Anti-communist Research Articles

Ideological Struggle in Education: Brian Simon and Comprehensive Education Movement (1946-1965)

ABSTRACT Brian Simon (1915–2002), a Marxist historian and educationist in Britain, was a leading pioneer in the comprehensive education movement. Although Simon’s great contribution to this movement has been recognised by historians, the development of Simon’s ideas and his actions in this movement have hardly been examined in great depth by previous literature. Hence, this article explores Simon’s ideals of the comprehensive school and his vigorous involvement in the movement, especially from the immediate post-war years to the issue of Circular 10/65. Furthermore, as Simon was a member of the Communist Party and greatly influenced by Marxism, this article also focuses on how Simon’s ideals and actions were underlined by his Marxist critique of intelligence testing and the concept of inherited ‘intelligence’ itself.

Mystified Alienation: A Discussion between Marx, Foucault and Federici

This article explores Karl Marx’s critique of alienation. Specifically, I will argue that the concept of alienation is essential to understand not only how capitalism reproduces itself, but also to find alternatives to a regime of capital valorisation that has become mystified. In order to develop the analytical scope of this critique, I propose to discuss it together with the Foucauldian concept of disciplinary power and with the concept of patriarchal violence that appears in Silvia Federici's Caliban and the Witch. These two approaches provide a basis for the statement that the Marxist critique of alienation can be complemented and radicalised with the post-structuralist position, and with the feminist critique of capitalism.

Conservative Anti-Colonialism: Maududi, Marx and Social Equality

AbstractAbul A‘la Maududi explicitly built on Islamic ideas of equality to critique nationalism and modern racism. How then could he reject the idea of social equality between men and women? This is particularly puzzling given his noticeable employment of a Marxist critique of the marketisation of society and liberal conceptions of freedom in his controversial 1939 book Pardah. Parsing out the structure of his argument in Pardah in some detail and emphasising the hitherto understudied engagement with Marxist ideas in his thought, this article shows that Maududi rejected a specific vision of social equality, where equality amounts to exchangeability. His use of Marxist ideas to non-Marxist ends was in large part a result of his assessment of Marx as a capable historian but a flawed philosopher, and more fundamentally a very different conception of society to the Marxist one. Maududi relied on his by then well-developed concept of divine sovereignty to carry much of the conceptual burden regarding his critique of, as well as alternatives to, social equality.

Cultural Relativism, Marxism, and Soviet Policy toward the Khanty

The aims of this paper are fivefold: 1- to present data regarding some specific instances of conflict and change among the Khanty of western Siberia during the 1930’s; 2- to show that these changes cannot be evaluated from a cultural relativist point of view; 3- to evaluate these changes in light of a critique of cultural relativism recently proposed by Arthur Hippler; 4- to tentatively outline a Marxist critique of cultural relativism which is based on the ideas of several Soviet and Western anthropologists; and, 5- to evaluate changes among the Khanty during the 1930’s in light of this Marxist critique of cultural relativism.

SOCIAL CRITIQUE IN GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ’S "ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE"

The development of nations can be measured from the kind of readings and the level of appreciation of their societies towards science, art, and literature. Hence, the researcher conducted research on social critique in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel One Hundred Years of Solitude to give a description of the social critique revealed in the novel. The research used a sociological approach known as Marxist criticism, which relates to theories of class conflict supported by the social background of Colombian society. It answers the research question, what are the social critiques submitted by Gabriel Garcia Marquez in his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude? The research data was taken from the text of the novel in its English version published in 1995, London by David Campbell Publisher. Two techniques of data analysis were done; descriptive analysis. The researcher found that the story of One Hundred Years of Solitude contains a Marxist critique of; State, the existence of the state with all its instruments (the army, magistracy, etc.) by which the class in power suppresses another or other classes have plundered the innocent and peaceful Macondo without a state; Religion, as an ideologist religion, conservatism is regarded as a static force marked with hypocrisy and inconsistency, leading to destruction; and Capitalism, marked by modern technology along with a moral and spiritual decline, and proud capitalists for their high social status oppressing the lower class (laborers) eventually turns progress to brutality

Book Review: Into the Tempest: Essays on the New Global Capitalism by William I Robinson

Robinson might argue that the latter is simply the TCC engaged in the process of resolving the WTO's role in the transnational governance structure, while the former is part of the domestic theatre of legitimation. Robinson, William I Into the Tempest: Essays on the New Global Capitalism, Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books, 2018;xii + 270 pp.: ISBN 9781608469666, $21.95 (pbk) For the past 25 years, William Robinson has carved out a unique position among Marxist critics of contemporary capitalism. [Extracted from the article] Copyright of Capital & Class is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Queering Kritische Psychologie

This paper aims at connecting the Berlin school of Critical psychology with queer feminist theories by focusing on the concept of condition-meaning-reason (Bedingungs-Bedeutungs-Begründungsanalyse, BBBA). To this end, we will first discuss basic aspects of the BBBA concept, which forms an important analytical tool of German Critical psychology. Second, we will present possible connecting lines to queer feminist approaches. In so doing, we will argue that the concept of conditions offers links to feminist theories of New Materialism and (Neo)Marxist Critique. The concept of meaning contains parallels to the Foucauldian concept of discourse, which is central to Butler’s theories of performativity and various subsequent queer feminist schools of thought. In turn, the concept of reason provides an opportunity to understand why subjects who live in similar material conditions and social constellations of meaning act differently. The fictional example of single mothers serves to illustrate the facets of the BBBA concept and the condition/meaning/reason analysis. In this way, we want to emphasise the potential of Critical psychology for queer feminist approaches and break new ground methodologically by integrating the previously divergent insights of Marxist, poststructuralist and psychosocial critiques.

Marx, subsumption and the critique of innovation

This paper advances a Marxist approach to the critical study of innovation. Such an approach offers alternative analytical tools for understanding the social and political aspects of innovation that are increasingly coming into focus within academic and practitioner fields. After outlining the emerging field of critical innovation studies and its key concerns, I turn to the question of how a Marxist critique differs from other forms of critical scholarship. I then introduce Marx’s application of the concept of subsumption to account for the relation between innovation and capital and to demonstrate the strength of a Marxist approach to the critical study of innovation.

The Phenomenon of Criticism in Authentic Marxism and its Reincarnation in Ukrainian Philosophy of the Second Half of the 1950s–Late 1980s

The article is devoted to the study of the phenomenon of criticism in the authentic Marxist work and the revival of the principles of such criticism in philosophy that existed in the USSR in the period from the second half of the 1950s to the late 1980s. The relevance of the study is determined by the need to reconsider the experience of domestic philosophy of the Soviet period, particularly in the field of criticism of Western non-Marxist and neo-Marxist philosophical theories and their impact on the ideological foundations of mass consciousness and philosophy in the USSR.V. Bilodid, A. Bychko, P. Yolon, V. Kebuladze, O. Pohorilyi, M. Popovych, V. Skurativskyi, V. Tabachkovskyi, and others were engaged in research of the specified problems. The authors of this investigation also paid attention to the issue of the so-called “Critique of Bourgeois Theories” in the context of studying the phenomenon of the Ukrainian philosophy / philosophy in the Soviet Ukraine.The purpose of this investigation is to analyze the transformation of Marxist criticism in the USSR and the influence of Western European discourses on this process, especially in the second half of the 1950s and late 1980s, as it was then that the revival of the Ukrainian philosophy occurred. This happened after the “half-decay” of Stalinism; further development of this philosophy took place on its own basis.One of the important directions of analysis is the phenomenon of criticism, in particular, of “bourgeois theories”, due to which the topical ideas of Western philosophy penetrated the humanitarian national discourse. This, in turn, allowed Ukrainian researchers to stay at least partially in the context of pan-European philosophical research, as well as to use the critical potential of the authentic Marxism to latently criticize Soviet ideology and the system as a whole.

Marcella Althaus-Reid’s Marxian Critique of Theology

ABSTRACT Marcella Althaus-Reid offers a Marxian critique of the production of theology. This article offers analysis of three aspects of this critique: First, it describes how Althaus-Reid diagnoses the intertwined realities of capitalist economies, heterosexual patriarchy in societies, and hierarchical theologies. Second, it traces her use of ideology critique as she adapted Marx’s critique of the Young Hegelians as part of her own critique of Liberation Theologians. Third, it explains her account of the production, marketing, and consumption of theology in relation to her uses of economic metaphors derived from Marx. By isolating the Marxian influence on Althaus-Reid, the article develops an account of her critique as an undressing of theological method that echoes Marx’s critiques of political economy as an unveiling of hidden mechanisms that can be applied more broadly as well. Her critique is then related to how theology can be practiced in more self-aware ways.

Čeští tomisté píší o marxismu (1945‒1948)

The aim of the article is to present a critique and a polemic of Czech philosophers in the Thomist tradition with Marxism in the postwar period. A turn to left-wing political practice and thinking throughout Europe in the year following the end of World War II can be observed. "Socialism" was one of the major issues in the public discussion of that time in Czechoslovakia as well. Although the majority of society and its intellectual elites were oriented positively towards socialist and even Marxist ideas, there still existed several centres of critique of these political tendencies. One of the most interesting groups was the Czech Thomist philosophers, e.g. Antonín Čala, Dominik Pecka, Jaroslav Beneš and Miloslav Skácel. They viewed Marxism as not only a political ideology or revolutionary practice, but also as a comprehensive philosophical theory and system. Their critique of Marxism therefore focuses on its ontological and anthropological foundations, demonstrating how Marxism neglects the fundamental dignity of personal human beings.

The Radical Arm of the Welfare Lobby: A History of the Victorian Coalition Against Poverty and Unemployment, 1980–91

Australia has had high levels of unemployment since the mid-1970s, particularly from approximately 1976-94, yet to date there has been no significant study of political activism by the unemployed in the modern era. This article fills some of this knowledge gap by examining the activities of the Victorian Coalition against Poverty and Unemployment (CAPU), an activist group based on an alliance of trade unions, churches, community groups and the unemployed. Whilst CAPU was influenced by conventional Marxist critiques of the welfare state and highly critical of both the professional social welfare sector and the Australian Labor Party, it also worked co-operatively with key community welfare groups such as the Victorian Council of Social Service and the Brotherhood of St Laurence on specific campaigns. Consequently, it is argued that CAPU was not an anti-welfare organisation per se, but rather acted as the radical arm of the welfare lobby seeking to shame governments into operationalising in practice their declared social justice principles.

Analytical Philosophy of Education: A Critique from Marxist Lens

While the school of analytical philosophy of education is often credited for providing Philosophy of Education with a sense of identity, purpose and academic respect and for marking out a legitimate field in which philosophy of education could lay claim to funds and positions in competition with sociologists and psychologists, it has not escaped falling prey to criticism from different schools of thoughts. Whereas analytical traditions propound the idea of liberal education as value free, neutral and irrespective of the context in which the concepts are embedded, Marxist school of thought criticizes the tradition for serving the propaganda of liberal education. Analytical philosophy of education, according to Marxists, is the educational representative of a liberal rationalist world view which has political, economic, historical and cultural manifestations. The paper presents a Marxist critique of the School of Analytical Philosophy of Education as discussed by Michael R. Mathews in his book The Marxist theory of Schooling: A Study of Epistemology and Education (1980).

A Study on the Process of Seizing Power by Syngman Rhee : By Focusing on the Roles of Public Mobilization and Anti Communist Ideology

A Study on the Process of Seizing Power by Syngman Rhee : By Focusing on the Roles of Public Mobilization and Anti Communist Ideology

White Supremacy: Will the Present be Prologue?

Abstract In recent years, there has been a rethinking of the concept of white privilege and a development of new concepts like white fragility. At the same time, discourse around ‘white supremacy’ has mostly remained stagnant. Some claim it is anachronistic and no longer applicable. Others fear it will discourage whites from supporting the quest for racial justice. In this article, I advocate for using the term ‘white supremacy’ to name the problem that racial justice theorists and activists seek to dismantle. More specifically, I utilize the work of Charles Mills to defend the use of ‘white supremacy’ against Marxist critics.

‘Everything for Me Turns into Allegory’

Abstract While being an important tile of Jameson’s whole theoretical project, Allegory and Ideology leaves some key questions not fully answered. Briefly put, these questions concern the meanings and limits of allegory; the unstable relationship between allegory and allegoresis in the Western cultural tradition; and the special place allegory plays or could play in postmodern culture. Solving these problems – in the footsteps of Jameson’s magisterial inquiry – will be crucial especially for Marxist critics.

Sport e capitalismo monopolistico. Immagini dalla tradizione della teoria critica dello sport

Sport and monopoly capitalism. Images from the tradition of the critical theory of sport. This paper aims to analyse the most noteworthy theoretical contributions of the critical theory of sport and its reflections on the relationship between sport and monopoly capitalism in the twentieth century. These contributions provide us with an image of the main characteristics of monopoly capitalism, through the mirror of sport, and of the view through which Marxist critics have selected primary themes, problems and arguments. The main thematic focuses are: sport as a central area of industry, in the twentieth century, where capital was able to seek new markets; the capitalist mode of sport production with its productive, social and power relations; the homology between sport and work, characterized by alienation; the use of sport as an ideological, repressive and socializing tool. A fundamental need, expressed by critical theorists, is to emancipate individuals from all the multiple forms of domination that they find in the synergy between sport and monopoly capitalism.

El PCE en la lupa de la brigada político social. Los comunistas en los boletines policiales (1938-1975)

Los comunistas, y concretamente el PCE, siempre fueron uno de los principales objetivos por parte de las fuerzas de orden público franquistas. Tanto por convertirse a lo largo de las décadas en la principal fuerza de oposición al régimen a través del movimiento obrero, estudiantil y después en otros sectores sociales como los intelectuales, la cultura o las profesiones liberales, como por el anticomunismo intrínseco del régimen. Por ello, la policía, y concretamente la Brigada Político Social, le dedico una especial atención a la hora de realizar sus análisis sobre la situación interna del país. En un primer momento, a través de los conocidos Boletines Anti-Marxistas, realizados por Eduardo Comín Colomer, policía y escritor propagandista, y que tuvieron una duración de 1938 hasta 1945, y que tienen un contenido más ideológico que práctico. A partir de 1946, se empiezan a editar los Boletines de Investigación Social, que contienen información más precisa sobre las detenciones, las personas a las que detienen, la propaganda que incautaban, etc. La idea de este artículo sería hacer un análisis comparado de cómo va cambiando la visión sobre los comunistas a lo largo de la dictadura por parte de la BPS, según sus intereses, prácticas policiales, a través de estos informes, una de las principales fuentes policiales.

Marx’s Minerva: sex, socialism and Soviet Russia in Matilde de la Torre’s El banquete de Saturno: Novela social (1931)

ABSTRACT Focusing on the 1931 novel El banquete de Saturno: Novela social by Matilde de la Torre, one of the first diputadas in Spain, this article explores the feminist subtexts of a narrative that centres on a workers’ revolution dominated by male characters. In the novel, which is fundamentally a satirical critique of the Russian Revolution and Soviet Union that highlights the disastrous consequences that arise when socialist ideals are misrepresented, De la Torre reflects on socialist doctrine, women’s political autonomy and the debates and policies of the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) – the party she officially joined in 1931 and would represent after winning a seat in the 1933 and 1936 elections. Drawing on a range of sources to contextualize the subject matter of the novel, including Marxist writings and criticism, socialist literary models, Spanish travelogues about Soviet Russia and feminist Marxist scholarship, I argue that De la Torre uses El banquete as a means of contributing to contemporary political debates, proposing a reconceptualization of socialist rhetoric and policy that would benefit from female input.

Marx’s Ecological Notebooks

Karl Marx has long been criticized for his so-called ecological Prometheanism—an extreme commitment to industrialism, irrespective of natural limits. This view, supported even by a number of Marxists, such as Ted Benton and Michael Lowy, has become increasingly hard to accept after a series of careful and stimulating analyses of the ecological dimensions of Marx's thought, elaborated in Monthly Review and elsewhere. The Prometheanism debate is not a mere philological issue, but a highly practical one, as capitalism faces environmental crises on a global scale, without any concrete solutions. Any such solutions will likely come from the various ecological movements emerging worldwide, some of which explicitly question the capitalist mode of production. Now more than ever, therefore, the rediscovery of a Marxian ecology is of great importance to the development of new forms of left strategy and struggle against global capitalism.… Yet there is hardly unambiguous agreement among leftists about the extent to which Marx's critique can provide a theoretical basis for these new ecological struggles.… This article… [takes] a different approach… [investigating] Marx's natural-scientific notebooks, especially those of 1868, which will be published for the first time in volume four, section eighteen of the new Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe(MEGA).Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.