Marxism Missing, Missing Marxism: From Marxism to Identity Politics and Beyond(183 Studies in Critical Social Sciences)

Examining how Marxist theory is missing but necessary, this book traces the theoretical maze in which Marxism currently finds itself, and from which it is trying to exit whilst at the same time remaining epistemologically intact. When stripped of any or all of its core elements – such as class formation/consciousness/struggle, and a socialist transition – it ceases to be what historically Marxists have claimed it is. Consequently, the book constitutes an attempt by Marxist political economy to extricate itself from mistaken attempts to conflate it with the cultural turn, identity politics, bourgeois economics, or varieties of populism and nationalism, together with the danger of not doing so.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Introduction Marxism Missing – Presumed Dead? How Marxism Went Missing Why Marxism Went Missing As Clear as Mud(de) Essentializing Rurality? Marxism Missing, but ... Themes PART 1 Marxism Missing 1 Marxism(s) within/beyond the Nation  Introduction  The External/Eternal ‘Other’  The Source of Social Miracles  Because the Country Is Hungry  Winning the Peasantry?  A Huge Part of the People  Class Solidarity and/or Cultural Autonomy  Nationalism beyond the Nation  Privileged Sections, Cheap Immigrants  An Indispensable Attribute  Conclusion 2 From Marxism to the Cultural Turn (via Social History)  Introduction  Marxism and Third World Development  Populism, Social History, and Third World (Non-)Development  Enemy of the (Capitalist) State?  History, Methods, Politics  Social History and/as the ‘Cultural Turn’  Ambiguity + Authenticity = Absent Marxism  Conclusion 3 From Marxism to Nationalism (via Imperialism)  Introduction  The Authenticity of Populism  The Inapplicability of Marxism  Down the Drain (Once Again)  India’s Chief Curse  Populism, Nationalism, Postmodernism  What Did the Romans Ever Do for Us?  Conclusion 4 From Marxism to Agrarian Populism (via the Cultural Turn)  Introduction  Peasants, Marxism, Populism  The ‘Cultural Turn’ and/as the ‘New’ Populist Postmodernism  Russia Then, India Now  Old Believers?  Farmers, Peasants, Kulaks  Old/New Agrarian Populism?  A Sense of Robust Realism?  Conclusion PART 2 Missing Marxism 5 From Marxism to Late Antiquity (via Postmodernism)  Introduction  The World beyond  Citizens, State and Economy  Not Death but Resurrection  Postmodernizing Premodernity  Conclusion 6 From Modern to Ancient Capitalism (via Bourgeois Economics)  Introduction  Capitalism, Capitalism Everywhere  Money Makes the World Go Round?  Fear of Feudalism  All Modes Lead to Rome  Had Marx Lived ...  Marginalism Is Not Marxism  Building Castles in the Air  Conclusion 7 From Class Struggle to Identity Politics (via ‘Otherness’)  Introduction  Film, Sameness, Otherness  To Keep Them Divided  Solidarity, Struggle, Socialism  Magical (Un-)Realism  Diasporic Discourse  On the Shoulders of Giants?  Placid Multiculturalism  Celebrating Otherness?  Conclusion 8 Great Replacement, or Reaping the Capitalist Whirlwind (via Populism/Nationalism)  Introduction: The Last Taboo  White Fright, White Fight  Demography, Culture, Civilization  Who/What Is Responsible?  Rival Ethnicities, Rival Populisms  Political Economy and/as Great Replacement  Migration and/as Surplus Labour  Marxism and the Industrial Reserve  Conclusion Conclusion Beyond Marxism, What? Bibliography Author Index Subject Index

About the Author :
Tom Brass, D.Phil (1982) formerly lectured in the SPS Faculty at Cambridge University and directed studies for Queens’ College. He edited The Journal of Peasant Studies for almost two decades, and has published extensively on agrarian issues and rural labour relations, including Revolution and Its Alternatives (Brill, 2019).