Anti-communist Research Articles

Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk: The Founding Father of Czechoslovak People's Democracy

This study explores connections between the intellectual and political work of the first President of Czechoslovakia, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1850–1937), and the system of people's democracy implemented in Czechoslovakia following the end of Second World War (1945–1948). It aims to do so by delving into Masaryk's perspectives on the “social question,” his critique of Marxism, and the practical measures he implemented as an engaged politician. Additionally, this study examines how Masaryk's ideas inspired his followers, shaping their notions of advancing modern democracy beyond its liberal phase into what they termed “people's democracy.” Central to this analysis is the premise that the Czechoslovak regime of people's democracy, existing between the end of Second World War and the communist takeover in February 1948, was built upon theoretical foundations distinct from Marxist‐Leninist doctrine. While people's democracy is traditionally associated with the Stalinist regimes in Eastern Europe post‐1948, this study argues that its conceptual framework, notably different from the Stalinist model, had been formulated by Czechoslovak intellectuals well before the Soviet Union's involvement in Second World War, and implemented in Czechoslovakia after the war. Specifically, the paper highlights the contributions of Czechoslovak founding figure Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk to this intellectual evolution.

‘It does not compare to the bright dialectical materialism propounded by Marx, Engels, and Lenin’: Revolutionary refractions and Marxist critique of Freudianism in pre-revolutionary Iran

The critical stance adopted by Iran's prominent communist party, the Tudeh Party, toward psychoanalysis is illustrated through a polemical essay preceding the translation of A Primer of Freudian Psychology. Echoing the Bolsheviks in the Soviet Union, who vehemently criticized psychoanalysis as a ‘bourgeois science’, Hushang Tizabi, a translator affiliated with the Tudeh Party, delves into the shortcomings of Freudian thought in the preface to his rendition, contrasting it with the ‘bright dialectical materialism’ inherent in Marxian ideology. This article represents an intersection between Marxism and Freudianism in a nation not communist in the vein of the Soviet Union but significantly influenced by socialist discourse. It exemplifies how prefatory materials in translation can alter the politico-ideological stance of a text, offering new interpretations and emphasizing specific elements while potentially overlooking other significant aspects. This discussion also contextualizes translations within the historical landscape of humanities in Iran.

Trade union legal mobilization and consciousness

AbstractPatricia Ewick and Susan Silbey's recent auto‐critique invited legal consciousness scholars to develop their analyses of legal hegemony in the context of collective sites of legality construction and the contestation of the hegemony of state law. Trade unions provide a particularly apposite group and institutional site to study such processes. From a Marxist perspective, recent labour law scholarship has argued that union engagement with law reproduces liberal legal hegemony by depoliticizing domination and disciplining the individual and collective consciousness of workers and unions. First, we argue that critical legal consciousness research (cLCR) can nuance this Marxist perspective via its insights about polyvocality and legal pluralism. Second, we argue that cLCR relating to the relationship between counter‐hegemonic projects and hegemony could be enriched by elements of the Marxist critique of labour law, albeit one that is committed to viewing theory as productive of hypotheses, rather than certainties, that should always be empirically investigated.

Rematerialising Chinese feminism: socialist memories and new problematics

This article examines a theoretical strand that has emerged in the past decade in mainland China. The strand, tentatively called ‘critical socialist feminism’ (CSF), is characterised by its dedication to criticising mainstream liberal feminism, recuperating Marxist critiques of the political economy and revisiting the country’s socialist memories. Yet it so far has remained marginal and has yet to resonate with newer generations of feminist ideas and practices. This article seeks to reframe CSF into a flexible analytical framework that will be of critical relevance to our understanding of the situation facing women in contemporary China. Following ethnographic and historical reflections on Chinese feminism and its contestations, three problematics are offered to expand CSF’s theoretical capacity: 1) the necessity to rematerialise Chinese feminism, 2) the ambiguous relationship between Chinese feminists and the Chinese state and 3) the crucial and critical imperative to diversify Chinese feminist voices.

Ruy Fausto, normatividade e anti-normatividade

The article examines Ruy Fausto’s concept of interversion in view of the debate on the meaning of ethical-moral normativity in a critical theory of capitalism. Taking the Marxian critique of political economy as reference, the text is divided into two main parts. In the first, the normative and anti-normative interpretations are characterized as an antinomy. In the second, it is argued that, based on Fausto’s particular reception and use of the Hegelian dialectic, his reading of the interversion offers an original solution to the debate.

Marxian critique: from ‘thing-in-itself’ to commodity-form

In grounding critique in the historically situated and concrete, sensuous external object, Marx both preserves and transcends the form of critique present in the work of not only the Young Hegelians, including Proudhon, but the titans of German Idealism—Kant and Hegel. By centering the external object, Marxian critique mediates concrete historical change between the subject and the world of appearance. The aim of this article is to differentiate Marx’s form of critique from his predecessors on the grounds of the external object. This article is broken into two sections, the first being an examination of the thought of Kant, Hegel, and Feuerbach, and each theorist’s relation to the thing-in-itself. This initial section aims to reveal the abstract and ahistorical manner in which ‘bourgeois thought’ engages the external world of appearance. The second section explores the way ‘bourgeois thought’ eradicates motion and mediation in theorizing the external object of bourgeois society—the commodity. The latter section illustrates how the process of reification [Verdinglichung] hypostatizes the categories of bourgeois society into ‘natural’ categories that are then applied to the world of appearance.

A Marxist critique of the metaphor of the marketplace

ABSTRACT For the last century, the metaphor of the marketplace of ideas has dominated free speech theory. But this metaphor is both undemocratic and hegemonic. Marketplace-based defenses of free speech commodify speech. Speech, according to this metaphor, is valuable for what it can be traded for – influence in the marketplace of ideas. However, good speech cannot respond to bad speech if it is devalued in the marketplace because of the speaker’s position within the marketplace. This project explores the metaphor of the marketplace of ideas and argues that it must be rejected because of its commodification of speech. If identity is property, as Cindy Griffin argues, then the marketplace perpetuates a system in which speakers are robbed, not of the objects of their work, but of their very being. I argue that the marketplace metaphor commodifies speech, and is therefore, dangerous to democracy. Drawing on a Marxist understanding of reification shows how the marketplace metaphor is ultimately alienating and renders certain speech by certain speakers less valuable.

Social Evils and Its Impacts on Class Conflicts in Mulk Raj Anand’s Major Novels: A Marxist Study

This paper focuses on the impacts of socio-political evils and class conflicts portrayed in the novels of Mulk Raj Anand. Three novels by Anand—Coolie, Untouchable, and Two Leaves and a Bud have been selected for this work which has a connection with the Marxist approaches. These novels highlight the dehumanizing contradictions within the colonized Indian society. Through his writings, Anand reveals capitalism in addition to foreign colonialism, where exist layers of colonialism and bourgeoisie within the Indian community. This system develops intra-communal clashes to enhance the gap between the haves and the haves-not. Similarly, the caste system and the previous economic system, i.e., feudalism combined with capitalism, create a harsh reality for the oppressed community. Thus, this paper considers capitalism, colonialism, imperialism, feudalism, and casteism as socio-political evils that legitimize a process to dominate the society. It creates a contradictory social relation which is blissful for the colonizers but a curse to the working class. The consequences of these appliances bring class conflict, exploitation, poverty, hunger, cruelty, and many others into practice. Anand sets his protagonists—Munoo, Bakha, and Gangu – in front of the demeaning, hostile world which depends mainly on the bounty of the moneyed class. This paper makes a critical study to unveil the consequences of exploiting the evils and class struggle through the lens of Marxist criticism. On the other hand, it can be said that the paper emphasizes Anand’s attention in portraying intra-social clashes in colonial India based on economic exploitation and its consequences.

Irresponsibility in the Exercise of Political Power: A Marxist Analysis of Animal Farm

Irresponsibility is the quality of not being trustworthy or dependable. In political arena, it has more to do with the traits of a leader who lacks a sense of responsibility and does not feel accountable for their actions. Indeed, irresponsibility in politics leads mostly to the abuse of power, that is, the misuse of a position of power to take unjust advantage of individuals, organizations, or governments. What is irresponsibility and how is it depicted in Animal Farm? Who are the characters involved in the misuse of political power in Animal Farm? How is this power used abusively and what are the consequences of it? These are the questions that this paper analyses through the lenses of the Marxist criticism and proposes clues of good conduct for the benefit of society.

Attempts at a Marxist Critique of Cancellation

Abstract This paper advances a Marxist critique of the politics of cancellation and raises concerns about the possible development of a cancel culture. Rather than delving into debates on freedom of speech, crucial though they are, this paper focuses on the pragmatics of the political tool – its goals, mechanisms, effects, and the underlying reasoning. From a Marxist perspective, it is essential to analyse cancellation and cancel culture holistically, considering their rationale, the mechanism, the objectives, and the impacts, along with their relationship to the material conditions of society. Such an analysis provides a comprehensive understanding of any historical development and argues that addressing political problems in the long term requires such a holistic approach, including the development of relevant productive forces. If cancellation evolves into a culture, it may give rise to a polity that reinforces market relations. Within the framework of historical materialism, this would be a case of the superstructure supporting the base, turning politics into a matter of private opinions, which is far from ideal. The paper concludes with some practical considerations.

Para um Direito Ecológico Insurgente: limites e potenciais do direito como instrumento para uma transição ecossocial justa

Abstract This article provides a constructive critique of Ecological Law, which has been proposed as a framework to overcome Environmental Law’s subordination to economic growth and profit maximization in disregard for socioecological justice and biophysical planetary boundaries. The article critiques Ecological Law literature for its normativist positivist approach, which neglects to analyze law as a product of power relations and as a social form of capitalism, and for overestimating law’s potential to transform the political economy. Additionally, the article addresses the shortcomings of the degrowth discourse, one of the bedrocks of Ecological Law. Finally, drawing on Pressburger and Pazello’s conceptualization of Insurgent Law and literature on the praxis of movement lawyering in Brazil, the article proposes guidelines for an Insurgent Ecological Law. This approach combines Marxist critique of law with contributions to the strategic reflections of popular movements on their use of legal tactics as part of their struggles for a post-capitalist ecosocial transition.

Baudrillard's Critical Theory of Political Economy

Baudrillard is a famous French postmodern philosopher with a vast array of theories and writings. Based on Baudrillard's reflection on Marx's critique of political economy, the article takes the social and ideological origins of the theory of mimesis as the starting point of the study. Unlike Marx, Baudrillard's theory of mimesis involves a 'model' that appears as the initial form of the mimesis. Baudrillard's argument that the proliferation of mimesis and simulation has led to the demise of the real, and that the real world can be produced through modelling without the need for prototypes, adds a new dimension to reflections on Marx's critical theory of society, and expands the horizons and methodologies of contemporary Marxist research. The paper traces the premise and development of the theory of mimesis by analysing the turn towards consumer society, and presents the specifics of mimesis theory as a whole by keeping in mind Baudrillard's principle of symbolic exchange and his reflections on modern technology. This paper analyses the concept of mimesis based on Baudrillard's later theories, and attempts to explain the specific connotations of mimesis and its related concepts. This paper focuses on three related concepts of mimesis: "mimesis", "hyperreal" and "implosion", and explains in detail the differences between these four concepts on the basis of Baudrillard's work. Based on Baudrillard's work, the differences between these four concepts are explained in detail. Explores the symbolic order, social entities, and media influences in which the concept of "mimesis" occurs.

Full employment as a condition of crisis: Kalecki’s Marxian critique of Keynes and the Fabians (1942–45)

Abstract Between 1942 and 1945, Kalecki emphasised the incompatibility between capitalism and full employment. Rather than stabilising market economies, full employment would have triggered social conflict by providing self-confidence amongst the workers and the lower strata of society. Accordingly, in any program of social transformation, the initial condition that had to be established was (guaranteed) full employment and economic security for workers to alter the game’s rules. Like Marx, full employment of resources became a condition of crisis in a capitalist economy. Upon this premise, Kalecki rejected both Keynes’s and the Fabians’ views, according to which full employment was essentially a technical operation to be achieved by intellectual persuasion and some basic control. The emphasis on persuasion implied an overestimation of the role of economic theory, meant as a method of moulding ideas and opinions of the country leaders. On the other hand, the lack of institutional analysis implied that full employment became a mere tool to guarantee capitalism’s correct functioning. Kalecki’s stance reflected his different background, both methodological and political.

The ideological decline of Brazilian economic thought in the context of the business-military dictatorship and the crisis in the diffusion of Marxist criticism

This article aims to describe the process of ideologization of brazilian economic thought initiated by the offensive of the business-military dictatorship and which has materialized today both in stricto sensu neoliberalism and in its variants, such as the case of the so-called neodevelopmentalism, as well as pointing out the challenges of marxism to consolidate itself as the positive overcoming of the Brazilian Political Economy.

The representation of unconventional physician in alexander pope's memories of martinus scriblerus

This paper examines Alexander Pope's Memoirs of The Extraordinary Life, Works, and Discoveries of Martinus Scriblerus (1741) with a central focus on portraying the main character as an unconventional physician. Alexander Pope recognizes the existence of two distinctive consciousness; he aims to awaken society from what is perceived as false consciousness through the main character’s different consciousness. The author presents the main character as an unconventional physician who explores the traces of the imposed social and cultural norms behind the physical and mental illnesses that are inflicted on the population in the fictional society in the story. The physician attempts to cure these diseases by rectifying the impact of societal norms on the individual, considering them the leading causes that hinder an individual’s true authenticity. The article attempts to employ a Marxist criticism approach, specifically relying on the Surplus Value theory, to investigate the source of false consciousness that inflicted the society. Moreover, the theory serves to underscore the economic dimension of false consciousness, emphasizing that the distortion of true identity is not merely a cultural or ideological phenomenon but is deeply intertwined with the economic relations within society. By embracing the dominant values and failing to recognize their role as the primary producers of surplus value that perpetuates a system that inherently disadvantages them, Pope aims to awaken the population. The article concludes that the main character, advocating for individual liberation from false consciousness, supports the idea that two distinctive types of consciousness exist. Also, it concludes that the main character, as a holder of class consciousness, emerges as a symbolic dissenter and, through his treatments, rejects the dominant culture, perceiving it to be the reason that hinders the individual’s self-realization and authenticity. Also, it concludes that the main character is involved in a conflict with the broader society, leading him to be isolated and feel a lack of belonging due to his different consciousness.

Amid the Alien Corn: Capitalism and Animal Life

Abstract This essay considers the multiple, and often conflicting, ways in which capitalism may be said to have impacted on animal experience. Capitalism has intensified a perennial division in human culture between instrumental and affective responses to animals. In their engagement with animals, left and Marxist critics of capitalism have either ignored animals or argued for naturalist and anti-humanist positions of a kind carried over into the contemporary post-humanist paradigm, with its emphasis on human-animal affinities and continuities. I, by contrast, put the case for grounding a more animal-friendly eco-politics in recognition of what is distinctive to human beings, both as agents of environmental crisis and as alone in a position to take action to counter it. In the process, I point to some ways to improve the experience of animals in a post-capitalist society and consider the problems they might encounter.

Anthopological and Social Dimension of Philosophy: Foreword and Translation of Leszek Kołakowski’s Essay «Substantive and Functional Understanding of Philosophy»

This is a Ukrainian translation of the article "Substantive and Functional Definition of Philosophy" by the famous Polish thinker, researcher and critic of Marxism, epistemologist Leszek Kolakowski. It examines the nature of philosophy, its purposes, and its functions, which it performs in the life of an individual as well as in social life. Therefore, the author examines various definitions of philosophy from different positions: scientific, transcendental, traditional and functional. The latter is the main one, because Leszek Kolakowski adheres to it. Philosophy is a natural phenomenon in human life and human communities. It is a manifestation of a human being's desire to express a discursive view of the world

THE EXPORT OF CAPITAL TO COLONIES AND THE FALLING RATE OF PROFIT IN ECONOMIC THOUGHT: 1776–1917

Classical political economists developed several different explanations for what they saw as an inherent tendency for the rate of profit to decline over time. In the second quarter of the nineteenth century, some British advocates of colonization developed a corollary to those theories, suggesting that exporting capital to colonies could help arrest and reverse the decline. That argument was championed by the English political economist and promoter of colonization projects Edward Gibbon Wakefield, and it was systematized by John Stuart Mill. Ironically, the view that capital export and colonization played crucial roles in sustaining the rate of profit in advanced economies was later adopted by some Marxist theorists. Parallels between Karl Marx and J. S. Mill may help explain the remarkable theoretical continuity on this topic between nineteenth-century British advocates of colonization and early twentieth-century Marxist critics of colonialism.

The Ground Rent Machine: The Story of Race, Housing Inequality, and Dispossession in Baltimore, Maryland

In Baltimore, Maryland, more than 55,000 homes—roughly 30 percent of all residential plots—are subject to ground rent, a legacy of British feudal property law. Under this landlord–tenant system, the homeowner makes payments to the ground leaseholder, who maintains rights to the land. During the early 2000s, many Baltimoreans fell behind on their ground rent due to recessionary headwinds and were “ejected” from their homes as leaseholders took ownership (as collateral). Maryland lawmakers responded by passing housing protections in 2007, but several laws were overturned by the courts (Corma 2017). Using census and ground rent administrative data, we map the geography of ground rent in Baltimore. Our results reveal that originally a tool of class dispossession, ground rent became racialized in the 1950s and 1960s and today overwhelmingly affects Black communities and low-income households. Drawing on work by critical Marxist geographers, work on the production of decline, anti-Blackness, and property relations theory, we rely on a critical quantitative framework to illustrate how people, place, power structures, and relationality produce the pernicious and predatory “ground rent machine.” Telling the story of ground rent—a largely underexplored topic—illustrates how local racialized property regimes shape the geography of urban segregation and urban inequality.

Hegel's Theory of Finite Cognition and Marx's Critique of Political Economy

Abstract The article examines the role of Hegel's theory of finite cognition in Marx's critique of classical political economy. I argue that Hegel's distinction of finite cognition between analytic and synthetic in the Science of Logic constitutes the methodological framework through which Marx delineates the different stages of the development of political economy. Focusing on the Grundrisse, I reveal the Hegelian influence behind Marx's statements on previous political economists’ methods. Thus, Marx's immanent critique of the classical political economy is construed as undertaken from the level of the systematic dialectical method of Capital, and is modelled on Hegel's immanent critique of analytic and synthetic cognition from the perspective of absolute cognition. In this context, and focusing on Marx's critique of Ricardo's method, I argue that the latter's limitations are associated with the deficiencies of synthetic cognition as presented by Hegel. Therefore, the article sheds light on an important yet underexplored topic of the Hegel-Marx relationship. By indicating the centrality of Hegel's theory of finite cognition in Marx's methodological underpinnings, the article provides a new perspective on Hegel-Marx scholarship.