoj Zizek[60] have been representative of this trend.
Criticism
[edit]Some critics have alleged that open Marxism is too open[61]- a charge of 'subjectivism' [62] and 'voluntarism'[63] is sometimes levelled, though its authors, particularly John Holloway have responded to this.[64]
Others claim that open Marxist accounts tend to treat the national capitalist state abstractly, without reference to uneven and combined development and international forms of class struggle in the capitalist "world-system".[65]
Like other forms of Marxism, it has been criticised for being totalising, universalising and Eurocentric.[66]
See also
[edit]- Antipositivism
- Anti-Stalinist left
- Autonomism
- Centrist Marxism
- Democratic confederalism
- Humanist Marxism
- Hegelian Marxism
- Parametric determinism
- Post-Marxism
- State derivation
- Third camp
- Value form
- Value criticism
- Western Marxism
- Zapatista Army of National Liberation
References
[edit]- ^ Gabriel, Meier (2023). "Book Review - Werner Bonefeld, A Critical Theory of Economic Compulsion: Wealth, Suffering, Negation" (PDF). Antipode.
- ^ a b ""The Limitations of "Open Marxism" " by Mike Rooke". Archived from the original on 2016-10-05. Retrieved 2011-11-21.
- ^ a b "A libertarian Marxist tendency map | libcom.org". libcom.org. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
- ^ "What is to be Done? Leninism, Anti-Leninist Marxism and the Question of Revolution Today". Capital & Class. 31 (1): 137–140. March 2007. doi:10.1177/030981680709100109. ISSN 0309-8168.
- ^ Charnock, Greig; Starosta, Guido (June 2023). "'If "Marxists" would only read Marx': The significance of Simon Clarke's Marxism". Capital & Class. 47 (2): 177–181. doi:10.1177/03098168231171786. ISSN 0309-8168.
- ^ Harrison, Oliver (October 2016). "Occupy: 'Struggles for the common' or an 'anti-politics of dignity'? Reflections on Hardt and Negri and John Holloway". Capital & Class. 40 (3): 495–510. doi:10.1177/0309816816653877. ISSN 0309-8168. S2CID 147973886.
- ^ plutopress (2017-02-17). "Why we need Marxist-Humanism now". Pluto Press. Retrieved 2023-11-30.
- ^ Easthope, Antony (1991). British Post-Structuralism Since 1968 (2nd ed.). Britain: Routledge. pp. 239–240. ISBN 0415062047.
- ^ Gouldner, Alvin W. (1980). "The Two Marxisms". SpringerLink. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-16296-3. ISBN 978-0-333-28880-1.
- ^ Clarke, Simon (June 1977). "Marxism, Sociology and Poulantzas' Theory of the State". Capital & Class. 1 (2): 1–31. doi:10.1177/030981687700200101. ISSN 0309-8168.
- ^ a b Endnotes. "Endnotes". endnotes.org.uk. Retrieved 2024-01-20.
- ^ Burnham, Peter (2006-04-01). "Marxism, the State and British Politics". British Politics. 1 (1): 67–83. doi:10.1057/palgrave.bp.4200005. ISSN 1746-9198.
- ^ Boer, Roland (2016-01-02). "Concerning the "Warm Stream" within Marxism". International Critical Thought. 6 (1): 13–28. doi:10.1080/21598282.2016.1142384. ISSN 2159-8282. S2CID 147376682.
- ^ "Open Marxism 1: Dialectics and History". libcom.org. Retrieved 2023-11-30.
- ^ Elden, S. (2004). Kostas Axelos and the World of the Arguments Circle. Progressive Geographies. Vol. 4: pg. 125-48.
- ^ "In and Against the State". Pluto Press. Retrieved 2023-11-30.
- ^ Bieler, A., Bruff, I., and Morton, A.D. (2010). Acorns and Fruit: From Totalization to Periodization in the Critique of Capitalism. Capital & Class. Vol. 34 (1): pg. 25-37
- ^ Holloway, John; Matamoros, Fernando; Tischler, Sergio (2009). Negativity and Revolution: Adorno and Political Activism. London: Pluto Press. ISBN 978-0-7453-2836-2.
- ^ https://libcom.org/article/destruction-determination-scholar-miserable-times-johannes-agnoli [bare URL]
- ^ https://rke.abertay.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/15036831/Memos_OpenMarxismAndCriticalTheory_Author_2017.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ https://libcom.org/article/open-marxism-1-dialectics-and-history#:~:text=For%20Backhaus%2C%20the%20abstract%20categories,of%20recent%20Marxist%20state%2Ddebates. [bare URL]
- ^ Вятр, Ежи (2017). "Открытый марксизм и возрождение социологии: роль Юлиана Хохфёльда и Зигмунта Баумана". Журнал Белорусского Государственного Университета. Социология (3): 138–145.
- ^ a b c Bonefeld, Werner (2020). Open Marxism 4. Pluto Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctvs09qng. ISBN 9780745340258. JSTOR j.ctvs09qng. S2CID 241494291.
- ^ a b c https://files.libcom.org/files/Bonefeld,%20Gunn%20and%20Psychopedis%20-%20Open%20Marxism%20-%20Volume%201%20-%20Dialectics%20and%20History.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ Burnham, Peter (1994). "Open Marxism and vulgar international political economy". Review of International Political Economy. 1 (2): 221–231. doi:10.1080/09692299408434277.
- ^ Charnock, Greig; Starosta, Guido (2023). "'If "Marxists" would only read Marx': The significance of Simon Clarke's Marxism". Capital & Class. 47 (2): 177–181. doi:10.1177/03098168231171786.
- ^ https://libcom.org/article/open-marxism-2-theory-and-practice [bare URL]
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- ^ a b Burnham, Peter (1994). "Open Marxism and Vulgar International Political Economy". Review of International Political Economy. 1 (2): 221–231. doi:10.1080/09692299408434277. JSTOR 4177100.
- ^ Charnock, Greig (2010). "Challenging New State Spatialities: The Open Marxism of Henri Lefebvre". Antipode. 42 (5): 1279–1303. Bibcode:2010Antip..42.1279C. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8330.2010.00802.x.
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- ^ Grollios, Vasilis (2014). "Dialectics and democracy in Georg Lukács's Marxism". Capital & Class. 38 (3): 563–581. doi:10.1177/0309816814550389. S2CID 144334812.
- ^ a b "Race, Class and Roediger's Open Marxism". 25 October 2017.
- ^ Kline, Curtis (2022). "The Open Marxism of José Carlos Mariátegui". Latin American Perspectives. 49 (4): 94–109. doi:10.1177/0094582X221095080. S2CID 248907483.
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- ^ Bruff, Ian (May 2009). "The Totalisation of Human Social Practice: Open Marxists and Capitalist Social Relations, Foucauldians and Power Relations". The British Journal of Politics and International Relations. 11 (2): 332–351. doi:10.1111/j.1467-856X.2009.00366.x. ISSN 1369-1481. S2CID 145147658.
Further reading
[edit]- Axelos, K. ([1976] 1961). Alienation, Techne and Praxis in the Thought of Karl Marx. Trans. R. Buzina. Austin: University of Texas Press.
- Axelos, K. (1984). Systematique ouverte (Open Systems). Les Editions de Minuit: Paris.
- Bonefeld, W., Gunn, R., Psychopedis, K. (Eds.)(1992). Open Marxism, vol. 1: Dialectics and History. London: Pluto Press (ISBN 978-0-7453-0590-5).
- Bonefeld, W., Gunn, R., Psychopedis, K. (Eds.)(1992). Open Marxism - vol. 2: Theory and Practice. London: Pluto Press (ISBN 978-0-7453-0591-2).
- Bonefeld, W., Holloway, J., Psychopedis, K. (Eds.)(1995). Open Marxism - vol. 3: Emancipating Marx. London: Pluto Press (ISBN 978-0-7453-0864-7).
- Bonefeld, W., and Psychopedis, K. (Eds.).(2005). Human Dignity: Social Autonomy and the Critique of Capitalism. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
- Clarke, S. (1983). "State, Class Struggle, and the Reproduction of Capital". Kapitalistate. Vol. 10 (11): pg. 118-33.
- Clarke, S. ed. (1991). The State Debate. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Cleaver, H. (1977). Reading Capital Politically. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
- Dinerstein, A., Garcia Vela, A. Gonzalez, E., Holloway, J. (2020). Open Marxism 4: Against a Closing World. London: Pluto.
- Holloway, J., Matamoros, F., Tischler, S. (2009). Negativity and Revolution: Adorno & Political Activism. London: Pluto Press (ISBN 978-987-22929-2-8)
- Holloway, J. (2002). Change the World Without Taking Power: The Meaning of Revolution Today. London: Pluto Press.