Bidet & Kouvelakis_2009_Critical Companion to Contemporary Marxism

8/9/2019 Bidet & Kouvelakis_2009_Critical Companion to Contemporary Marxism

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Critical Companion to Contemporary Marxism

Jacques Bidet and Stathis Kouvelakis

Edited byBRI

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%his book is an En)lish translation o* Jacques Bidet and Eustache Kouvelakis+ Dictionnaire Marxcontemporain. C, -resses .niversitaires de /rance+ -aris &''0,$uvra)e publi1 avec le concours du Minist2re *ran3ais char)1 de la culture 4 Centre national du ivre,%his book has been published 5ith *inancial aid o* C" 6Centre "ational du ivre7+ /rance,%his book is printed on acid4*ree paper,ibrary o* Con)ress Catalo)in)4in4-ublication !ata

%ranslations by 8re)ory Elliott,ISS" 09:'409&& ISB" ;:( ;' '< 0ke Brill "?+ eiden+ %he "etherlands,Koninkli>ke Brill "? incorporates the imprints Brill+ @otei -ublishin)+I!C -ublishers+ Martinus "i>ho** -ublishers and ?S-,All ri)hts reserved, "o part o* this publication may be reproduced+ translated+ stored in a retrieval system+ or transmitted in any *orm or by any means+ electronic+ mechanical+ photocopyin)+ recordin) or other5ise+ 5ithout

prior 5ritten permission *rom the publisher,Authoriation to photocopy items *or internal or personal use is )ranted by Koninkli>ke Brill "? provided thatthe appropriate *ees are paid directly to %he Copyri)ht Clearance Center+ &&& Rose5ood !rive+ Suite ;0'+!anvers+ MA '0;&+ .SA,/ees are sub>ect to chan)e,-RI"%E! I" %@E "E%@ERA"!S


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Contents

IntroductionD Marxism+ -ost4Marxism+ "eo4Marxisms,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,<

Chapter $neD A Key to the Critical Companion to Contemporary Marxism,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,(

Chapter %5oD %he Crises o* Marxism and the %rans*ormation o* Capitalism,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,0;

Chapter %hreeD %he !evelopment o* MarxismD /rom the End o* Marxism4eninism to a %housand Marxisms 4/rance4Italy+ 0;:94&''9,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,&(

Chapter /ourD hither An)lo4Saxon MarxismF,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,9

Chapter /iveD $ld %heories and "e5 CapitalismD %he Actuality o* a Marxist Economics,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,=

Chapter SixD Analytical Marxism,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,:(

Chapter SevenD %he /rank*urt SchoolGs Critical %heoryD /rom "eo4Marxism to H-ost4MarxismG,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,;'

Chapter Ei)htD %he ate ukcs and the Budapest School,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,0'&

Chapter "ineD %he Re)ulation SchoolD A $ne4ay %icket *rom Marx to Social iberalismF,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,0';

Chapter %enD Ecolo)ical Marxism or Marxian -olitical Ecolo)yF,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,00(

Chapter ElevenD %heories o* the Capitalist orld4System,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,0'Chapter %5elveD iberation4%heolo)y Marxism,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,0;

Chapter %hirteenD Market SocialismD -roblems and Models,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,0ectory o* Italian Operaismo,,,,,,,,,,0:=

Chapter SeventeenD Marxism and -ostcolonial Studies,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,0;0

Chapter Ei)hteen British Marxist @istory,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,&'<

Chapter "ineteenD !evelopments in Marxist Class Analysis,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,&0=

Chapter %5entyD "e5 Interpretations o* Capital ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,&&9Chapter %5enty4$neD %he "e5 !ialectic,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,&<

Chapter %5enty4%5oD States+ State -o5er+ and State %heory,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,&90

Chapter %5enty4%hreeD Marxism and %heories o* Racism,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,&=0

Chapter %5enty4/ourD @istorical Materialism and International Relations,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,&:<

Chapter %5enty4/iveD Marxism and an)ua)e,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,&(<

Chapter %5enty4SixD Adorno and Marx,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,&;

Chapter %5enty4SevenD ouis Althusser+ or the Impure -urity o* the Concept,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,'0

Chapter %5enty4Ei)htD Marxism ExpatriatedD Alain BadiouGs %urn,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,0:

Chapter %5enty4"ineD Revolutionary -otential and alter Ben>aminD A -ost5ar Reception @istory,,,,, ,,,,, ,,,,,'Chapter %hirtyD Critical Realism and BeyondD Roy BhaskarGs Dialectic,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,


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Chapter /ortyD Raymond illiams,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,


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IntroductionD Marxism+ -ost4Marxism+ "eo4Marxisms

Jacques Bidet and Stathis Kouvelakis

-eriodically proclaimed to be dead+ or on its 5ay back+ Marxism and+ more )enerally+

re*erences to Marx are an inte)ral part o* contemporary culture, A broad vie5 capable o* takin) the sli)htest distance indicates that even today+ more than t5o decades a*ter theeruption o* the last HcrisisG o* Marxism and at a time 5hen the r1)imes o**icially identi*ied5ith it belon) to history+ re*erence to Marx is in no sense ephemeral 4 mere residue o* a

period that is no5 past 4 or a local phenomenon+ con*ined to a *e5 )eo)raphical and culturalones or countries, Marxism is demonstratin) its persistence+ its productivity and its capacityto adapt to contexts and con>unctures, Such is the statement o* *act that )uided us in thechoices )overnin) the production o* this bookD to indicate the diverse *orms 4 emulatin) the*amous mole o* history+ they are o*ten subterranean 4 throu)h 5hich that re*erence hasshaped+ and continues to shape+ the theoretical debates o* the last three decades,

%hus+ in this Companion+ readers 5ill not *ind a series o* entries correspondin) to

notions or authors+ but a set o* chapters o**erin) a broad sense o* the main axes 6themes+theoretical schools and currents+ ma>or authors7 around 5hich debates *rom the 0;:'s and0;('s on5ards have been structured, %his perspective is not exhaustive and di**erent choicescould have been made,'

It certainly leaves aside various important )eo4cultural ones and some readers are boundto *ind it Eurocentric, @o5ever+ our aim 5as not to provide a )uide to the main concepts o* Marxism or an encyclopaedic survey o* Marxism, $thers+ be*ore us+ have done that to )reate**ectD 5e shall simply mention %om BottomoreGs Dictionary of Marxist Thought 6BasilBlack5ell+ $x*ord 0;(7+ 8eor)es abicaGs and 81rard BensussanGs Dictionnaire critique dumarxisme 6-resses .niversitaires de /rance+ -aris 0;(97+ and the Historisch-KritischesWrter!uch des Marxismus directed by ol*)an) /rit @au) 6ten volumes+ Ar)ument ?erla)+Berlin 0;;or trans*ormation in the

' Note to the English language edition : six o* the chapters in the Dictionnaire Marx contemporain 6-resses.niversitaires de /rance+ &''07 5ere not included in this edition+ either because they 5ere unsuitable *or anan)lophone publication+ or because they had already appeared in En)lish else5here, Chapters 0:4&9+ &(+ &;+ &+ and 9 5ere ne5ly commissioned *or this edition+ 5hilst Chapters and 0= 5ere substantially revised andupdated, %he Editors re)ret that their very ambitious hopes o* coverin) a ran)e o* other themes+ such as Marxist*eminism+ )eo)raphical4historical materialism 6particularly the 5ork o* !avid @arvey7+ literary and culturalcriticism 6especially the contributions o* %erry Ea)leton7+ ne5 debates in crisis theory 6such as that re)ardin)

Robert Brenners theses7+ and so *orth could not be realised in the time available, @o5ever+ they hope that thesechapters mi)ht be added in *uture editions o* this Companion. %he panoramic survey o* >ournals included in the/rench edition also could not be updated and included here but+ a)ain+ may appear in *uture editions,


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Hbecomin)4 a45orldG o* MarxGs thou)ht+ to use @enri e*ebvreGs phrase, It requires an in4depth analysis+ some elements o* 5hich 5e shall su))est+ both in terms o* theoretical andhistorical !alance-sheets 6H-re*i)urationsG7 and+ throu)hout the book+ o* sketches that seek toconstruct a cartography o* Marxism today+ 5hich is surprisin) in many respects, %heconstellations outlined thus simultaneously convey a diversi*ication o* the philosophical

identity o* Marxism+ its inte)ration into ne5 social and political contexts+ and itscon*rontation 5ith 5hat are in part historically unprecedented sub>ects 4 *or example+ theissue o* the so4called H)lobalisationG o* the economy+ chan)es in the labour process and

production+ )eneralised urbanisation+ the e**ects o* the revolution brou)ht about byin*ormation and communication technolo)ies+ the ne5 *orms o* racist violence+ o* culturaland military imperialism+ o* male domination+ and o* the ecolo)ical threat,

e have also sou)ht to illuminate the inter*ace bet5een HMarxismG and its other 4 that isto say+ to indicate the 5ays in 5hich Marx is present in 5hat constitutes a kind o* environment o* Marxism and 5hich+ *ar *rom bein) external to it+ is its very condition o* existence+ re)ardless o* 5hether this is reco)nised, /rom /oucault to Bourdieu+ and *rom@abermas to !eleue+ *rom theoreticians o* postcolonialism to a international relations+ a set

o* *i)ures have established themselves+ a multiplicity o* con*i)urations has developed and become *irmly rooted in various political and intellectual contexts+ attestin) to the vitality o* the Marxian re*erence,

It 5ill perhaps be asked i* 5e are still dealin) 5ith HMarxismG here, Much has been saidrecently about Hpost4MarxismsG and Hneo4MarxismsG, Althou)h it is not al5ays easy todistin)uish bet5een the t5o+ they are di**erentiated in principle in as much as the one seemsto proclaim the exhaustion o* the Marxist paradi)m+ 5hereas the other introduces

problematics 5hich+ 5hile maintainin) a special relationship 5ith certain ideas derived *romMarx+ reinterpret them in ne5 contexts or combine them 5ith di**erent traditions, %he notiono* neo4Marxism is opposed to that o* some quintessential Marxism+ inscribed in theempyrean o* ideas, And+ in reality+ historically accredited Marxism indeed appears al5ays tohave lived o** incessant restructurin) and innovation+ constantly *indin) in the surroundin)culture+ in perspectives )enerated outside its conceptual space and throu)h the breaks thattheir inte)ration involved+ the conditions *or its rene5al, ith the upheavals that marked theend o* the t5entieth century+ any idea o* orthodoxy has been shattered, %he Hcrisis o* MarxismG has released a variety o* more or less *leetin) currents+ schools+ )roups and uniqueindividual tra>ectories+ translated into shi*tin) reclassi*ications in the theoretical *ield, %he oldlines o* demarcation have in the main ceased to operate, It seemed to us that the moment hadcome to attempt to take stock+ and to try to pinpoint some o* the main themes and tracks in avast landscape, e *elt encoura)ed to do so by the complete absence o* such a carto)raphy inthe /rench literature 4 an absence that is not 5ithout consequences in a debate 5hich is too

o*ten enclosed in the national cultural space,Explorin) the ne" tendencies+ 5e have certainly ne)lected some 5orthy and si)ni*icant5ork+ developed on more traditional *oundations, $ther figures mi)ht have *eatured+ such asacan+ alon)side /oucault and Althusser, Moreover+ di**erent or)anisational options 5oulddoubtless have brou)ht out di**erent sorts o* intellectual phenomena, /or example+ had 5eopted *or a presentation by disciplines+ readers 5ould have )ot a better sense both o* somemassive re)ressions+ like that o* Marxist historio)raphy in /rance 65ith notable exceptions+such as+ inter alia+ 8uy BoisGs 5orks on the Middle A)es+ research in the Hhistory o* conceptsG or on the /rench Revolution7 and o* the complexity and sin)ularity o* therelationship to Marx that can be assumed by the various *orms o* kno5led)e 4 sociolo)ical+economic+ >uridical+ and so on 4 5hose ri)our implies specialisation in their scienti*ic criteria+

and 5hich experience some di**iculty relatin) to a theorisation o* )eneral ambition like thato* Marxism, Enterin) into the sub>ect via ma>or HproblematicsG seemed to us to be the 5ay to


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sho5 precisely ho5+ in di**erent *ashions+ this kind o* >unction 5as sou)ht, e have aimed ata meanin)*ul outline+ stimulatin) debate and con*rontation+ rather than encyclopaedicexhaustiveness,

%he index o* ideas 5hich+ as it 5as bein) constructed+ )reatly surprised the editors o* this book+ makes it clear that contemporary Marxisms speak ne5 lan)ua)es+ that they *ind

expression only throu)h a broad spectrum o* concepts derivin) *rom philosophies and *ormso* kno5led)e *orei)n to the classics+ and 5hich today mark its communication 5ith sharedcritical thinkin), @o5ever+ this does not entail the erasure o* the distin)uishin) characteristicsinvolved in the analysis o* societies in terms o* class+ exploitation+ political and culturaldomination+ and imperialism,

L L L

$bviously+ this 5ork o5es much to the 5ork over *i*teen years o* the editorial team o* the >ournal #ctuel Marx+ one o* 5hose constant concerns has been to take the measure o* re5orkin)s o* Marxism throu)hout the 5orld+ in di**erent national cultures+ in a ne5 era+ and

in the context o* a ne5 civilisation,e hope that this map 5ill make it possible to )et a better sense o* 5hat is at stake 4

5hich is not only theoretical 4 in the debates that animate a si)ni*icant part o* thecontemporary intellectual *ield and thereby contribute to that kno5led)e o* the 5orld 5hichis so essential to those 5ho 5ish to chan)e it,'

-re*i)urations

' e must thank all those 5ho have helped us durin) this lon) taskD Annie Bidet4 Mordrel and -ascale Arnaud+5ho have participated in a 5hole host o* 5ays in this undertakin) Sebastian Bud)en+ 5ho has )enerously puthis vast kno5led)e o* an)lophone Marxism at our disposal our remarkable translators !oroth1e Rousset+ 5ho*ollo5ed the 5ork *rom be)innin) to end Annie !auphin+ *or her participation in )ivin) e**ect to thequestionnaire 81rard Raulet+ director o* the .-RESA (''ect Jean4Marc achaud Christine ?ivier Emmanuel Renault Roberto "i)ro and *inally S1bastienMordrel+ 5ho took responsibility *or producin) the text o* the /rench edition, Note on the English languageedition: the Introduction and Chapters 040=+ &'+ &=+ &:+ 0+


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Chapter $neD A Key to the Critical Companion to Contemporary Marxism

Jacques Bidet

A Companion *or a di**erent 5orld

%his Companion+ 5hich bears the stamp o* the ma>or crisis experienced by Marxismover the last three decades+ also aims to attest to the rene5al it has under)one in the last tenyears,

Crisis o* socialism+ crisis o* Marxism

%he crisis o* Marxism that marked the end o* the t5entieth century is scarcelycomparable 5ith those that preceded it at the turn o* the previous century, %he latter a**ectedthe doctrine o* 5hat 5as still only a mo$ement 65orkin)4class+ socialist7+ one mainlycon*ined to Europe+ and 5hich as yet only expressed hopes *or an alternative, %he current

crisis a**ects a 5orld 5hich this movement+ havin) become state po"er + helped *ashion insi)ni*icant measure, In 5hat 5as called the Communist sphere+ 5here o**icial doctrineclaimed to be rooted in Marxism+ it supposedly de*ined the socio4economic order, In the capi4talist sphere+ much o* the institutional architecture o* society+ inspired by socialism+ had

become popular to such an extent that it seemed to be inscribed in the naturally pro)ressivecourse o* history and to be set )radually to 5in over the 5hole 5orld+ thanks to theemer)ence o* the ne5 nation4states issued *rom liberation stru))les, And+ throu)hout most o* the 5orld+ authoritarian r1)imes *aced movements inspired by Marxism ran)ed a)ainst them,.p until the 0;:'s+ capitalism could appear to be historically doomed by the )radual increasein the constraints 5ei)hin) on it+ by the nationalisation o* economies+ and by the assertion o* social lo)ics that challen)ed purely private capitalist interests,

%he Hcrisis o* MarxismG is the callin) into question o* this optimistic vie5 o* the 5orldand *uture history, It is not reducible to the collapse o* the .SSR and the evolution o* China+5here models prevailed 5hich+ in the eyes o* most o* those identi*yin) 5ith Marxism+ hadlon) since been exhausted, It is more )eneral and more pro*ound, Alon) 5ith the *ormer %hird orld+ it a**ects all developed capitalist countries+ particularly those o* Europe+ 5hoseinstitutions o* a socialist orientation+ constructed in the course o* a century and once so

po5er*ul and resonant 4 and sometimes )oin) 5ell beyond the Hsocial stateG+ especially intheir economic dimension 4 are )radually bein) dismantled+ in a process that nothin) seemscapable o* checkin),

%he obvious question *acin) Marxists is "hy thin)s are thus, Accordin) to the type o* hypothesis o**ered by Hhistorical materialismG+ such a reverse cannot be explained exclusively

by political developments 4 by the implementation o* the neoliberal pro>ect+ conceived as amachination or conspiracy on the part o* capitalist 1lites, %he old ada)e accordin) to 5hich+at a certain point+ the development o* the Hproductive *orcesG calls into question the existin)Hsocial relationsG+ is especially pertinent here, %his does not mean that startin) *rom a ne5technolo)ical a)e 5e can deduce a ne5 social and political r1)ime+ 5hich is its expression,%he intert5inin) o* the t5o orders is more complexD the Hproductive *orcesG+ as they ha$ede$eloped in the context of capitalism and in the une$en "orld system + have ended upunderminin)+ albeit in hi)hly uneven *ashion+ the national *orm that prevailed in the modern5orld and pervertin) its content, "e5 potentialities 6derivin)+ in particular+ *rom easier communications and transport+ the immediacy and ubiquity o* in*ormation+ and the )ro5in)importance o* immaterial production7 have emer)ed+ 5hich *orm the basis *or various

political+ economic+ and military pro>ects, In concrete terms+ the ne5 technolo)ical era has*avoured those capitalist *irms o* the imperialist centre able to operate as transnationals


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5ithin the 5orld system in their pursuit o* pro*it+ distributin) production here+ research there+and *inancial mana)ement some5here else a)ain, %he transnationals have acquired the po5er to dominate the states o* the centre and their directive bodies+ and to corrupt and dissolvethose o* the periphery, Consequently+ national authorities 4 the institutional site o* pro>ects o* a socialist orientation 4 *ind themselves neutralised as they come under the control o* ne5

bodies+ 5hose political *unction is to dismantle the old institutions and open up nationalterritories to a )lobalised neoliberal economy,

In these circumstances+ it is the predicti$e po5er o* Marxism that seems to be a**ected 4its ability to de*ine a di**erent type o* society+ to 5hich capitalism itsel* supposedly leads viathe development o* its contradictions, e are no lon)er dealin) 5ith a crisis "ithin Marxism+

bet5een various interpretations+ provokin) expulsions and splits 65hich Marxism+ as used to be said in optimistic *ormer days+ lived o**7, e *ace a crisis that involves MarxismGs veryexistence+ capped as it is by the disappearance o* the institutions+ party or other+ that o**iciallyre*erred to it+ and by its erasure *rom the cultural sphere+ the collective memory+ andindividual ima)inations,

"aturally+ in the public mind the most spectacular aspect o* the crisis 5as the

disappearance o* the .SSR and the socialist bloc, Amon) pro*essed Marxists+ this massiveupheaval 5as not exactly experienced as a crisis+ since that ma>or historical experiment hadissued in a ne5 *orm o* class society+ 5hich had lon) been the ob>ect o* their criticism,Instead+ it took the *orm o* disappointment in the inability o* these r1)imes to re*ormthemselves in any 5ay+ i* only in a social4democratic direction, $nly a *e5 optimistsre)arded this as a Hliberation o* MarxismG and the chance o* a ne5 be)innin) 4 a sublimation+no doubt+ o* their relie*, %he Chinese mutation 5as less o* a cause *or surprise+ since itinscribed this continent in a common lo)ic+ 5here modern class con*rontation+ 5ith itsanta)onistic pro>ects+ persists+ even i* it assumes speci*ic *orms,

In reality+ Marxist morale is a**ected by somethin) more pro*ound and more )eneral, It isthe )radual destruction+ 5ithin nation4states+ o* everythin) that 5as constructed in the nameo* socialism+ 5ith Marxism as a ma>or theoretical re*erence4pointD an economy in part under collective control+ 5ith multiple public services in education+ health+ in*ormation andcommunication+ transport+ research and culture, It is the privatisation o* all aspects o* socialexistence+ the private appropriation o* all sources o* 5ealth+ and the establishment o* a 5orldorder in 5hich the lo)ic o* pro*it+ backed by military domination+ holds exclusive s5ay, It isthe consi)nment o* the )reatest number once a)ain to the domination o* capitalist po5er andthus to the cycle o* poverty or insecurity, It is the crisis o* any prospect *or the social and

political emancipation o* humanity as a 5hole, -ut in command by the insatiable pursuit o* pro*it+ it is the collective irresponsibility 5hose most visible si)n is its po5erlessness to curbthe destruction o* nature,

%he resistance and resur)ence o* Marxism

%he paradox is thisD at the same time as MarxismGs predictive po5er seems to bein*irmed+ its analytical po5er appears intact, And+ in so *ar as it retains a capacity to interpretthe ne5 course o* the 5orld+ it is also capable o* intervenin) in it, %o understand its reversesand de*eats in its o5n lan)ua)e is already to possess resources 5ith 5hich to resist and toconceive ne5 o**ensives 4 i* this lan)ua)e is le)itimate+ at any rate, As 5e intend todemonstrate+ Marxism does indeed supply interpretative perspectives *or the )reat chan)es 4social+ political+ cultural+ anthropolo)ical 4 that are under5ay, And this is 5hy it is 4 or can be4 mobilised 5herever social and popular stru))les un*old a)ainst economic or bureaucratic

domination+ male domination+ imperial po5er+ and the commodi*ication o* nature and


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rational individual+ and thereby en>oys the status o* citien in a polity based on the socialcontract, Marx then sho5s ho5+ in reality+ this *rame5ork o* production *or exchan)e+ in so*ar as it is )eneralised+ turns labour4po5er itsel* into a commodity+ bou)ht by capitalists 5itha vie5 to pro*it 4 that is to say+ at a lo5er price than the value it 5ill produce, %herea*ter+social relations can no lon)er be analysed as simple relations o* exchan)e bet5een

individuals+ because they are at the same time relations o* exploitation bet5een classes 5ithcon*lictin) interests, And the class that is economically dominant is also the class 5hich is

politically dominant+ in a state 5hose institutions+ in this respect+ are non4contractual+ aresuch as to reproduce and maintain the class structure, %he aim o* the remainder o* Capital isto demonstrate that this *orm o* society is historically transient+ leadin) to its o5nsupersession, In *act+ it has an irresistible tendency to the concentration o* capital+ such thatlar)e *irms )radually replace small ones+ to the point 5here the 5orkin) class+ increasin)lynumerous+ educated+ and or)anised by the production process itsel*+ becomes capable o* takin) over mana)ement o* it and replacin) the lo)ic o* the market by democraticallyor)anised plannin)+ so that a lo)ic o* concerted discourse can hence*orth replace the blindmechanisms o* the market,

It mi)ht be thou)ht that there is much truth in MarxGs analysis, And 5e have seen thatdurin) the t5entieth century the 5orkin) class+ allied 5ith other cate)ories o* 5a)e4earner and else5here 5ith peasant masses+ demonstrated its ability to promote alternatives tocapitalism+ to impose limits on the omnipotence o* the lo)ic o* the capitalist market+ toestablish non4market conditions *or the employment o* labour4po5er+ and to appropriate in anational *orm a proportion o* the production o* )oods and especially services, Even so+ 5henattempts 5ere made to substitute the Hor)anisedG 6or planned7 *orm o* society *or the HmarketG*orm in the .SSR and China+ it displayed a similar tendency to )enerate class relations+5hich in some respects 5ere even more re)ressive, $n the other hand+ *ar *rom it bein)

possible to envisa)e a utopia in 5hich the market can simply be replaced by or)aniseddirection+ mar%et and organisation+ these t"o poles o* rational co4ordination on a social scale+*unction 6as Marx sa5+ in least in the case o* the market7 as the t5o class factors constitutiveo* class relations in the modern era, %hese t5o *actors are certainly not o* the same nature,And the stru))le *or emancipation+ 5hich aims at *orms o* discursive+ sel*4mana)erial+ andassociative co4operation+ naturally looks *or support to democratic 6particularly national7 todirection+ organisation+ against the capitalist mar%et , "evertheless+ market and or)anisationare to be taken as t"o poles+ correlative and co4imbricated+ in all social structuration+ *rom the*irm to the state+ )ivin) rise in their interaction to a speci*ic Hclass4*ormG,

%he speci*icity o* these t5o poles in the modern era+ ho5ever+ is that each o* them isidenti*ied+ o**icially at least+ 5ith the same principles o* liberty and equality+ 5hichsupposedly )overn the relation o* Heach to eachG and the relationship Hbet5een allG 6or H*rom

each to all and *rom all to eachG7, %he market+ 5here everyone decides *reely 5ith respect toothers+ theoretically excludes any duress by one person a)ainst another, %he constraints o* theor)anisation+ includin) those o* the *irm+ are supposedly neutralised by the *act that in

principle people only pertain to it voluntarily+ can 5ithdra5 *rom it+ and that it is sub>ect torules 5hich citiens supposedly develop to)ether, %hese t5o modes o* co4ordination are inconflict 5ith one another+ in the sense that 5hat is constructed in the or)anisational mode is5ithdra5n in the market order+ and vice versa, But they are+ at the same time+ mutuallyim!ricated in the social 5holeD 5hile constantly on the labour market+ modern 5orkers areor)anised by the *irm+ 5hich is an or)anisation on a market that is itsel* or)anised to aconsiderable extent, In this sense+ the &echtsstaat is the instance that supposedly presidesover the democratic arbitration bet5een these t5o modes o* coordination, It is itsel* an

organisation+ but one 5hich presents itsel* as ensurin) the po5er o* collective deliberation+ o* an equal say bet5een the HvoicesG o* citiens,


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%he bipolar matrix 6market4or)anisation7 o* rational economic co4ordination thus presents another+ 'uridico-political aspect+ 5hich is itsel* bi4polar, In this respect+ the t5o poles are not only mutually imbricated+ but mutually imply one another, In *act+ a *ree andequal relationship bet5een each person can only exist i* it is based on a *ree and equalrelationship bet5een all+ and vice versa, Such+ in its complexity+ is 5hat it seems to me

appropriate to call the Hmetastructure o* modernityG+ to 5hich any modern structural *ormnecessarily re*ers, And as 5e can see+ it possesses an inherently critical character, In *act+ insuch a matrix no social la" 6no distribution o* tasks+ po5ers or property 5ithin the socialspace+ *rom the *amily to the state7+ imposed on society in the name o* nature or sometranscendent principle+ can exist+ but only rules+ 5hich members reach a)reement over, "oalle)ed natural la5+ such as a Hla5 o* the marketG+ can be imposed on the deliberation o* citiens+ 5ho are the sole >ud)es o* the collective order, "or can there be any putativelyrational or)anisation that does not respect the *ree relationship bet5een persons, As 5e shallsee+ it remains the case that this modern claim is only ever present in amphibolo)ical *ashion+articulated by the dominated as a requirement to be realised+ and by the dominant as alreadyexistin)+ as a )ood to be de*ended 4 a sublimated expression o* their privile)es,

Marx reveals this amphibolo)y in remarkable *ashion, @e be)ins his exposition inCapital 5ith a theoretical description o* 5hat he re)arded as the most )eneral *i)ure o* themodern *orm o* societyD the lo)ic o* market relations bet5een putatively *ree and equal

partners+ to 5hich he devotes part one o* ?olume $ne, %his is the basis+ he explains+ on5hich 5e can de*ine 5hat capitalism proper isD a society 5here labour4po5er is itsel* acommodity 4 5hich trans*orms so4called market society into a 6commodity7 capitalist society,And his ob>ective 5as to sho5 ho5 the historical tendencies o* this structure made it possibleto conceive revolutionary strate)ies, /or him+ it 5as a question o* )oin) beyond the rei)n o* the capitalist mar%et + based on private property+ throu)h a collective appropriation o* themeans o* production+ leadin) to an organisation o* production ne)otiated bet5een all, It 5asa question o* abolishin) the market alon) 5ith capital, And+ althou)h he re*rained *rom*uturistic constructions+ he traced a path *rom market to or)anisation+ 5hich+ 5ith theabolition o* capitalist property+ 5ould lose the despotic character it has in private *irms, et itis clear that this historical schema must be revised, /or the )eneral matrix o* modernity+5hich must *orm the startin)4point+ is in *act 6as 5e have seen7 more complex+ containin)t"o poles 4 that o* market inter4individuality and that o* or)anisational centricity 4 accordin)to these t"o aspects 4 that o* economic4rational co4ordination and that o* politico4>uridicalorder, I* 5e 5ish to resume MarxGs endeavour+ these are the terms+ so it seems to me+ in5hich 5e must correct and expand the abstract )eneral *i)ure 5ith 5hich the analysis starts6and to 5hich it re)ularly reverts7, It 5ill be understood that such a metastructural *i)ure isstrictly HaporeticGD on its o5n+ it does not open up any Hroyal roadG, In itsel*+ it is simply the

*orm in 5hich the problems o* modernity are posed and to 5hich anythin) that claims to !emodern 4 that is to say+ acceptable to us today 4 necessarily re*ers,%hus+ readers 5ill *ind in this Companion a *air number o* hi)hly distinct problematics

re*errin) to this moment o* the HclaimG o* modernity, It is to be *ound in the *orm o* ideolo)y+in the Althusserian terms o* HinterpellationG+ or in the hauntolo)y 5hereby !errida presentsthe spectre 5ho announces and denounces+ threatens and promises+ disappears and al5aysHreturnsG, It is equally present+ albeit in contrastin) terms+ in the positive pro)ramme o* rationalisation proposed by the re)ulation school+ in American radicalism+ or in theelaboration o* Hmodels o* socialismG, It is 5holly explicit in @abermasGs pro>ect+ to berealised in a HcommunicativeG society, It is transcended in hope in liberation philosophies andtheolo)ies,

%he social and economic structure o* capitalism


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Better than anyone else+ Marx sho5ed ho5 this universe o* the claims o* modernity doesnot coincide 5ith the actual reality o* the modern 5orld, %he e)alitarian metastructure o* commodity exchan)e+ 5ith 5hich he be)ins his systematic exposition at the start o* Capital +certainly possesses some reality in his eyes, But it actually only exists in the *orm o* itsconverse in the actual structure, @e reveals this inversion by means o* t5o con>oint

initiatives, $n the one hand+ he elaborates a Hcritique o* political economyG 4 o* the mar%et asthe universal principle o* the economic order on the other+ he develops a Hcritique o* politicsG4 o* the social contract alle)edly realised by the institutions o* constitutional democracy 4 in acontext 5here+ more )enerally+ any modern Hor)anisationG supposedly rests on a dele)ation o* the authority that everyone has over themselves, @is analysis al5ays comes back to re)ister4in) that the official reference-points o* the capitalist modern 5orld in no sense represent itsessence+ but its phenomenon 4 understood as that aspect o* itsel* 5hich this essence allo5s toappear+ as that 5hich it claims to be, %he peculiarity o* modernity is certainly the claim thatthe totality o* relations bet5een *ree and equal individuals is only conceived in a contractual*orm+ 5hich is indissociably private equal exchan)e and equal citienship, But such a claim isonly ever *ormulated in *orms o* society 5here market and or)anisation are already

trans*ormed into class *actors+ into vectors o* class relations, And+ in this sense+ liberty andequality are al"ays already Htrans*ormed into their oppositesG, %hey are de*initely not mereappearances+ sheer ideolo)ical smoke screens, /or the *act that in any dealin) one mustinvoke the liberty and equality o* all is a constitutive critical *eature o* modern society+ 5hichcon*ers on it its revolutionary character, But this society+ like those that preceded it+ is to beunderstood as a class society+ 5hich is neither *ree nor equal+ but 5hich nevertheless exhibitsthe peculiarity that class relations are constituted on the basis o* the t5o ma>or *orms o* rational social co4ordination 4 market and or)anisation 4 5ith their correlative claim o* liberty4equality,

Marx *ocused analysis on demonstratin) that underlyin) the appearances o* 5a)e4labour exchan)e is concealed exploitation, But he also disclosed that this is not realised by thesimple relationship bet5een "age-earners and o"ners o* the means o* production, /or ital5ays assumes the intervention o* the other pole o* the dominant class 4 that o* the mana)er+the organiser + 5ho directs+ havin) supposedly been chosen *or his competence, %he po5er o* HcompetenceG 6supposed+ pro*essed+ quali*ied7 is o* a di**erent kind *rom that o* o5nershipand extends *ar beyond private production+ since it is equally deployed in the public sphere o* administration and culture and+ in truth+ throu)hout society,

Marx 5as unable to complete a study o* modern class structure+ o* 5hich he neverthelessset out the main elements, I* 5e 5ish to take up his outline today+ 5e must in particular appreciate that the dominant class comprises t5o poles+ one based on the market and ono5nership+ the other on or)anisation and HcompetenceG 4 t5o poles that are at once

complementary and comparatively anta)onistic, ike o5nership+ competence too is sociallyde*ined and reco)nised by means o* speci*ic titles 6de)rees+ etc,7, %his bipolarity )overns theexistence o* t5o distinct poles o* he)emony+ to 5hich 5e can relate the pair o* HRi)htG 6moreon the side o* o5nership and the market7 and He*tG 6more on the side o* or)anisations andtheir competences7 4 a pair 5hose content varies enormously *rom one capitalist society toanother 6republicans and democrats here+ conservatives and social democrats else5here7+ isal5ays *luid and problematic+ and preserves itsel* only by misrepresentin) itsel*+ 5ith each

pole bein) he)emonic only to the extent that it can in some 5ay represent the other 5ithinitsel* and thus pass itsel* o** as )uarantor o* the )eneral interest,

/or its part+ the exploited class is correlatively distributed into various *ractions+accordin) to 5hether the exploitation and domination they endure proceed more or less

directly *rom the mar%et *actor+ the organisational-hierarchical *actor+ or !oth at once, %hus+5e have self-employed 5orkers 6*armers+ artisans+ shopkeepers7+ pu!lic-sector 5a)e4earners


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65orkers in central or local administration+ 5ith or 5ithout the status o* Hcivil servantG7+ and pri$ate- sector 5a)e4earners 65orkers and employees7, /inally+ the modern class *actors6marketNor)anisation7+ unlike earlier communitarian *orms+ structurally de*ine an exterior comprisin) all those 5ho are re>ected by the capitalist market as lackin) any re)ularlyemployable skill *or the purposes o* pro*it, %hese t5o structural *actors are thus such as to

)enerate a )ro5in) mass o* the excluded + H5ithoutG 5ork+ income+ quali*ication+ roo*+ abode+or reco)nised identity and yet+ in this very mar)in+ invariably prey to super4exploitation 4 notto mention the immi)rants H5ithout papersG+ 5ho are simultaneously sub>ect to 5hat 5ill becalled HsystemicG domination, Social relations bet5een the sexes+ bound up 5ith the other ma>or social *unction 4 the *amily 4 directed 6at least in developed capitalism7 not to5ards

production+ but to5ards the biolo)ical reproduction o* the species+ are closely inter5oven5ith class relations+ evolvin) 5ith the variation in modes o* production, %he interplay o* class *actors+ 5hich in particular )enerates partial and illusory a**inities bet5een the Hsel*4employmentG and o5nership+ as bet5een Hcivil servantsG and competence+ determines theobstacles that have to be surmounted *or the class o* the exploited to discover its unity and

prove capable o* an alliance politics 65e shall see 5hich later7,

hile outlinin) the sociolo)ical and >uridical aspects o* the capitalist *orm o* society+Marx himsel* mainly set out its economic dimension, @e sho5ed ho5 this society isreproduced and revealed the lo)ic 5hereby it )ives rise to accumulation, @is analysis ismainly directed to a study o* the market mechanisms peculiar to capitalism, It culminates incapitalismGs structural tendency to cyclical crisis+ attestin) to its instability+ to the menacesthat constantly han) over it+ 5hich it eludes only by accentuatin) its contradictions and+ cor4relatively+ in the prospects *or its universal di**usion 6particularly throu)h colonial conquest7,et it can be deemed inadequate, Certainly+ Marx stron)ly emphasised the tendency tooli)opolistic concentration+ 5hich *or him 5as a prelude to the decline o* the market,@o5ever+ he *ailed 4 and this cannot be attributed solely to the era in 5hich he 5rote 4 toconsider the potentialities o* the capitalist structure startin) *rom the other poleD or)anisation,$n the one hand+ he proved unable to take *ull account o* the *act that this structure+ )iven itsHmetastructural matrixG+ materialises as such *irst o* all in the *orm o* the nation4state+ 5hich

possesses a )enuine potential to determine+ or)anise+ and re)ulate the capitalist market, $nthe other hand+ he 5as unable clearly to envisa)e or examine the *act that in this *rame5ork a)ro5in) percenta)e o* production 4 particularly services 4 could+ as a result o* the )ro5in)

po5er o* the 5a)e4earnin) classes and their impact on the social order+ be carried out in non4market *orm+ in a publicly or)anised *orm+ "ithout this entailing an exit from capitalism 4 in acontext 5here+ correlatively+ 5ithin the dominant class the pole o* mana)ers and+ more

broadly+ o* quali*ied competence+ 5ould come to occupy an important position 6and even+under Hreal socialismG+ come to represent the totality o* this class7,

"evertheless+ Marx identi*ied the essential character o* capitalism remarkably 5ell, Atthe centre o* his approach+ an in some sense quantitati$e analysis o* exploitation+ 5hichexplains ho5 class division occurs and is reproduced+ ho5 capital is accumulated+ leads into aqualitati$e analysis o* the logic o* capitalism, @is thesis is that capitalist production is notidentical 5ith production in )eneral+ or only 5ith market production or the HmarketeconomyG, "ot only is it+ like every *orm o* exploitation+ )eared to5ards the extraction o* a

surplus-product *rom the producer, But it is very speci*ically )eared to5ards theaccumulation o* profit + a purely a!stract 5ealth 6in reality+ accumulation o* a private social

po5er over production7+ 5hatever the consequences *or human bein)s+ cultures+ and nature,%his is the root o* the ecolo)ical and cultural critique+ the most radical there is+ articulated byMarxism,

%o this it must be added that MarxGs analysis+ 5hich mainly consists in the theoreticalconstruction o* the structure o* capitalism 6the main ideal type *or an understandin) o* the


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modern 5orld+ accordin) to eber7+ o**ers+ i* not a sure 5ay o* comprehendin) capitalismGsoverall evolution and its historical tendency to5ards an end4point+ then at least the mostsi)ni*icant outline o* the kind o* investi)ation required *or that purpose, It is also the analysisthat makes it possible to pose the question o* the !eginning o* capitalism in the est+ startin)out *rom the aleatory conditions in 5hich it emer)ed, Marx+ 5hose 5orks pertain more

directly to economics or sociolo)y than historio)raphy+ nevertheless bequeathed historians anenormous 5ork pro)ramme+ since it is only on the basis o* a de*inition o* the structure o* a*orm o* society that one can examine its origins+ its de$elopment + and its end ,

?arious chapters in this Companion re*er to the structural *orm+ economic andsociolo)ical+ o* capitalism+ dra5in) on MarxGs analysis 5hile contributin) ne5 dimensions toit 4 particularly by 5ay o* a more concrete examination o* the *eatures that characterise itscurrent *orm, #s re)ards more )eneral issues+ the stimulus in part derives *rom non4Marxistsociolo)y, %hus+ Bourdieu endeavoured to expand the concept o* social HreproductionG+analysed by Marx in terms o* production and capitalist market o5nership+ and 5hich heredeploys to the other pole 4 that o* HcompetenceG+ reco)nised in its arbitrariness throu)h thevery process o* its production, Reproduction is not understood here+ any more than it is in

Marx+ as a transmission to inheritors+ but as the reproduction o* a structure o* domination, Ananalo)ous theme is developed by Erik $lin ri)ht in the idiom o* analytical Marxism, Asimilar expansion underlies the problematic proposed by 81rard !um1nil and !ominique1vy+ in the broad panorama they o**er us 5hich reveals the rise o* a Hcapitalo4cadrismG, $nthis basis they interpret the history o* capitalism+ 5ith its successive s5itches markin) analternation bet5een market dominance 6H*inanceG7 and or)anisational dominance 6HcadresG7,Amon) other thin)s+ /oucaultGs 5ork clari*ies the *act that modernity is characterised notonly by the )eneralisation o* private relations+ but equally by an or)anisational mesh 5hichsimilarly counts in the emer)ence o* the *orms o* a**irmation and sub>ection o* modernsub>ectivity, %he historians o* modernity are naturally 5idely called upon here, Andsociolo)ists also obviously have a lar)e part to play 5hen it comes to de*inin) thecharacteristics o* the current phase o* capitalism+ 5hether in the schema o* neoliberalism anduniversal dere)ulation+ or Hpost4/ordismG and the Hpostmodern *lexibilisationG o* labour4

po5er, "or 5ill readers be surprised to *ind a chapter 5hich roots the ecolo)ical critique o* contemporary society in MarxGs analysis or another devoted to the sociolo)ical studies

produced by *eminism,'

%he 5orld4system+ the planet+ and humanity

%he concepts o* social structure+ class relations+ and correspondin) state authority areinsu**icient to de*ine capitalism, %hey are simply those that determine it in the *rame5ork o* the nation4state+ characteristic o* the modern *orm o* society, But this nation4state preciselyemer)es as one state amon) others o* the same kind+ in a totality that pro)ressively takes the*orm o* a Hstate systemG, Capitalism is thus at once 6class7 structure and 65orld7 system 4 a

particular historical structure o* the nation4state and a particular historical system *ormed bythe set o* nation4states, %he systemic totality is distinct *rom the structural totality in that it isnot or)anised by a state, It does not embody a re*erence to a putati$ely collective po5er+exercised by supposedly equal partners, "or is not realised by the domination o* one classover another, %he relation bet5een nations+ as modern theoreticians o* the contract 6*rom@obbes to Kant7 bluntly put it+ is a Hstate o* 5arG, %he capitalist market relation operates in it5ithout encounterin) the claim o* a supposedly collective+ supra4national democratic

' [ Editorial note: the chapter on *eminism included in the Dictionnaire Marx contemporain 5as a translationo* a chapter by Stevi Jackson in 8amble 6ed,7 0;;;, !espite many e**orts+ the editors 5ere not able to secure areplacement chapter 5ritten speci*ically *or the Companion.]


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)overnment that re)ulates and possibly plans, Bet5een nations+ it is combined 5ith a purerelationship o* *orce+ 5ith the asymmetrical po5er o* the nations o* the centre over the

periphery+ limited by the mechanism o* alliances and the stren)th o* any resistance,$bviously+ none o* this 5as 5holly *orei)n to Marx, @o5ever+ *or 5ant o* a su**iciently

complete theorisation o* the structure 4 particularly o* the relation bet5een the economy and

the capitalist state+ bet5een the t5o poles o* structural domination 6market and or)anisation7+and hence also bet5een its t5o aspects 6economic and >uridico4political7 4 Marx 5as unableto articulate structure and system adequately, eninGs )enius consisted+ amon) other thin)s+ intakin) up the issue o* capitalism in its )lobal dimension+ startin) *rom the 5orld system, etimperialism still *i)ures in his 5ork as a 6*inal7 HphaseG o* capitalism, %he %hird4orldists o* the 0;='s developed a more adequate picture+ 5hich elevated the concepts o* the system tothe same epis4 temolo)ical level as the structure, As asymmetry 5ithin the 5orld system+imperialism is as old as capitalism itsel*+ in the sense that the capitalist system emer)es as amultiplicity o* nation4states+ as a totality 5ithin 5hich the states *ormin) the centre dominatethe periphery and the surroundin) space, %hus+ in di**erent balances o* *orces+ the samecapitalism develops as 5a)e4labour in the centre and slavery in the periphery+ as 6relative7

civil peace 5ithin the estern nations+ as 5ar bet5een them+ and as colonial sub>u)ation andextermination,

It is at this )lobal level o* the system and its development that the conditions *or )lobalisation+ neoliberal policy+ the resistance to them+ and the movement *or an alternative)lobalisation are to be analysed, It is also at this total systemic level that the ecolo)ical crisis

provoked by capitalism is most obvious+ particularly as a result o* the re*usal o* the leadin) po5ers to abandon the lo)ic o* pro*it+ 5hich is also a lo)ic o* the ineluctable destruction o* the nature around us,

At this level too 5e be)in to perceive the emer)ence+ in the very lon) term+ o* a *orm o* capitalist "orld state+ encompassin) and determinin) existin) state entities+ 5ithout brin)in)about their disappearance 4 and this in a perverse relationship 5ith the "orld system+ 5hosecentre+ unable to avoid the reproduction on an ultimate scale o* a social *orm similar to thenation4state+ seeks to colonise it *or its bene*it, %he very relative le)itimacy o* the ."+ *or example+ 5hen it cannot be i)nored+ is instrumentally invoked+ albeit 5ith uneven success+ tole)itimate the most arbitrary enterprises o* the imperialist centre, @o5ever+ nothin) 5ill

prevent the relation bet5een the 5orld4systemic centre and the 5orld4state centre 4 t5ovariable4)eometry institutional con)lomerations 4 emer)in)+ in an oscillation bet5eencomplicity and con*lict+ as the Hprincipal contradictionG o* capitalism,

An important section o* this Companion is thus )iven over to the problematic o* thecapitalist totality, @ence the articles devoted to theories o* the 5orld4system+ postcolonialism+the analysis o* economic neoliberalism presented by !um1nil and 1vy+ the advances in

An)lo4American Marxism hi)hli)hted by Alex Callinicos+ and+ once a)ain+ Jean4Marie@arribeyGs article on ecolo)y,

%endencies and practices+ Marxism and history

MarxGs speci*icity consists in the *act that he not only described the structure o* moderncapitalist society+ but also situated it in a )eneral schema o* history in line 5ith the analytical)rid o* historical materialism+ that he analysed its speci*ic tendencies, It consists in the *actthat he sou)ht to elucidate the preconditions *or its end and *or the establishment o* a

superior form o* society,%his stance on the *uture+ sketched on the basis o* the present+ is not reducible either to

an optimistic e$olutionism dia)nosin) the HrevolutionG as a natural phenomenon+ in itsel* inevitable but 5hose advent can be hastened or to a normati$e posture basin) political action


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on a *irm belie* in a >ust order to be established, It can only be understood in terms o* adialectic+ in 5hich 5hat is and 5hat should be are not external to one another, Marx describesthe actual tendency o* capitalism to produce its o5n H)ravedi))ersG, But the task o* this ne5class+ the universal class o* 5orkers+ seems to him to involve actually implementin)+ bymeans o* production collectively determined by equals+ 5hat modem society proclaims 4

equality and liberty 4 5ithout bein) able to realise it under capitalism, In *act+ it can onlyassert itsel* as the universal class+ soundin) the death knell o* class society+ by meetin) thisexpectation, %his does not entail it con*ormin) to values inscribed in the empyrean o* themodern 5orld+ but means it respondin) to the imperatives that are actually operative asimperatives,

In reality 4 and 5e have seen 5hy 4 these claims on the part o* modernity could not beadequately realised in the *orm o* the Hconcerted4planG r1)ime+ and still less 5hen it 5astaken literally+ as under collectivism, et they remain the re*erence4point, Modernity cannot

but promise more every day, But it does so via the modern class *actors o* market andor)anisation+ in the conditions o* a class relation that inverts the outcome, %he march to5ardsemancipation is there*ore to be conceived as a class stru))le *or a classless society on these

t5o *ronts,@o5ever+ those belo5 kno5 *rom experience that the t5o poles+ and the t5o components

o* the dominant class correspondin) to them+ are not o* the same kind, %hey kno5 thatHor)anisedG co4ordination+ in so *ar the *orm o* public deliberation can be imparted to it+ can

be imbued 5ith sel*4mana)erial or associative co4responsibility and 5ith discursivecommunication to a *ar )reater extent than can HmarketG co4ordination, And that is 5hy the5orkersG movement has re)ularly privile)ed an alliance 5ith this pole 6competence7 o* thedominant class a)ainst the other+ endeavourin) to uncouple and he)emo4 nise it,

%he class stru))le *or a classless society is+ in a sense+ a stru))le in the name o* theclaims made by modernity, But this does not boil do5n to achievin) 5hat capitalism only

promises, In *act+ such claims do not exist+ have no determinate substantive content+ outsideo* the stru))les that )enerate them historically as principles 5ithout 5hich societies cannotle)itimately be )overned, %hey 5ould merely be insubstantial abstractions in the absence o* social stru))les+ 5hich alone impart concrete content to them, %hus+ liberty4 equality acquiresa ne5 content 5hen 5omenGs stru))le 5rests universal su**ra)e or some ri)ht *rom the

patriarchy+ 5hen trade unions *orce *irms to reco)nise them+ 5hen homosexuality )ets itsel* ackno5led)ed as o* equal value+ 5hen oppressed peoples drive out the colonisers or *reethemselves *rom their economic and cultural dominion, %o decline the ma>or *i)ures o* lo)ic+the promise o* the uni$ersal is meanin)*ul only in and throu)h its particular contents+ theoutcome o* singular acts and events, %he metastructural claims 5ith 5hich+ emulatin) Marxin Capital + the exposition must be)in+ are only ever posited in their concrete content throu)h

such practices+ 5hich are al5ays to be construed as Hstru))les *or reco)nitionG, %hese practices emer)e in the *rame5ork o* determinate social structures+ constitutive o* a particular *orm o* society 6they are quite simply inconceivable else5here7, But they are not to be understood as mere re*lections o* these structural *orms, %hey only open up de*inite spaceso* possibility+ 5hich alter as their tendencies un*old historically,

hat is speci*ic about the stru))le o* the exploited in the modern *orm o* society is that+in as much as it exists+ it is contrary to the logic o* capital+ 5hich is that o* modern class

po5erD the a!straction o* pro*it+ abstract 5ealth+ and the destruction o* HconcreteG 5ealth, It isdirected to5ards the use4values 5hose use is truly HvaluableG *or all, %hat is 5hy suchstru))le+ as it develops+ increasin)ly emer)es in its cultural and ecolo)ical dimensions, It isor)anised by critical *orces that are al5ays resur)ent 5ithin culture+ by Havant4)ardesG 5hich

are re)ularly there at the appointed hour+ even thou)h+ o* necessity+ they cannot be *oreseen,


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%hus+ in the dialectical *orm represented by the circle HmetastructureNstructuresNpracticesG4 a circle because metastructural claims are only ever )iven in practices 4 is *ormulated theMarxian concept o* the modern class stru))le, @o5ever+ 5e cannot+ in the name o* thisdialectical *orm+ invoke a Hdialectic o* historyG+ a historical teleolo)y, %he dialectic is 5hatmakes it possible to transcend the ontolo)ical naivety 5hich counter4poses structure to

metastructure as 5hat is to 5hat should be+ the real to the ideal+ the balance o* *orces to le)it 4imate values, It thus makes it possible to tackle the actual social process realistically, But itsdiscourse is only acceptable 5ithin the limits o* this de*inite ob>ect, It does not authorise thecounter4position o* HmanG to HnatureG 6o* 5hich he only *orms a part7 as Hsub>ectG to Hob>ectGor the conception o* a dialectical development 5hich is the dynamic o* history itsel*+ as therealisation o* man and humanity, /or history does not possess this teleolo)ical character+ thissub>ective intention to5ards an end, %hat pertains exclusively to the desi)ns that human

bein)s+ individually or collectively+ can *ormulate+ and 5hich history carries o** in a *lux+ o* 5hich 5e can only seek to analyse the tendencies,

More precisely+ practices can only be conceived in determinate social structures+ andal5ays 5ith re*erence to metastructural claims, But they only emer)e in con*ormity 5ith the

ob>ective tendencies o* these structures+ 5hich constantly alter the relations bet5een the productive *orces and relations o* production and+ there5ith+ the pro>ects that can beenvisa)ed, And this in the s5arm o* o$erdeterminations and discrepancies 5hereby past*orms never stop inter*erin)+ and bein) reinterpreted+ in the present in the uncertainty o* con'unctures+ by 5ay o* un*oreseeable e$ents+ 5hose consequences are invariably incalcu4lable, @e)elGs dialectical lesson is thus inscribed in SpinoaGs materialist lesson+ as humanaction in a history that is ultimately natural, %his is a Marxism o* *initudeD men do not makehistory,

And yet they act in it, "o one has a monopoly on action in history, But the )reat mass o* the exploited and the oppressed have every reason to demand their share o* it+ and constantlyto re*ashion the pro>ect o* Hchan)in) the 5orldG, "o historical *ailure 5ill be able todispossess them o* their capacity to pro>ect a *uture in accordance 5ith their sel*4proclaimeddi)nity, %echnolo)ical chan)es have been used by neoliberalism to destroy the mechanismso* solidarity constructed over )enerations o* political con*rontation and social invention,%hey can be summoned as 5itnesses a)ainst the )reat pro>ects re*erred to as HsocialismG andHcommunismG, In reality+ ho5ever+ embodied in increasin)ly intellectual *orms o* 5ork+demandin) ever more intellectual exchan)e+ communication+ and mutual responsibility6particularly in the *ace o* the dan)ers that production no5 poses *or the *uture o* the humanspecies and its environment7+ they are such as to rea5aken+ on an ever broader canvas+modern stru))les *or emancipation+ elicitin) unprecedented capacities to Hsee them throu)h toa conclusionG, And that is 5hy the revolution never dies or 5hy+ at any rate+ its death cannot

be anticipated in the horion o* modernity,%here is thus a 5hole series o* articles in this Companion that aims to extend the principles required to analyse practices in the a)e o* capitalism, %here are also texts that provide bearin)s in the debate 5hich seeks to make it possible to think to)ether thedialectical herita)e represented by the /rank*urt school and 8ramscian traditions+ and 5hichunderlies controversies over the theoretical status o* Capital 6throu)h authors as varied asKdd .no+ @elmut Reichelt+ or @ans48eor) Backhaus7+ and the materialist exi)enciesre*ormulated by Althusser+ in a Spinoist tradition exempli*ied by 8illes !eleue and alsotaken up by %oni "e)ri+ but to 5hich the intersectin) re*lections o* 8,A, Cohen and JonElster on historical materialism also attest in their di**erent 5ay, And a lar)e portion o* it+naturally+ is devoted to cultural criticism+ *rom Adorno and e*ebvre to Raymond illiams

and /redric Jameson,


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Chapter %5oD %he Crises o* Marxism and the %rans*ormation o* Capitalism

Stathis Kouvelakis

In order to arrive at a sound

assessment o* the chan)e that hasoccurred in ideas+ 5e must take accounto* the trans*ormation that capitalismitsel* has under)one,'

Amon) the reasons 5hy Marxism is a stran)e+ even disconcertin)+ intellectual ob>ect is+not least+ the occurrence and recurrence o* its HcrisesG, %he term HcrisisG+ much overused+requires some introductory discussion+ ho5ever, In 5hat *ollo5s+ the *ormula Hcrisis o* MarxismG is to be construed in a resolutely Hsub>ectiveG sense 4 at the antipodes+ *or example+o* the usa)e 5hen economic crises are involved, %hus+ 5e can only speak o* a Hcrisis o* MarxismG as a unique moment in 5hich somethin) rather unusual in the history o* ideasoccurs 6have -latonists ever been heard to speak o* a Hcrisis o* -latonismG or Kan4 tians o* a

Hcrisis o* KantianismGF7, hat this su))ests is that a cate)ory o* a)ents 5ho identi*ythemselves as HMarxistsG declare that they live their relationship to this theoretical ob>ect inthe *orm o* a HcrisisG, In other 5ords+ Hcrises o* MarxismG are con>unctures 5hen thestatement that Hthere is a crisis o* MarxismG is predominantly internal 4 5hen this statementserves+ in other 5ords+ to desi)nate the experience o* HMarxistsG 5hen they de*ine their o5nrelationship to this re*erent,

/rom this sel*4re*erential de*inition *ollo5 several consequences+ 5hich are lessseemin)ly tautolo)ical, /irst o* all+ the Hcrises o* MarxismG are de*initely not the same as theHdeaths o* MarxismG+ periodically proclaimed *rom an external and+ in )eneral+ openly

polemical standpoint, %he latter pertain to a quite di**erent lo)ic+ in other 5ords+ to theHspectralG dimension o* the presence o* Marxism in history, hat these exorcism sessions tellus is essentially that+ like the dead 5ho are *eared not to be at rest+ Marxism never stopshauntin) our present 6ho5 else are 5e to explain the repetition4compulsion that drives suchritual puttin) to deathF7, %hey also tell us that every HdeathG o* Marxism 5ill invariably be*ollo5ed by its HreturnG' on the occasion o* a chan)ed con>uncture+ like the one 5e aredoubtless currently 5itnessin),

In a 5ay+ Marxism escapes the spectral repetition o* death and resurrection only to enter into crisis+ and this is somethin) that )ives it a rather disturbin) resemblance to

psychoanalysis and the HnaturalG sciences 6compare 5ith the Hcrisis o* physicsG at the be)innin) o* the nineteenth century+ concomitant+ moreover+ 5ith the *irst crisis o* Marxism7,' Is this a merely *ormal analo)yF It 5ould appear not+ in so *ar as+ like the natural

sciences and psychoanalysis+ Marxism can only be de*ined as a combination o* theoryNpractice stamped by a radical historicity+ and not as a doctrinal corpus *ormed su! specie aeter- nitatis+ or rather+ let us say that it only presents itsel* thus as a result o* certaincon>unctures, In this connection+ HcrisesG are moments 5hen+ )eneratin) HcontroversiesG that5itness a con*rontation bet5een contradictory theses+ the discrepancies internal to thetheoryNpractice mix are paraded in the *ull li)ht o* day and pose the question o* a 5holesalereor)anisation o* the theoretico4 practical con*i)uration,

' Sorel 0;(&+ pp, &:4(,' /or a development o* this theme+ see Kouvelakis &''',

' enin be)ins the section o* Chapter 9 o* Materialism and Empirio-Criticism entitled %he Crisis in Modern-hysics+ 5ith this quotation *rom the *amous /rench physicist @enri -oincareD there are Osi)ns o* a seriouscrisisP in physicsD enin 0;=(+ p, &9&, $n this episode+ see ecourt 0;:,


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"o5 4 and this is 5here the conver)ence 5ith the natural sciences ends 4 it is completelyillusory to think that the Hcrises o* MarxismG are simple transitional moments+ separatin) t5omore or less stable states o* theoryNpractice 4 5hether this transition is conceived in themanner o* a succession o* paradi)ms en>oyin) consensus in the scienti*ic community 6%,S,KuhnGs Hscienti*ic revolutionsG7 or as the crossin) o* internal thresholds o* scienti*icity

thanks to repeated Hepistemolo)ical breaksG 6the /rench tradition o* Bachelard andCan)uilhem7, %his is because Marxism is constituti$ely+ *rom MarxGs contribution itsel*+includin) the internal discrepancies+ limits and incompletion o* his (u$re+ crisis theory, %hisis an e**ect o*+ and reaction to+ the shock 5ave that the *oundin) event o* modernity 6the/rench Revolution and its repercussions7 set o** in the sphere o* theory and culture, Are*lection o* the ori)inal crisis o* bour)eois society and emer)ent capitalism+ 5hose absoluteequivalence 5ith the actuality o* uninterrupted revolution it posited+ Marxism is such+ aboveall+ in that it duplicates the crisis 5ithin the impurity o* its theo4 retico4practicalcon*i)uration, Inseparable *rom an imperative o* Hscienti*ic4 ityG 65hich no real Marxism+ noteven the most *erociously Hanti4positivistG+ has been able to do 5ithout7+ Marxism conceivedthis in a 5holly ori)inal manner 6on this point+ only psychoanalysis sustains comparison+ as

Althusser >udiciously noted7+' since in the *inal analysis it re*ers to nothin) other than anintrinsically a)onistic *ield+ a tendency struggle 4 a stru))le that *ocuses in itsel*+ via themechanism o* displacement o* lines o* demarcation and its capacity to re*ormulate problems+the historicity and productivity o* the theory, %he Marxist theoretico4practical mix can onlyassert itsel* as the bearer o* the Hspirit o* scissionG 6Sorel7 immanent in the capitalist order inso *ar as it 6re7constitutes itsel* as a Hscissile scienceG+' irreducibly divided into a multiplicityo* tendencies+ )overned by a relationship o* mutual interdependence that takes the *orm o* con*rontation,

H/in4de4si2cieG crisesF

!espite its abstract character+ this brie* reminder o* the constitutive dimension o* thecrisis o* Marxism is necessary in order to place the con>unctures o* particular crises inhistorical perspective, %his is especially so *or the t5o crises 5hich+ separated by about acentury 6end o* the nineteenth century and o* t5entieth century7+ de*ine a historical cycle o* Marxism+ 5hose e**ects have not been exhausted, In these t5o cases+ 5hat is immediatelystrikin) on comparison o* the inau)ural texts 6Masaryk and Bernstein *or the crisis o* thenineteenth century+ Althusser *or that o* the t5entieth7 is the repetition o* 5hat seems like thesymptomatolo)y peculiar to the processes called crises o* Marxism, e *ind the sameinau)ural observation o* a crisis in the concrete *orms o* proletarian politics 6theschiophrenia o* 8erman Social !emocracy+ torn bet5een an unconsciously re*ormist

practice and an impotent revolutionary discourse the crisis o* the 5orkersG movementsu**erin) in the lon) term the e**ects o* the embodiment o* t5entieth4century revolutions asstates7, %here is the same disquiet *aced 5ith the realisation o* the un*inished and internallycontradictory character o* MarxGs (u$re+ even in the cornerstone o* the theory 4 the magnumopus+ Capital ,' %here is the same doubt about the actuality o* the revolution+ especially as

' See Althusser 0;;0,' See Althusser 0;;0 and the discussion o* this notion in Balibar 0;;0+ pp, ('4;,' Even be*ore ?olume %hree o* Capital appeared+ Conrad Schmidt had launched the debate on the validity o* the la5 o* value 4 a debate that took o** a)ain a*ter its publication+ in particular 5ith the interventions o* En)els+Sombart and Bohm4Ba5erk on the compatibility bet5een ?olumes $ne and %hree, 8enerally speakin)+ thecamp hostile to orthodoxy 4 5ith the 6doubt*ul7 exception o* abriola 6see Bidet 0;((7 4 5as *avourable to

challen)in) the labour theory o* value 6compare Bernstein 0;=0+ pp, &


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re)ards its sub>ective conditions 6the historical mission vested in the proletariat7,' %he same protest too a)ainst the primacy attributed to the HeconomyG by historical materialism anda)ainst a HdeterministG and HnecessitarianG vision o* social dynamics,' %he same proclamationas 5ell o* the re)enerative character and creative potential o* the crisis *or Marxism itsel*,

%his last point is 5orth emphasisin)+ )iven ho5 *orce*ully it is asserted amon) authors

5ho can scarcely be suspected o* displayin) any desire *or orthodoxy, %hus+ at the verymoment 5hen he declares himsel* H*ully conscious that Qhe di**ers in several important

points *rom the ideas to be *ound in the theory o* ,,, Marx and En)elsG+' Bernstein de*ines hisapproach as a Hrevision in MarxismG+' and even as a contribution to it as a Htheory o* modernsocietyG,' Re*usin) to amal)amate HrevisionismG 4 a term 5ith 5hich he identi*ies 4 5ith the

pro>ect o* Hsupersedin) MarxG+' his aim is to revive the Hcritical spiritG inspired by Kant+' and break 5ith the HscholasticismG o* HorthodoxyG+' by recti*yin)+ via the requisite updatin)+ theH)apsG and Hresidues o* utopianismG' that burden the theory *ounded by Marx,

Close on his heels+ Sorel+ 5ho 5armly applauded BernsteinGs critique o* the orthodoxy o* En)els and Kautsky and even re)arded it as a H5ork o* re>uvenation o* MarxismG and aHreturn to the Marxist spiritG+' discerned in the HcrisisG and Hdecomposition o* MarxismG+ Ha

)reat advanceG+' the be)innin) o* a period o* secularisation o* the doctrine,' %o the )reatdispleasure o* his trans4Alpine *riend and interlocutor+ abriola+ he carried on brandishin)

Capital as a *irst example o* the contradictions internal to Marxs œuvre 6Althusser 0;:;+ pp, &&4


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these terms,' H-ur)edG o* Heverythin) that is not speci*ically MarxistG+' this HotherG secularisin)decomposition 5ould render Marxism once a)ain adequate to the practice o* proletarian sel*4or)anisation+ concretely embodied in revolutionary syndicalism,' Even Masaryk+ the typical

positivist scholar 5ith va)uely Hpro)ressiveG and socialist tendencies+ concluded the articlethat publicly launched the debate on the Hcrisis o* MarxismG by interpretin) it as the be)innin)

o* a possible rene5al+ i* not o* Marxism+ then at least o* socialism+ 5hich 5as bound to bereborn on the very basis o* capitalist relations and their continued e**ects,'

In proclaimin) MarxismGs entry into crisis to5ards the end o* the 0;:'s+ and in bankin)on the liberatin) aspects o* this per*ormative statement+ Althusser 6as 5e can see7 5as hardly

breakin) ne5 )round+ contrary to 5hat he himsel* seemed to think,' %his amnesia+ ho5ever+5hich is no real cause *or surprise in an author 5ho never attached much importance toanythin) outside his o5n extraordinarily selective and 8allocentric readin) o* Marx+ isaccompanied by an omission o* a di**erent order, Althusser+ in *act+ comes to Ho**iciallylaunchG the crisis o* Marxism 5ithout a sin)le mention o* 5hat Marxism is the intellectual$ther o*D capitalism, %here is merely a passin) re*erence to the HparadoxG o* the di**erent

paths bein) *ollo5ed by the Communist parties in the context o* Hunprecedented levels ,,, Qin

,,, the stru))les o* the 5orkin) class and o* the peopleG+ combined 5ith Hthe most seriouscrisis 5hich imperialism has ever kno5nG,' And then 5e pass onto serious mattersD theHtheoretical crisis 5ithin MarxismG,' %o say the least+ the proposed reconstruction o* thatcrisis is stran)e+ since+ havin) Hstarted in the 0;'sG+ it 5ent completely unnoticed by theauthor o* )or Marx, Althusser+ loyal to his habits+ 5as silent about the other dia)noses o* aHcrisis o* MarxismG issued durin) this period 6Korsch as early as 0;0 and @enri e*ebvre in0;9(7,' Moreover+ a*ter some re*lections on the e**ects o* Stalinism that are as schematic as

' Sorel has delivered himsel* body and soul to the crisis of Marxism, treats o* it+ expounds it+ comments on it5ith )usto 5henever he )ets an opportunityD abriola 0;uncture o* the rise o* 8aullism+ the paralysis o* the e*t and o* the -C/+ as 5ell


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they are unori)inal+ the text lin)ers over the HdiscoveryG that Althusser seems to have made atthis momentD the existence o* HlacunaeG+ and even Heni)masG+ in MarxGs (u$re 6the order o* exposition o* Capital + the state+ or the problem o* the 5orkin)4class or)anisation7, Althusser+ho5ever+ 5ould only dedicate a sin)le un*inished+ posthumous text to these issues, ' In allthis+ at any rate+ capitalism remains obstinately and utterly o**4sta)e, As *or the re*erences to

the Hstru))les o* the massesG scattered throu)hout+ these are more like a ritual incantation thanan analysis 4 i* only in outline 4 o* some concrete situation or practice,

%he contrast 5ith the crisis o* the nineteenth century is+ in this respect+ truly arrestin), Amere )lance at the introductory texts su**ices to indicate the acute understandin) 5hich+not5ithstandin) their diver)ent conclusions+ Bernstein+ Sorel or uxembur) demonstrated asre)ards the overdetermination o* the crisis o* Marxism by extra4theoretical *actors, %o put itdi**erently+ i* the crisis o* politics that re*ers to Marx+ above all+ that o* the or)anisations o* the 5orkersG movement+ is at the centre o* the controversy+ it is constantly and hi)hlysystematically related to these conditions, In other 5ords+ it is linked to the )reattrans*ormation 5hich capitalism under5ent at the end o* the century under the dual impact o* 5orkin)4class stru))les and the revival o* the cycles o* accumulation+ involvin) the extension

o* su**ra)e+ the transition to a HmonopolyG phase a*ter the crisis o* 0(;'49+ imperialexpansion+ chan)es in the role o* the state+ and so on7,

%his perception o* the HabsoluteG character o* the crisis+ as a moment 5hen thediscrepancies in the theory and in its *orms o* sub>ective existence impacted 5ith thechan)in) reality o* their ob>ect+ is not unrelated to the extraordinary producti$ity displayed bythis Hori)inal crisisG o* Marxism, It sho5ed a real capacity to re*ormulate and reorder thequestions around 5hich the Marxist theoretico4practical complex had been constructed+includin) interpretations o* the HeconomicG trans*ormation o* the system 6the debate onHcapitalist collapseG and the ne5 modes o* accumulation7 questions o* strate)y 6the role o*

parliament and the mass strike+ trade unions and co4operatives7 conceptions o* 5orkin)4classor)anisation 6partyNclass relations+ the place o* unions7 and *inally+ assessments o* theHimperialG realities o* the ne5 sta)e o* capitalism 6militarism+ colonial expansion+ the nationalquestion7,

I*+ as 81rard Bensussan notes+ it is true that the outbreak o* the /irst orld ar and theensuin) disaster in the 5orkin)4class movement reveal the Hob>ective limitsG o* anyHoptimistic and productiveG interpretation o* the cri4 sis+' the idea that it 5as precisely durin)this crisis that the materials 5hich made possible the HreversalG o* the disaster into arevolutionary o**ensive 5ere bein) prepared+' appears no less >usti*ied,

%he end o* an era o* crisesF

In the li)ht o* the comparison+ it does not seem exa))erated to reverse the usual perceptual schemata o* contemporary history, It 5as not the crisis o* the end o* the nineteenthcentury that had H fin-de-si*cle a)nerian overtonesG+' but that o* the end o* t5entieth century+harbin)er o* a crushin) de*eat o* the subaltern classes+ 5hich set o** a Hprocess o* dis4

as by all sorts o* theoretical material 5hich led to the extraordinary productivity o* e*ebvres interventionsthrou)hout the subsequent decades 4 a 5ork at the antipodes o* Althussers sel*4destructive and sterile silence,' And 5hich ends on an interro)ative note that is eloquent as to Althussers con*usion at the timeD *or to speak o* 5hat politics mi)ht be involves )ivin) ones opinion on the party, But 5hat does one do in the party i* not

politicsF 6Althusser 0;;


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emancipationG' o* literally epochal si)ni*icance, I* the per*ormativity o* AlthusserGs text proved e**ective+ it 5as precisely due to this *act, /ar *rom bein) con*ined+ as the *irstoptimistic commentators had it+ to a Hre)ional crisis o* atin MarxismG+ bound up 5ith theebbin) o* the mass Communist parties and the *ailure o* Eurocommunism+ ' the HbreakG in thehistory o* the 5orkin)4class movement dia)nosed in the European context o* 0;:: marked

the be)innin) o* a )eneral mutation o* con>uncture, %his is so+ even i*+ as re)ards the currenttopo)raphy o* Marxism+ the process proved uneven+ releasin) ne5 ones o* in*luence centredon the an)lophone 5orld,'

It remains the case that i* Althusser opened the crisis+ he also *rustrated its un*oldin) and productivity+ as a result o* a narro5+ theoreticist vision o* its deep sprin)s+ o* an absence o* historical sense both at the level o* Marxist theory and o* the 5orkin)4class movement, %hisis not unconnected to the HdepthlessnessG characteristic o* postmodern consciousnessaccordin) to /redric Jameson+' and even o* a tone o* HpathosG 4 the very thin) *or 5hich+ in a*amiliar mechanism o* Hpro>ective displacementG+ he criticises the 8ramsci o* the +rison

,ote!oo%s and even enin in this same text, ' All this+ conveyin) a disarray in the immediacyo* a situation o* de*eat+ had its speci*ic 5ei)ht in the *orm o* the Hveritable d!andadeG+' 5ith

its train o* repentance+ acts o* despair+ and the unleashin) o* nihilistic drives+ taken by theretreat o* Marxism in the atin 5orld+ especially in /rance, But it is also true+ as hiscorrespondence o* the time indicates+ that Althusser 5as conscious o* his o5n limits and+conversely+ o* the imperatives that the crisis 5as already placin) on the a)enda, Evokin) atime 5hen it 5ould be necessary to be equipped 5ith Hconcrete kno5led)e in order to speak o* such thin)s as the state+ the economic crisis+ or)aniations+ the OsocialistP countriesG+ hecon*essedD

I donGt possess this kno5led)e and it 5ould be necessary+ like Marx in 0(9&+ toHbe)in a)ain at the be)innin)G, But it is *ar too late+ )iven my a)e+ *ati)ue+ 5eariness+and also solitude,'

%o )rasp the distance that separates us *rom this con>uncture today+ it is perhapsnecessary to pose the questionD 5here do 5e stand 5ith respect to this solitudeF !oes its echoresonate in silence and nothin)nessF $r does it open onto another solitude+ 5hich Althusser also had in mind' 4 the creative+ liberatin) solitude o* a MachiavelliF ithout claimin) too**er a de*initive ans5er to that question+ the hypothesis that I am advancin) at least seeks toimpart some consistency to the alternative terms o* the question, In essence+ the Hcrisis o* MarxismG is already behind us+ 5hich is by no means necessarily reassurin) *or Marxism,%he more HopenG the period 5e are livin) throu)h+ 5ithout excludin) ne5 de*eats that couldlead to a de*initive disinte)ration+ is preparin) at least some o* the conditions required *or ane5 HencounterG bet5een Marxism and mass practice and+ there5ith+ a comprehensive radicaltheoretical reconstruction,

ike its inau)ural act 6?enice+ "ovember 0;::7+ the end o* the last crisis o* Marxism can be dated 5ith precision, It be)an t5elve years later+ nearly to the day+ in Berlin+ and ended in

' %osel 0;;=+ pp, ;40',' %his is the hypothesis advance by -erry Anderson in Anderson 0;(+ pp, &(4'+ =(4(0, See the balance4sheetdra5n up by Alex Callinicos belo5+ Chapter


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0;;0 in Mosco5+ 5ith the collapse o* the .SSR, A )rand *inale o* the capitalist restructurin)5as under5ay since the mid40;:'s under the si)n o* neoliberalism, %he end o* the statesidenti*yin) 5ith Marx and socialism put an end also to the conditions o* the crisis o* Marxismin t5o respects+ 5hich can be conveniently desi)nated Hsub>ectiveG and Hob>ectiveG,

Sub>ectively+ the end o* the embodiment o* t5entieth4century revolutions in states

delivered the coup de grce to the or)anisations o* the 5orkin)4class movement+ and themass practices+ that re*erred to it+ even i* in critical or openly oppositional *ashion, ithStalinism and its descendents there also disappeared the various Hanti4StalinismsG, In reality+the shock 5ave o* 0;(;;0 a**ected the 5hole o* the 5orkin)4class movement+ 5ith socialdemocracy+ rapidly >oined by substantial sections o* the Communist parties+ reactin) to theremoval o* the HCommunistG obstacle by abandonin) 5hat had *ormed the basis o* its identityand by rallyin) to the mana)ement o* the ne5 order+ particularly in its imperialist dimension,%he persistence o* Communist parties+ or parties directly derived *rom them+ si)ni*icantabove all in the countries o* the HperipheryG+ should not induce illusions, %he HinternationalCommunist movementG no5 belon)s irrevocably to the past and this very persistence+ even inthe *orms o* the most open nostal)ia+ is not to be explained so much as o* residues o* the

past+ but much more as the result o*+ or as a reaction to+ the ne5 sociopolitical realitiescreated by capitalist restructurin) on a 5orld scale,

In these conditions+ it is hardly surprisin) to re)ister the disappearance o* any possibleHorthodoxyG+ but also the concomitant disappearance o* any HheresyG or HheterodoxyG+ )iventhat these notions clearly presuppose one another, %his unquestionably involves a ma>or break 5ith any previous state o* crisis o* Marxism+ 5here 5hat 5as at issue in lar)e part consisted

precisely in simultaneously rede*inin) the terms o* an HorthodoxyG and a HrevisionismG, Botho* them re*er to the shared reality o* a Marxism that had become the ideolo)ical and doctrinalre*erence *or mass or)anisations and state structures, Such an observation certainly licensesno triumphalism+ since it appears to si)nal the end o* any relationship bet5een Marxism andor)anised *orms o* collective practice+ 5ithout its *uture seemin) to be any more assured inexistin) public institutions+ especially hi)her education,' But+ and this is the reverse side o* any HvacuumG+ it leaves the question o* an encounter bet5een a HreconstructedG Marxism andthe ne5 *orms o* emancipatory stru))le that neoliberal capitalism carries 5ithin it entirelyopen,

/rom this simultaneous collapse o* orthodoxies and heresies like5ise derives the other strikin) *eature o* the current Hexit *rom crisisGD the absence o* meanin)*ul HcontroversyG5ithin the space that continues to reco)nise itsel* in the Marxist constellation 65ith oneexception that 5ill be dealt 5ith belo57, It is as i* the Hthousand MarxismsG to 5hich Andr1%osel politely re*ers+' coexisted in a paci*ic landscape *rom 5hich the need to )eneratecontroversy seems stran)ely absent, 8iven MarxismGs status as a Hscissile scienceG+ a status

that crisis con>unctures have amply con*irmed+ this surely involves an alteration o* )reatsi)ni*icance+ 5ith ambi)uous and unstable e**ects, An e**ect o* attenuation unquestionably predominates inso*ar as it is in a stru))le bet5een tendencies that the productivity o* Marxism *inds its very principle+ the cohesion o* the theory+ its only le)itimate source, %hisexplains+ moreover+ 5hy the paci*ication o* the theoretical *ield in question is strictlycomplementary to its extreme *ra)mentation, $n the other hand+ i* the validity o* thehypothesis o* the end o* a historical cycle is accepted+ then it is the mode o* con*lictuality o* the previous period that has expired+ precisely on account o* its constitutive *unction, e

' In particular+ this is the vie5point o* Etienne Balibar+ 5ho+ abandonin) his habitual aporetic and ambivalent*ormulations+ cate)orically assertsD %he century4lon) cycle to 5hich I have re*erred 60(;'40;;'7 certainly

marks the end o* any mutual attachment bet5een Marxs philosophy and an or)aniation o* whatever ind , andhence+ a fortiori , bet5een that philosophy and a State 6Balibar 0;;9+ p, 00(+ my emphasis7,' See his contribution belo5+ Chapter ,


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5ould then be 5itnessin) somethin) like the end o* the Hcrisis4 *ormG o* Marxism+ inseparable*rom the end o* a certain Hparty4*ormG,

In this case+ the trend that is currently emer)in) could be interpreted as a slo5reconstruction H*rom coldG o* the theoretical problematic+ in conditions not simply o* de*eat 4the "hole history o* Marxism+ be)innin) 5ith that o* Marx+ un*olds under the si)n o* de*eat '

4 but throu)h a mutation in the very status o* Marxism as a theoretico4practical complex, %hecondition is one o* maximum dissociation bet5een activist )roups adaptin) Hpra)maticallyG toa *ra)mentary practice+ and a theory entrenched in some academic islands+ 5here it stru))lesto persuade people that social trans*ormation re*ers to anythin) other than+ *or example+ anexpansion o* @abermasian communicative action or Ra5lsian principles o* >ustice,

%he crisis o* the ne5 century

More pro*oundly+ ho5ever+ the hypothesis o* a chan)e o* historical cycle is corroboratedHob>ectivelyG by the trans*ormation o* capitalism that certainly predated the dramatic reverseo* 0;(;4;0+ but to 5hich the latter imparted an irresistible *orce, %he real stren)th o*

BernsteinGs revisionism+ archetype o* all the Hpost4MarxismsG o* the subsequent century+consisted not so much in the HpurelyG theoretical *orce o* his ar)uments but in his perceptiono* the inevitability o* chan)es in the politics o* the 5orkin)4class or)anisations induced bythe Hpassive revolutionG o* capitalism under5ay in the imperialist period+ particularly in itsdual aspect o* an enhanced capacity *or sociopolitical compromises 5ithin the countries o* the HcentreG and the extension o* colonial violence+ sustained by militarist escalation+ to theoutside and the periphery, Bernstein could thus allo5 himsel* to shelve the t5o pillars o* 5orkin)4class theory and practice in the nineteenth century, $ne is economic catastrophism+5hich >usti*ied the quietism o* orthodoxy and 5hich the economic )ro5th *ollo5in) thecrisis o* 0(;'49 seemed to have de*initively liquidated,' %he other is HBlanquismG+ codename*or the insurrectionary traditions o* a 5orkin)4class movement that 5as still 5idely in*used

5ith the memory o* the Commune+ the revolutions o* 0(


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%here is no need to point out the extent to 5hich+ con*ronted 5ith this resolutelyo**ensive and prospective posture+ conducted 4 under the si)n o* HMarx ,,, a)ainst MarxG' 4 byan executor o* En)elsGs 5ill possessed o* )reat independent4mindedness and unquestionableintellectual honesty+ the response o* orthodoxy 4 Kautsky but also+ initially+ uxembur) ' 65iththe exception 4 decisive+ it is true 4 o* the issue o* militarism and colonialism7 4 could seem

5eak, Moreover+ the perception o* this *irst crisis o* Marxism in the atin 5orld 6Sorel+abriola7 o**ers ample evidence o* this,

In this connection+ the Hpost4MarxismG constructed durin) the last crisis o* Marxism+ and5hich has *ound its bible in the 5ork by Chantal Mou**e and Ernesto aclau+ ' is a Hpoor manGs BernsteinismG+ or+ in other 5ords+ a revisionism that is una5are o* itsel* in as much asit is mistaken as to both its novelty and its ob>ect, %he results o* the HcontroversyG that itlaunched 6the sole exception to the tendency to a paci*ication o* the Marxist *ield7' soonappeared mea)re enou)h+ *rom the standpoint both o* theoretical productivity and o* thetheoryNpractice relationship, $n the one hand+ the sophistication o* the discourse aroundHhe)emonyG+ Hmultiple sub>ect positionsG+ and Hradical+ plural democracyG cannot dis)uise anincreasin)ly patent rallyin)4call to liberal common sense and to a state o* *ra)mentation o*

social practices severely tested by a capitalist o**ensive, $n the other hand+ the stance o* rea**irmation in the theoryGs core+ a

Bidet & Kouvelakis_2009_Critical Companion to Contemporary Marxism

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