Marxism and Social Movements: An Introduction

Abstract

Marxism is a body of theory crafted for social movements. This chapter suggests that the language of ‘class struggle’ translated into a language of ‘social movement’ with a Marxist accent. While contemporary social movement theories rightly stress the networked character of social movements, they pay less attention to their heterogeneity and internal debates. The book includes theoretical accounts of the relationship between Marxism and social movement studies; analyses of the development and internal tensions of social movements; and historical-comparative and global approaches to social movement studies. Specifically, the chapter focuses on five areas of Marxist theory totality, contradiction, immanence, coherence, and praxis that can more effectively synthesise the disparate parts of contemporary social movement theory and research into a whole that is both more critical and more useful for activists. Keywords:activists; class struggle; marxism; social movement