On the Urgent Need to Re-Engage Classical Marxism

• Published in: Critical sociology Vol. 46; no. 7-8; pp. 965 - 985
• Main Author: Das, Raju J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01-11-2020; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Anti-capitalism; Capitalism; Dialectics; Economic crisis; Humans; Leadership; Marxism; Marxist analysis; Masses; Middle class; Radicalism; Suffering; classical Marxism; dialectics; class politics; revolution; MELLT Marxism
• ISSN: 0896-9205; 1569-1632
• DOI: 10.1177/0896920520948930

Humankind continues to face the two problems that have existed since the degeneration of the 1917 October Revolution that began in the mid-1920s. While it is experiencing enormous suffering caused by capitalism, there is also a crisis of anti-capitalist leadership. These two problems now cohabit with growing radicalization among sections of the working population and the youth, following the 2007 economic crisis; burgeoning threat of fascistic tendencies both within the state apparatuses and among the masses; and reformism among middle-class Marxist intellectuals (as well as among workers). In this global conjuncture, there is a need to return to the root of the Marxist agenda. This is the classical tradition, which includes the ideas of Marx and Engels and goes beyond their ideas. In this article, I offer an outline of that tradition.