Political Science Commons^™

The Right-Wing Attacks On The Academic Left In India, Raju J. Das

Class, Race and Corporate Power

While right-wing attacks on the ideas of democracy and socialism in academia are a worldwide trend, in the remainder of the paper, I will focus on India, considered to be the largest democracy in the world. India has become a hotbed of right-wing politics, led by an authoritarian Hindu-nationalist government of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). There are various reasons why this has happened which this paper will not discuss (Das, 2020a; Jaffrelot, 2021; Vanaik, 2017). Suffice to say that the BJP is the political wing of the fascistic paramilitary organization called RSS (or, National Volunteer Corps) which, in part …

Academic Marxism In The Crosshairs: What Is At Stake In The U.S.?, Robert E. Latham

Class, Race and Corporate Power

This essay considers the nature of attacks on academic Marxism in North America, still the center of capitalist power worldwide. Its main aim is to reflect on what is at stake in the surge of anti-Marxism associated with the right, specifically relating to the academy. While the far left poses little threat to the core of liberal capitalist power in the state and economy (and if anything is helping “do work” for the centre against the far right), the far right has made Marxism, especially academic Marxism, a core target and framing for its battle against liberal power and the …

Preface, Raju J. Das, Robert E. Latham

Class, Race and Corporate Power

The three articles were originally presented as papers on a panel organized by Robert Latham, at the Socialist Studies Conference at York University in 2023. While more or less focused on Marxism in academia, the articles deal with different regional contexts: Hyun Ok Park deals with South Korea, Robert Latham with the US, and Raju Das with India.

Academia, Marxism, And Sociology: A Warning From "The History Man", Tom Brass

Class, Race and Corporate Power

An essay by Tom Brass which examines how popular culture formed the negative image of sociology as taught at the 1960s new universities by portraying it as following Marxist fashion and thereby failing to anticipate the shift to the anti-Marxism of the cultural turn. It concludes by considering why and how such academic fashion is constructed and reproduced, and examines implications for the kinds of hegemonic trends encountered in social science publications.

Theory And Class Struggle: Three Interviews, Raju J. Das, Robert E. Latham

Class, Race and Corporate Power

Raju Das and Robert Latham interview Lilia Monzo, Tom Brass, and Alfred Saad-Filho in the initial piece for the new "Theory and Class Struggle" section of Class, Race and Corporate Power.

Theory And Class Struggle: An Introduction To The Section, Raju J. Das, Robert E. Latham

Class, Race and Corporate Power

An introduction to our new section "Theory and Class Struggle" by the Section Editors - Raju Das and Robert E. Latham.

One Hundred Years Of The Dialectic: Reflections On “Marxism And Philosophy”, Daniel Skidmore-Hess

Class, Race and Corporate Power

In a recent article appearing in Spectre Journal, Darren Roso concludes his discussion of “Weimar’s Marxist Heretic: Reading Karl Korsch Today” by stating that “It is, perhaps, a good but dark time to read authors like Korsch who articulated something timeless about revolutionary Marxism.” What Roso finds “timeless” is the importance of “timeliness” in “absolute” commitment to human liberation. One might hesitate before a timeless absolute, yet it is noteworthy that the text that is most central to the intellectual legacy of Karl Korsch (1886-1961) has now reached its centenary and Roso may well be correct to claim that is …

Eleven Theses On Socialist Revolution, Chris Wright

Class, Race and Corporate Power

It is an open question whether socialism will ever exist on a national or international scale. But if it will, it will come about in ways different from what both Marxists and anarchists have traditionally thought. In this article I present eleven "theses" regarding how it might be possible for the world to achieve an economically democratic civilization in an era of unprecedented crisis. In the process, I try to explain what has gone wrong with attempted socialist revolutions in the past.

This is reprinted with permission. The article originally appeared in Counterpunch, August 27, 2021.

Marxism And The Solidarity Economy: Toward A New Theory Of Revolution, Chris Wright

Class, Race and Corporate Power

In the twenty-first century, it is time that Marxists updated the conception of socialist revolution they have inherited from Marx, Engels, and Lenin. Slogans about the “dictatorship of the proletariat” “smashing the capitalist state” and carrying out a social revolution from the commanding heights of a reconstituted state are completely obsolete. In this article I propose a reconceptualization that accomplishes several purposes: first, it explains the logical and empirical problems with Marx’s classical theory of revolution; second, it revises the classical theory to make it, for the first time, logically consistent with the premises of historical materialism; third, it provides …

The Significance And Shortcomings Of Karl Marx, Chris Wright

Class, Race and Corporate Power

In this essay I explain both why Karl Marx remains an important thinker and why he is in some respects inadequate. I focus on the central issue of 'materialism vs. idealism,' and briefly explore ways in which contemporary intellectuals still haven't assimilated the insights of historical materialism. In the last section of the paper I examine the greatest weakness of Marxism, its theory of proletarian revolution, and propose an alternative conceptualization that both updates the theory for the twenty-first century and is more faithful to historical materialism than Marx's own conception was.

Utopia, A Must: A Review Essay On Benjamin Kunkel’S Utopia Or Bust, Bryant William Sculos

Class, Race and Corporate Power

Utopia or Bust, more than many foundational alternatives, forcefully though with non-sectarian wisdom, re-implants the notion of utopia to the front-of-the-line of Left theory (whether economic, geographic, political, social, and/or cultural). Kunkel's introductory survey reminds us through Harvey, among others, that “Utopia exists and that other systems, other spaces, are still possible."

The Relevance Of Marxist Academics, Raju Das

Class, Race and Corporate Power

This commentary examines the relationship between a Marxist scholar and the institutional and societal environment of the university. The focus is on how a Marxist academic navigates the social, economic and political aspects of the university while attempting to maintain a commitment to class analysis and Marxism as political practice.