It is with apprehension but also conviction that I defend Marxism today1apprehension because we live in a period that is suspicious of visions of alternative futures, skeptical of grand historical narrative, dismissive of materialist explanations, rejecting of class analysis while tolerating capitalism's defects and pathologies as unavoidable and natural; conviction because we live in a period ...

Many criticisms have been raised against historical materialism, both from outside of the Marxist tradition and from within. Some of these I engage in the sections from my book Reconstructing Marxism assigned for this session. What I will do here is briefly list five criticisms. Some of these can be countered fairly effectively, others are more serious. I will not discuss all of these in detail...

This conceptual essay explores how Gerald Vizenor’s (Anishinaabe) literary discussions of “shadow survivance” provide opportunities to work against the containment of Indigenous knowledge in mainstream and culture-based curricular practices. More specifically, the essay considers how constructivism is deployed as an opening to the inclusion of Indigenous epistemologies, yet also contains Indige...

Political developments in the last ten years have led to a very considerable renewal of interest in Marxist economic and political analysis, and to a concerted attempt to reinvigorate Marxist theory as a revolutionary force. The focus of this movement is the attempt to develop a Marxist critique of Stalinist dogmatism and of post-Stalinist revisionism. Its material conditions are the end of the...

justice is one of the main concerns and intellectual foundations of dr. shariati and, along with the principle of “leadership”, one of the two key indicators of “true islam”, that is, “alawi shia”. integrated and interactive definitions and ideas on justice can be found in dr. shariati thoughts. these definitions have many similarities with those proposed by the early and late islamic scholars....

An eminent medievalist and one of the most influential of the small band of Marxist historians working in the UK before 1968, Rodney Hilton’s work on the development of the English feudal system into industrial capitalism was, despite its renown, ultimately mistaken. The problems with Hilton’s account were largely inherited from Maurice Dobb, whose interpretation of Marxist theory led him to ex...

Brecht's relationship to Marxism is extremely important and highly complex. From the 1920s until his death in 1956, Brecht identified himself as a Marxist; when he returned to Germany after World War II, he chose the German Democratic Republic (GDR), where his actress wife Helene Weigel and he formed their own theater troupe, the famed Berliner Ensemble, and were eventually given a state theate...