Authentic Marx and anthropology: the dialectic of Lawrence Krader

Abstract

The aim of the present review article is to offer an evaluation of Professor Lawrence Krader's three books on the theory of society and history. At the outset I must say that the books under review1 have been written by a man of exceptional learning and erudition. L. Krader undoubtedly has contributed toward a better understanding of the principles of human development. He attempts to set up a landmark with his constructive criticism of both Marx' work and the distortions committed in Marx' name by his followers, who have self-appointedly called themselves Marxists. Moreover, Krader seems to claim that his theoretical work fits into the context of the praxis of revolutionary change in the world of today and tomorrow. Before presenting the problems taken up by Krader, I shall try to characterize the background to his study of the Marxian and Marxist stream in social history. L. Krader is a well-known figure among an thropologists. For many years he was the Secretary-General of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences. Born in New York on December 8, 1919, he studied first under Alfred Tarski at the City College of New York and later at Yale University. He specialized in the history and anthropology of Central Asia and received his doctorate from Harvard University in the early 1950's. He did fieldwork in Mongolia and his interests first turned toward the questions of social organization among the pastoral nomads of Central Asia2 and the peasantry of Eastern Europe.3 Early in his career he began to deal with the problems of feudalism and the state among Central Asia nomads.4 His interests in Central Asia, Marxism and especially the Asiatic mode of production, can be traced as far back as 1947 when he met Karl A. Wittfogel. As Wittfogel's assistant L. Krader worked on the translation of some Russian and other writings for a planned volume of readings that was conceived of as a companion for Wittfogel's Oriental Despotism. L. Krader broke with Wittfogel, how