| Part of a series on |
| Marxism |
|---|
 |
Open Marxism is a critical Marxist school of thought which critiques state socialism 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.[1] The "openness" in open Marxism also refers to a non-deterministic view of history in which the unpredictability of class struggle is foregrounded.[2] There is significant overlap with some forms of post-Marxism.[3] It is very strongly anti-structuralist in both its Leninist[4] and Althusserian[5] forms.
Overview
The sources of open Marxism (sometimes called the 'warm stream of Marxism'[6]) are many, from György Lukács' return to the philosophical roots of Marx's thinking to council communism, the New Left and elements of Autonomism and situationism.[7]It often (though not always) aligned itself with humanist Marxism.[8]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)[9] 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[10] journal Capital & Class, involving many of the theorists of Open Marxism and significantly influencing its theoretical development.[11]
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.[12]
Theorists
- Theodor Adorno[13]
- Johannes Agnoli[14]
- Kostas Axelos[15]
- Hans-Georg Backhaus[16]
- Zygmunt Bauman[17]
- Ernst Bloch[18]
- Werner Bonefeld[19]
- Peter Burnham[20]
- Simon Clarke[21]
- Harry Cleaver[22]
- Ana C Dinerstein[23]
- Alfonso Garcia Vela[24]
- Antonio Gramsci[25]
- Edith Gonzalez[26]
- Richard Gunn[27]
- David Harvey[28]
- John Holloway[29]
- Karl Korsch[30]
- Henri Lefebvre[31]
- György Lukács[32]
- Rosa Luxemburg[33]
- Ernest Mandel[34]
- Mike Neary[35]
- Antonio Negri[36][37] (Disputed - Negri is anti-dialectical)
- Evgeny Pashukanis[38]
- Frederick Harry Pitts[39]
- Michael Heinrich[40]
- Kosmas Psychopedis[41]
- Helmut Reichelt[42]
- David Roediger[43]
- Mike Rooke
- Isaak Illich Rubin[44]
- Gáspár Miklós Tamás
- Sergio Tischler[45]
- Adrian Wilding[46]
Criticism
Some critics[who?] have alleged that open Marxism is too open[47] and only loosely Marxist.[48] A charge of 'subjectivism' and 'voluntarism' is sometimes levelled at open Marxism, though its authors, particularly John Holloway have responded to this.
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".[49]
Like other forms of Marxism, it has been criticised for being Eurocentric.
See also
- Antipositivism
- Anti-Stalinist left
- Autonomism
- Centrist Marxism
- Democratic confederalism
- Dialectical materialism
- Humanist Marxism
- Hegelian Marxism
- Neo-Marxism
- Parametric determinism
- Post-Marxism
- Third camp
- Western Marxism
- Zapatista Army of National Liberation
References
- ^ ""The Limitations of "Open Marxism" " by Mike Rooke". Archived from the original on 2016-10-05. Retrieved 2011-11-21.
- ^ "A libertarian Marxist tendency map"
- ^ 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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Open Marxism 1: Dialectics and History". libcom.org. Retrieved 2023-11-30.
- ^ plutopress (2017-02-17). "Why we need Marxist-Humanism now". Pluto Press. 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
- ^ "Open Marxism 4". Pluto Press. Retrieved 2023-11-30.
- ^ 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
- ^ https://rke.abertay.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/15036831/Memos_OpenMarxismAndCriticalTheory_Author_2017.pdf
- ^ https://libcom.org/article/open-marxism-1-dialectics-and-history#:~:text=For%20Backhaus%2C%20the%20abstract%20categories,of%20recent%20Marxist%20state%2Ddebates.
- ^ https://journals.bsu.by/index.php/sociology/article/view/1654
- ^ https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvs09qng
- ^ https://files.libcom.org/files/Bonefeld,%20Gunn%20and%20Psychopedis%20-%20Open%20Marxism%20-%20Volume%201%20-%20Dialectics%20and%20History.pdf
- ^ https://doi.org/10.1080/09692299408434277
- ^ https://doi.org/10.1177/03098168231171786
- ^ https://libcom.org/article/open-marxism-2-theory-and-practice
- ^ https://www.anaceciliadinerstein.com
- ^ https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvs09qng
- ^ https://stars.library.ucf.edu/prism/366/
- ^ https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvs09qng
- ^ https://files.libcom.org/files/Bonefeld,%20Gunn%20and%20Psychopedis%20-%20Open%20Marxism%20-%20Volume%202%20-%20Theory%20and%20Practice.pdf
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svPLmkCYxaE
- ^ https://files.libcom.org/files/Bonefeld,%20Gunn%20and%20Psychopedis%20-%20Open%20Marxism%20-%20Volume%202%20-%20Theory%20and%20Practice.pdf
- ^ https://www.jstor.org/stable/4177100
- ^ https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-8330.2010.00802.x
- ^ https://doi.org/10.1177/0309816814550389
- ^ https://salvage.zone/race-class-and-roedigers-open-marxism/
- ^ https://jacobin.com/2023/04/ernest-mandel-marixism-late-capitalism-postmodernism-socialism-economic-theory
- ^ https://social-epistemology.com/2019/09/16/chain-reaction-critical-theory-needs-critical-mass-contradiction-crisis-and-the-value-form-mike-neary/
- ^ ""The Limitations of "Open Marxism" " by Mike Rooke". Archived from the original on 2016-10-05. Retrieved 2011-11-21.
- ^ "Open Marxism - further reading guide"
- ^ https://www.jstor.org/stable/4177100
- ^ https://www.academia.edu/39398140/Open_Marxism_4_Against_a_closing_world
- ^ https://monthlyreview.org/2018/05/01/marxs-open-ended-critique/
- ^ https://files.libcom.org/files/Bonefeld,%20Gunn%20and%20Psychopedis%20-%20Open%20Marxism%20-%20Volume%201%20-%20Dialectics%20and%20History.pdf
- ^ https://files.libcom.org/files/Bonefeld,%20Gunn%20and%20Psychopedis%20-%20Open%20Marxism%20-%20Volume%201%20-%20Dialectics%20and%20History.pdf
- ^ https://salvage.zone/race-class-and-roedigers-open-marxism/
- ^ https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315149608-58/isaak-illich-rubin-1886–1937-riccardo-bellofiore
- ^ https://www.plutobooks.com/author/sergio-tischler/
- ^ https://libcom.org/article/open-marxism-3-emancipating-marx
- ^ "The Limitations of". herramienta.com.ar. Retrieved 2023-11-30.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Bieler, A., Bruff, I., and Morton, A.D., 2010, pg. 28.
Further reading
- 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.
Recent Comments