Feng Wangzhou: How To Understand the Ideas of “Political Marxism” : Robert Brenner and Ellen Meiksins Wood’s Ideas
Published in the Journal of Marxist Theoretical Perspective May 2024
Author is a professor and tutor at the School of Marxism at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law
[Abstract] The research on “political Marxism” by domestic and foreign academic circles mainly focuses on important theoretical issues such as the connotation and formation of “political Marxism”, the theory of the origin of capitalism and social development forms, the theory of new imperialism, the theory of nation-state, the theory of capitalist social crisis and class struggle, the theory of globalization and modernity, the critical theory of post-Marxism and postmodernism, the theory of historical materialism, and the critical theory of capitalist ideology.
【Key words】politics, Marxism, capitalism, society, property relations, capital, logic
“Political Marxism” is an important academic school of contemporary foreign Marxism. “Political Marxism” emerged in the 1970s and became popular in the British and American Marxist academic circles. It has an important influence on the Western left.
Its main founders, Robert Brenner and Ellen Meiksins Wood, adhere to the basic views and methods of Marxism and construct their unique “political-historical materialism” theoretical system. They oppose the “non-historical traditional Marxist analysis” model and believe that historical materialism is still the best theoretical weapon for criticizing capitalism; but they also believe that historical materialism cannot be understood as the general law of social history, but should first be understood as a criticism of capitalist society. They emphasize the role of class relations, social property relations, etc. in explaining historical development. In recent years, the research on “political Marxism” by domestic and foreign academic circles has entered a steady development stage. Domestic and foreign academic circles have studied “political Marxism” from many aspects and profoundly explained the basic theoretical issues, main contents and contemporary values of “political Marxism”.
1. The Concept and Formation of “Political Marxism”
“Political Marxism” has been formed in North America for more than 40 years and has formed three generations of academic communities. [1] David McNally pointed out: “Wood’s theoretical orientation was given the title of ‘political Marxism’ by French historian Guy Boyce. Wood undoubtedly attaches more importance to social and political struggles than many Marxist historians, but she also has reservations about this title: she agrees with the importance of political economy and economic development process, but she just thinks that this alone cannot explain major historical changes, so more attention needs to be paid to political events that have occurred.” [2] Vivek Chibber pointed out that Wood played an important role in the development of “political Marxism”, and the initial discussion revolved around the works of Robert Brenner, focusing on the analysis of the origins of capitalism and its structure. [3]
The academic community has basically reached a consensus on the connotation of “political Marxism” and formed a relatively accurate conclusion. Some scholars pointed out that the connotation of “political Marxism” mainly includes four aspects: First, “political Marxism” is the product of the collision, integration and competition of many foreign Marxist thoughts (such as the British Marxist Historical School, structuralist Marxism, post-Marxism, etc.) in the 1970s in a specific historical context. Second, “political Marxism” is the collective wisdom formed by the two founders Brenner and Wood and their students’ independent exploration, mutual influence and common development in a specific historical context. Third, “political Marxism” has developed into a theoretical school with two or three generations of theoretical inheritance, multiple academic centers, and influence on many disciplines.
Fourth, the core categories and methods of “political Marxism” are historical particularity, class relations and class analysis, and to a certain extent, it has made important deepening of the historical-political dimension of historical materialism. [4] Some scholars believe that “political Marxism” takes history as the core of theoretical analysis, emphasizes the role of social subjects and class conflicts in explaining history, and opposes the non-historical traditional Marxist analysis model. They believe that historical materialism cannot be understood as the general law of social history, but should first be understood as a criticism of capitalist society. [5] Other scholars have pointed out that the theoretical viewpoints of “political Marxism” emphasize the criticism of capitalist society and the reinterpretation of historical materialism. [6] “Political Marxism” pioneered by Brenner and Wood abandoned the model of historical change in classical Marxism, and gave priority to the interpretation of history in close connection with production. [7] “Political Marxism” is committed to the criticism of capitalism. It has not deviated from Marxism, but has clarified a series of issues in traditional Marxism on the origin, nature and development of capitalism. It has also strengthened Marx’s historical materialist analysis method by reconstructing the social history analysis model, highlighting the contemporary value of Marxism. [8]
Please Download for Full Text