Open Marxism is a collection of critical and heterodox

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

schools of thought which critique

state socialism State socialism is a political and economic ideology within the socialist movement that advocates state ownership of the means of production. This is intended either as a temporary measure, or as a characteristic of socialism in the transition ...

and

party politics ''Party Politics'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes papers in the field of political science. The journal's editor is Paul Webb of the University of Sussex, UK. It has been in publication since 1995 and is currently published b ...

, stressing the need for openness to

praxis Praxis may refer to: Philosophy and religion *Praxis (process), the process by which a theory, lesson, or skill is enacted, practised, embodied, or realised * Praxis model, a way of doing theology * Praxis (Byzantine Rite), the practice of fai ...

and history through an anti-positivist method grounded in the "practical reflexivity" of

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

's own concepts. The "openness" in open Marxism also refers to a non-

deterministic Determinism is the metaphysical view that all events within the universe (or multiverse) can occur only in one possible way. Deterministic theories throughout the history of philosophy have developed from diverse and sometimes overlapping mo ...

view of history in which the unpredictability of

class struggle In political science, the term class conflict, class struggle, or class war refers to the economic antagonism and political tension that exist among social classes because of clashing interests, competition for limited resources, and inequali ...

is foregrounded. It is very strongly anti-

structuralist Structuralism is an intellectual current and methodological approach, primarily in the social sciences, that interprets elements of human culture by way of their relationship to a broader system. It works to uncover the structural patterns tha ...

in both its Marxism–Leninist and

Althusserian Louis Pierre Althusser (, ; ; 16 October 1918 – 22 October 1990) was a French Marxist philosopher who studied at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, where he eventually became Professor of Philosophy. Althusser was a long-time member an ...

forms, while sharing some features with

post-Marxist Post-Marxism is a perspective in Critical theory, critical social theory which radically reinterprets Marxism, countering its association with economism, historical determinism, Antihumanism, anti-humanism, and class reductionism, whilst remai ...

thought. It often (though not always) aligns itself with

humanist Marxism Marxist humanism is a philosophical and political movement that interprets Karl Marx's works through a humanist lens, focusing on human nature and the social conditions that best support human flourishing. Marxist humanists argue that Marx him ...

, and libertarian, anarchist or

left communism Left communism, or the communist left, is a position held by the left wing of communism, which criticises the political ideas and practices held by Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninists and social democrats. Left communists assert positions ...

. It draws strongly from

value-form The value-form or form of value (''"Wertform"'' in German) is an important concept in Karl Marx's critique of political economy, discussed in the first chapter of ''Capital, Volume 1''. It refers to the ''social form'' of tradeable things as un ...

criticism.

Overview

Originating from a term used by

Johannes Agnoli Johannes Agnoli (22 February 1925 in Valle di Cadore, Eastern Dolomites – 4 May 2003 in San Quirico di Moriano near Lucca) was a German political scientist of Italian descent. He analysed the modern democratic state in a post-marxist and structur ...

in a debate with

Ernest Mandel Ernest Ezra Mandel (; 5 April 1923 – 20 July 1995), also known by various pseudonyms such as Ernest Germain, Pierre Gousset, Henri Vallin, Walter, was a Belgian Marxian economist, Trotskyist activist and theorist, and Holocaust survivor. He f ...

, open Marxism began in the 1980s as an effort to unite heterodox Marxist tendencies (against the dogmatism of Marxism-Leninism) and mainstream sociological

versions of

Western Marxism Western Marxism is a current of Marxist theory that arose from Western and Central Europe in the aftermath of the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the ascent of Leninism. The term denotes a loose collection of theorists who advanced an i ...

, such as

Althusser Louis Pierre Althusser (, ; ; 16 October 1918 – 22 October 1990) was a French Marxist philosopher who studied at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, where he eventually became Professor of Philosophy. Althusser was a long-time member an ...

ian Marxism and Gramscian hegemony theory. The term is featured in a book Agnoli co-authored with Mandel in 1980, titled ''Offener Marxismus. Ein Gespräch über Dogmen, Orthodoxie und die Häresie der Realität'' (''Open Marxism: A Discussion about Doctrines, Orthodoxy and the Heresy of Reality''). Open Marxists returned to basic Marxist concepts such as value, labour and the state-form, and argued against

social-democratic Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, socia ...

state-led and Marxist-Leninist party-led utilisations of Marxism.

Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida;Peeters (2013), pp. 12–13. See also 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was a French Algerian philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in a number of his texts, ...

described an 'open' Marxist tradition in an interview from 1980.

Alvin Gouldner Alvin Ward Gouldner (July 29, 1920 – December 15, 1980) was an American sociologist, lecturer and radical activist. Early life Gouldner was born in New York City. He earned a B.B.A. degree from the Baruch College of the City University o ...

also described 'two Marxisms' in the 1980s; one

scientific Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

, and one critical. The sources of critical, open Marxism (sometimes called the 'warm stream of Marxism') are many, from

György Lukács György Lukács (born Bernát György Löwinger; ; ; 13 April 1885 – 4 June 1971) was a Hungarian Marxist philosopher, literary historian, literary critic, and Aesthetics, aesthetician. He was one of the founders of Western Marxism, an inter ...

' return to the philosophical roots of Marx's thinking, to

council communism Council communism or councilism is a current of communism, communist thought that emerged in the 1920s. Inspired by the German Revolution of 1918–1919, November Revolution, council communism was opposed to state socialism and advocated wor ...

, the

New Left The New Left was a broad political movement that emerged from the counterculture of the 1960s and continued through the 1970s. It consisted of activists in the Western world who, in reaction to the era's liberal establishment, campaigned for freer ...

, elements of

Autonomism Autonomism or ''autonomismo'', also known as autonomist Marxism or autonomous Marxism, is an anti-capitalist social movement and Marxist-based theoretical current that first emerged in Italy in the 1960s from workerism (). Later, post-Marxist ...

and situationism and also the

Neue Marx-Lektüre (German for "New Reading of Marx") or NML is a revival and interpretation of Karl Marx's critique of political economy, which originated during the mid-1960s in both Western Bloc, Western and Eastern Bloc, Eastern Europe and opposed both Mar ...

of 1970s Germany.

Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a 19th-century German idealism, German idealist. His influence extends across a wide range of topics from metaphysical issues in epistemology and ontology, to political phi ...

is often the common thread within these tendencies. Intellectual affinities with

autonomist Marxism Autonomism or ''autonomismo'', also known as autonomist Marxism or autonomous Marxism, is an anti-capitalist social movement and Marxist-based theoretical current that first emerged in Italy in the 1960s from workerism (). Later, post-Marxist an ...

were especially strong and led to the creation of the journal ''The Commoner'' (2001–2012) following in the wake of previous open Marxist journals ''Arguments'' (1958–1962) and ''Common Sense'' (1987–1999). In the 1970s and 1980s, state- derivationist debates around the separation of the economic and the political under capitalism unfolded in the working group ''Kapitalistate'' and the

Conference of Socialist Economists The Conference of Socialist Economists (CSE) describes itself as an international, democratic membership organisation committed to developing a materialist critique of capitalism, unconstrained by conventional academic divisions between subjects. ...

journal ''

Capital & Class ''Capital & Class'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering the fields of politics and economics, especially concerning Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical ...

,'' involving many of the theorists of open Marxism and significantly influencing its theoretical development. ''Endnotes'' journal refers to itself as influenced by OM.

Theorists

Theodor Adorno Theodor is a masculine given name. It is a German form of Theodore. It is also a variant of Teodor. List of people with the given name Theodor * Theodor Adorno, (1903–1969), German philosopher * Theodor Aman, Romanian painter * Theodor Blue ...

Kostas Axelos Kostas Axelos (also spelled Costas Axelos; ; 26 June 1924 – 4 February 2010) was a Greek-French philosopher. Biography Axelos was born in Athens in 1924 to a doctor and a woman from an old Athenian bourgeois family, and attended high scho ...

* Hans-Georg Backhaus *

Zygmunt Bauman Zygmunt Bauman (; ; 19 November 1925 – 9 January 2017) was a Polish–British sociologist and philosopher. He was driven out of the Polish People's Republic during the 1968 Polish political crisis and forced to give up his Polish citizenship. ...

Ernst Bloch Ernst Simon Bloch (; ; July 8, 1885 – August 4, 1977; pseudonyms: Karl Jahraus, Jakob Knerz) was a German Marxist philosopher. Bloch was influenced by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Karl Marx, as well as by apocalyptic and religious thinker ...

* Werner Bonefeld * Peter Burnham * Simon Clarke * Harry Cleaver * Ana C Dinerstein * Alfonso Garcia Vela * Edith Gonzalez * Richard Gunn * John Holloway *

Karl Korsch Karl Korsch (; August 15, 1886 – October 21, 1961) was a German Marxist theoretician and political philosopher. He is recognized as one of the "dissidents" that challenged the Marxism of the Second International of Karl Kautsky, Georgi Plekhan ...

Henri Lefebvre Henri Lefebvre ( ; ; 16 June 1901 – 29 June 1991) was a French Marxist philosopher and sociologist, best known for furthering the critique of everyday life, for introducing the concepts of the right to the city and the production of social ...

Michael Löwy Michael Löwy (born 6 May 1938) is a French-Brazilian Marxist sociologist and philosopher. He is emeritus research director in social sciences at the CNRS (French National Center of Scientific Research) and lectures at the ''École des hautes ...

Rosa Luxemburg Rosa Luxemburg ( ; ; ; born Rozalia Luksenburg; 5 March 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a Polish and naturalised-German revolutionary and Marxist theorist. She was a key figure of the socialist movements in Poland and Germany in the early 20t ...

José Carlos Mariátegui José Carlos Mariátegui La Chira (; June 14, 1894 – April 16, 1930) was a Peruvian writer, sociologist, historian, journalist, politician, and Marxist philosopher. A prolific author despite his early death, El Amauta (from Quechua: ham ...

* Mike Neary *

Antonio Negri Antonio Negri (; ; 1 August 1933 – 16 December 2023) was an Italian political philosopher known as one of the most prominent theorists of autonomism, as well as for his co-authorship of ''Empire (Hardt and Negri book), Empire'' with Michae ...

Evgeny Pashukanis Evgeny Bronislavovich Pashukanis (Russian: Евгений Брониславович Пашуканис; Lithuanian: ''Eugenijus Pašukanis''; 23 February 1891 – 4 September 1937) was a Soviet and Lithuanian legal scholar, best known for his ...

* Frederick Harry Pitts *

Moishe Postone Moishe Postone (17 April 1942 – 19 March 2018) was a Canadian historian, sociologist, political philosopher and social theorist. He was a professor of history at the University of Chicago, where he was part of the Committee on Jewish Studi ...

* Kosmas Psychopedis *

Helmut Reichelt Helmut Reichelt (; born 1939) is a Swedish-born German Marxian critic of political economy, sociologist and philosopher. Reichelt is one of the main authors of the Neue Marx-Lektüre and considered to be one of the most important theorists in ...

David Roediger David R. Roediger (born July 13, 1952) is the Foundation Distinguished Professor of American Studies and History at the University of Kansas, where he has been since the fall of 2014. Previously, he was an American Kendrick C. Babcock Professor o ...

* Mike Rooke *

Isaak Illich Rubin Isaak Illich Rubin (Russian language, Russian: Исаак Ильич Рубин; 12 June 1886 – 27 November 1937) was a Soviet Union, Soviet lawyer, Marxian economics , economist and scholar of Marx's work. His most important published work ...

Victor Serge Victor Serge (; born Viktor Lvovich Kibalchich, ; 30 December 1890 – 17 November 1947) was a Belgian-born Russian revolutionary, novelist, poet, historian, journalist, and translator. Originally an anarchist, he joined the Bolsheviks in Janu ...

Gáspár Miklós Tamás Gáspár Miklós Tamás (; 28 November 1948 – 15 January 2023), often referred to as TGM, was a Romanian-born Hungarian political philosopher and public intellectual, influenced by Marxism and libertarian socialism. He was a contributor to on ...

* Sergio Tischler * Adrian Wilding

Publications

Three volumes entitled ''Open Marxism'' were published by

Pluto Press Pluto Press is a British independent book publisher based in London, founded in 1969. Pluto Press states that it publishes "radical, left‐wing non‐fiction books", and is anti-capitalist and internationalist. It belongs to The Internat ...

in the 1990s. A fourth volume, again published by Pluto, appeared in 2020. The authorship of the latest volume showed how far the influence of Open Marxism has spread from Europe to Latin America.

Open Leninism

Some scholars discuss the existence of an open Leninism, or a neo-Leninism, that is, a critical or post-structural Leninism that is critical of Marxism-Leninism as it existed in the 20th century. The work of Lars T. Lih, Kevin B. Anderson, Kai Heron,

Jodi Dean Jodi Dean (born 1962) is an American political theorist and professor in the Political Science department at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in New York state. She held the Donald R. Harter ’39 Professorship of the Humanities and Social Scie ...

, Andreas Malm,

, Alberto Toscano and

Slavoj Žižek Slavoj Žižek ( ; ; born 21 March 1949) is a Slovenian Marxist philosopher, cultural theorist and public intellectual. He is the international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, Global Distin ...

have been representative of this trend.

Criticism

Some critics have alleged that open Marxism is too open- a charge of 'subjectivism' and 'voluntarism' is sometimes levelled, though its authors, particularly John Holloway have responded to this. Others claim that open Marxist accounts tend to treat the national capitalist state abstractly, without reference to

uneven and combined development Uneven and combined development, unequal and combined development, or uneven development is a concept in Marxian political economy intended to describe the dynamics of human history involving the interaction of capitalist laws of motion and star ...

and international forms of class struggle in the capitalist "world-system". Like other forms of Marxism, it has been criticised for being totalising, universalising and Eurocentric.

References

External links

Common Sense journal
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161230180751/http://commonsensejournal.org.uk/ , date=2016-12-30 Autonomism Eponymous political ideologies Marxist theory Neo-Marxism