MARXISM AND ITS
MODERN INTERPRETATIONS
NIKITA MININ
KMVES FSS MUNI
ORIGINS
•KARL MARX AND FRIEDRICH ENGELS
•1848 - THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO
•3 VOLUMES OF “CAPITAL” (1867-1883)
BASIC ASSUMPTIONS
•FoundationalismOntology
•RealismEpistemology
KEY FEATURES
• Economic relations are the cornerstoneEconomism
• Political sphere and state are determined by class
relations and mode of productionDeterminism
• Material relations shape ideas
• Dominant ideas promote interests of the ruling classMaterialism
• Economic structures determine the actions of agentsStructuralism
STRUCTURE OF HUMAN SOCIETY
Source: Deviant Art
DIALECTISM
Thesis
Contradictions
within
Antithesis
Synthesis
HISTORICAL/DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM
• Progress
• Emancipatory
potential –
critical theory
Source: Quora
THEORY VS. REALITY
• Evolutionary (Kautsky) vs.
Revolutionary (Lenin) strains
• Scandinavia/Northern Europe vs.
USSR and China
• Global system vs. Particular Country
• Socialism vs. Communism
Source: Deviant Art
3 LAWS OF CAPITALISM (MARX)
Law of Disproportionality
Law of Accumulation
Law of the Falling Rate of Return
LENIN’S 4TH LAW
Theory of International
Relations
Law of
Uneven
Development
Financial
Capital
Controls the
Industrial
One
1917 –
“Imperialism,
the Highest
Stage of
Capitalism”
Trotsky:
World
Revolution
Political reasons of
capitalism’s demise
TOWARDS NEOMARXISM
• More Idealist
• Ideas Are
Independent;
Actors Are
Reflexive
Ontology
• More
Interpretative
• Interpretation
Affects Outcomes
Epistemology
THE MAJORITY OF THE AUTHORS:
•REJECTS RIGID ECONOMISM,
DETERMINISM,
STRUCTURALISM, MATERIALISM
•ACKNOWLEDGES VARIOUS
FACTORS OF STRUCTURAL
INEQUALITY OTHER THAN CLASS
(E.G. GENDER, RACE, ETC.)
SOME VARIANTS
Marxist Feminism
Gender as a factor of structural
inequality
Men’s politics are aggressive
Obsolete distinction between public
and private spheres (productive vs.
reproductive labor)
Cultural Hegemony of Gramsci
Hegemony is
control/leadership/authority
Hegemony is complex: cultural
component is crucial
Key role of ideology and institutions
NEOMARXISM OF I. WALLERSTEIN: WORLD-SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
Economic factors dominate global politics
Capital/labor dichotomy
Rejects dialectical materialism
WORLD-SYSTEMS THEORY: THRESHOLD CONCEPTS
Nowadays – Capitalist World-System or World-Economy
Core, semi-periphery, and periphery
Complex network of economic exchange relationships
Absence of the unified political center or system
Historical systems: mini-systems, World-Empires, World-Economy
WORLD-SYSTEMS MAP
Source: Elwell, F. W.
WORLD-SYSTEMS THEORY: PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS
North/South Divide
“End of liberalism”: Crisis
New System to Resolve the Issues
AFTERWARD: (F)UTILITY?
•CONTRADICTIONS WITHIN CAPITALISM PERSIST
•CAPITALISM IS EXPLOITATIVE
•MASSIVE INEQUALITIES DOMESTICALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY
VS. DIVISION OF LABOR