Post-Marxism

Post-Marxism is a perspective in critical social theory which radically reinterprets Marxism, countering its association with economism, historical determinism, anti-humanism, and class reductionism, whilst remaining committed to the construction of socialism. Most notably, post-Marxists are anti-essentialist, rejecting the primacy of class struggle, and instead focus on building radical democracy. Post-Marxism can be considered a synthesis of post-structuralist frameworks and neo-Marxist analysis, in response to the decline of the New Left after the protests of 1968.
The term "post-Marxism" first appeared in Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe's theoretical work Hegemony and Socialist Strategy. Post-Marxism is a wide category not well-defined, containing the work of Laclau and Mouffe on the one hand, and some strands of autonomism, post-structuralism, cultural studies, ex-Marxists and Deleuzian-inspired 'politics of difference' on the other. Recent overviews of post-Marxism are provided by Ernesto Screpanti, Göran Therborn, and Gregory Meyerson. Prominent post-Marxist journals include New Formations, Constellations, Endnotes, Crisis and Critique and Arena.
History
Post-Marxism first originated in the late 1970s, and several trends and events of that period influenced its development. The weakness of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc paradigm became evident after the so called "Secret speech" and the following invasion of Hungary, which split the radical left irreparably. Marxism from then on faced a crisis of credibility, resulting in various developments in Marxist theory, particularly neo-Marxism, which theorised against much of the Eastern Bloc. This happened concurrently with the occurrence internationally of the strikes and occupations of 1968, the rise of Maoist theory, and the proliferation of commercial television and later information technologies which covered in its broadcasts the Vietnam War.
Post-Marxism, although with its roots in this New Left and the consequent post-structural moment in France, has its real genesis in reaction to the hegemony of neoliberalism, and defeat of the Left in such events as the UK miners' strike. Ernesto Laclau argued that a Marxism for the neoliberal conjuncture required a fundamental reworking, to address the failures of both.Subsequently, Laclau and Mouffe address the proliferation of "new subject positions" by locating their analysis on a non-essentialist framework.
Simultaneously, revolutionaries in Italy, known as the Workerists or Operismo, and later autonomists, began to theorise against the conservative Italian Communist Party, focusing much more on labour, gender and the later works of Marx. In France, radicals such as Félix Guattari redefined old Lacanian models of desire and subjectivity, which had often been tied to the communist project, bringing Nietzsche into conversation with Marx. In the Eastern Bloc, the Budapest School began reinterpreting Marx, building on the work of the Praxis school before them.
Turning to the Atlantic, in the UK, Stuart Hall began to experiment with increasingly aggressive post-structuralist theorists in the build up to New Labour whilst working for Marxism Today, especially in relation to race and identity. John Holloway began to forge a new path between Althusserian structural Marxism and Trotskyist theorists of monopoly capitalism. In the US, Michael Hardt collaborated with Antonio Negri to produce Empire at the turn of the century, widely recognised as a consolidation and re-affirmation of post-Marxism. Harry Cleaver produced innovative readings of Capital.
Currently, figures in the US, UK, and Europe continue to produce work in the post-Marxist tradition, particularly Nancy Fraser, Alain Badiou, Jeremy Gilbert and Étienne Balibar. This theory is often very different from that produced by Laclau and Mouffe.
Despite being born in Latin America and the Eastern Bloc, post-Marxism is largely produced by theorists of the Global North, as the following criticisms reveal. Aside from perhaps Spivak, there are no notable theorists of the Global South who are within the post-Marxist tradition, and the radical movements of the Global South largely remain within the Leninist tradition. Several reasons relating to political geography and level of academisation are given as explanations. There is some debate however as to whether Cedric Robinson was a post-Marxist.
Despite this, the Zapatistas have been a large source of inspiration for many post-Marxists.
Criticism
Post-Marxism has been criticised from both the left and the right. Nick Thoburn has criticised Laclau's post-Marxism (and its relationship to Eurocommunism) as essentially a rightward shift to social democracy. Ernest Mandel and Sivanandan also make this same point. Richard Wolff also claims that Laclau's formulation of post-Marxism is a step backwards. Oliver Eagleton (son of Terry Eagleton) claims that Mouffe's 'radical democracy' has an inherent conservative nature.
Post-Marxism of all stripes has also been criticised for downplaying or ignoring the role of race, neocolonialism, and Eurocentrism.
People
Alain Badiou
Étienne Balibar
Jodi Dean
Gilles Deleuze
Jeremy Gilbert
Mark Fisher
Nancy Fraser
Félix Guattari
Stuart Hall
Michael Hardt
Agnes Heller
John Holloway
Fredric Jameson
Ernesto Laclau
Chantal Mouffe
Nicos Mouzelis
Antonio Negri
Aletta Norval
Jacques Rancière
Richard G. Smith
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (contested)
Nick Thoburn
Slavoj Žižek
See also
21st-century communist theorists
Accelerationism
Autonomism
Black radical tradition
Budapest School
Critical legal studies
Critical race theory
Cultural studies
Communization
Eco-socialism
Essex School of discourse analysis
Eurocommunism
Immaterial labor
Marxist philosophy
Neo-Marxism
Neo-Gramscianism
Open Marxism
Postcolonialism
Post-structuralism
Postanarchism
Racial capitalism
Specters of Marx
References
Further reading
Badiou, Alain; Macey, D; Corcoran, S. (2015). The communist hypothesis. London: Verso.
Callinicos, A., Kouvélakis, E. and Pradella, L. (2021). Routledge handbook of Marxism and post-Marxism. New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.
Dean, J. (2018). Communist Horizon. Verso.
Fisher, M. (2009). Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? Winchester: Zero Books.
Harvard.
Holloway, J. (2019). Change the world without taking power : the meaning of revolution today. London Pluto Press.
Thoburn, Nick (2003). Deleuze, Marx, and Politics. Routledge
External links
Kurz, Robert (1995). Postmarxismus und Arbeitsfetisch. Krisis. No. 17 ,
Marchart, Oliver (1998). Beantwortung der Frage: Was heißt Post-Marxismus?. Eintrag für Vladimir Malachov, Vadim Filatov: Sovremennaja zapadnaja filosofia, Moscow .
Critical theory
Eponymous political ideologies
Marxist schools of thought
Social theories