The predictions of orthodox Marxism have not come to pass. In this article, I try to explain why, and where Marxists have gone wrong. There's a shorter exposition of the ideas here: "Eleven Theses on Socialist Revolution."
Here's the abstract:
"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 a (Marxist) theoretical grounding for activism in the solidarity economy, and thus partially reconciles Marxism with anarchism; fourth, it accounts for the long-term failure of all attempts at socialist revolution so far. In serving these functions, the revision I propose finally 'modernizes' and corrects Marx’s conception of revolution."
Attachments
Marxism and the Solidarity Economy.pdf
(546.17 KB)
Comments
'Political marxists were…
'Political marxists were mostly wrong after all, so let's go with anarchist concepts but let's still be marxists because what's not to love about cults of personality, being more-revolutionary-than-thou, entryism and wedging social movements with personality politics'
That comment is a great…
That comment is a great example of the childish attacks always leveled against new ideas. It's very sad how flaky most ideologically self-conscious leftists are.
As a concrete example in the…
As a concrete example in the real world would you consider, say, the insurgency in Masaya, Nicaragua, in 2018, a moment of the proletarian revolution, of the dictatorship by the proletariat?
Would I? No, of course not…
Would I? No, of course not. The "dictatorship of the proletariat" is supposed to be a post-capitalist thing, something that marks the transition to a new society.