From Marx to Global Marxism

Kerstin Knopf, Detlev Quintern (Eds.)

From Marx to Global Marxism: Eurocentrism, Resistance, Postcolonial Criticism

ISBN 978-3-86821-885-5, 276 S., kt., € 34,50 (2020)

ISBN 978-3-86821-930-2, 276 S., € 27,50 (E-Book/pdf, 2020)

(Inputs - Kritische Beiträge zum postkolonialen und transkulturellen Diskurs, Bd. 6)

In our 21st century, the works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels are still widely taught, hotly debated, and adapted to different political and sociological contexts and theories. Today the "spectre of communism" haunts not only Europe, as assumed by the authors of the Manifest of the Communist Party in 1848, but the world as a whole. After Marxism achieved statehood on the ruins of the Tsarist Empire as the consequence of the Russian Revolution in October 1917, revolutionary independence movements in Asia, Africa, and the Americas introduced new and varied readings of the socialist classics in the 20th century. This collection of articles, by contributors from across the globe, discusses Marxism based on Marx's and Engels's ideas and oeuvre from transnational perspectives that connect Germany and Europe for example with Brazil, Canada, Egypt, Ghana, India, Iran, Israel, Palestine, Russia, and Turkey. With a critical postcolonial approach, the pluri-versal debates look at the heritage of Karl Marx (and Friedrich Engels) in the context of histories of resistance, analytical thought, theory building, a latent Euro-centric outlook, and the 'discursive monument' Marxism.

Buchvorschau / Inhaltsverzeichnis (pdf)

Pressestimmen

"Der Sammelband From Marx to Global Marxism ist eine bemerkenswerte Herausgabe kritischer und dekolonialer Beiträge, die die denkerische Landschaft in zweierlei Hinsicht bereichern: Zum einen bietet er, und dies bereits ausführlich in der Einführung, eine kritische Reflexion des eurozentrischen Kerns der marxistischen Theorie und zum anderen stiftet er neue Impulse, um die dekolonialen Debatten, die besonders in den letzten Jahren verschärft geführt werden, zu unterstützen und mit einem faktisch-theoretischen Gerüst zu verstärken. Empfehlenswert."

Bianca Boteva Richter, Polylog 47 (2022)

"Marxism is generally criticised for pontificating a grand narrative - therefore impervious to difference - of human liberation, for it’s supposed Eurocentrism, it’s Enlightenment legacy in providing a blueprint of universal telos of history, class exclusivity etc. Much of the criticism is valid. But that does not mean that Marxism has lost its analytical purchase? On the contrary, since the global financial meltdown in 2008 - and in the post-COVID 19 world - there has been a renewed interest in Marxism and Marx’ thoughts. Certainly capitalism today is not what it used to be during Marx and Engels' time and the changing dynamics of exploitation and imaginaries of human liberation also call for a critical engagement with Marx’s ideas today. From Marx to Global Marxism: Eurocentrism, Resistance, Postcolonial Criticism is an important contribution in the ongoing debates on the relevance and possible horizons of Marxist politics today. The book does not treat Marx as a prophet while never losing sight of the critical relevance of Marx’s ideas today and thereby perhaps does the best service to Marx and Marxist politics. The book cautions us against a theologisation of Marx and encourages us to engage with his ideas critically and creatively to imagine newer horizons of emancipatory politics in changing historical and geographical contexts."

Mursed Alam, Postcolonial Interventions 8.1 (2023)