L'eurocentrisme de Marx : pour un dialogue du débat marxien avec les études postcoloniales

Abstract

This article takes as its starting-point the fourfold concept of Eurocentrism developed in postcolonial studies and global history. Against this backdrop, it traces the treatment of non-Western societies throughout Marx’s work. His 1853 articles on India are shown to be Eurocentric in every respect. They are partly based on a travel narrative written by François Bernier. Bernier’s text is analyzed in some detail as one of Marx’s sources. Marx’s treatment of the 1857-59 Indian rebellions also displays Eurocentric traits. However his writings on British colonialism in Ireland begin to break with the Eurocentric mould. The Marxian critique of political economy is, in contrast, saturated with Orientalist motifs. The late work is however quite different in this respect. Both in the excerpts from his readings from 1879 on and in his discussions with the Russian Social Revolutionaries, it is evident that Marx breaks with Eurocentrism. The development of Marx’s thought thus shows that the somewhat hasty dismissal which he is frequently subjected to in postcolonial studies is, in many cases, inadequately thought out. The fact remains however that Marxists striving to apprehend global capitalism, historical progress and contingent development have something to learn from postcolonial studies.