Table Of Contentmarxism?--==
--~~~-whither
/
whither marxism?==
global crises in
international perspective
edited and
with an introduction by
Bernd Magnus and
Stephen Cullenberg
/
Routledge > New York and London
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Published in 1995 by
Routledge
29 West 35 Street
New York, NY 10001
Published in Great Brit~in by
Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane
London EC4P 4EE
Copyright© 1995 by Routledge.
Printed in the United States on acid free paper.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized
in any form or by an electronic, mechanical or other means, no known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Library or Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Whither Marxism?: global crises in international perspective/ edited and with an
introduction by Bernd Magnus and Stephen Cullenberg.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-415-91042-0 ISBN CH-15-91043-9 (pbk.)
I. Magnus, Bernd. II. Cullenberg, Stephen.
HX39.5.W49 1994
32 l.9'2-dc20 94-21674
CIP
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data also is available.
contents
editors' introduction v11
s
part one marxism future? 1
DOUGLAS KELLNER
the obsolescence ofm arxism? 3
ABDUL JAN!\lOHAMED
refiguring values, power, knowledge
or foucault's disavowal of marx 31
ZHANG LONGXI
marxism:from scie11tific to utopian 6S
ANDREI MARGA
the modern world and the i11dividual
from the metamorphosis of eastern european marxism
/
to marx's errors 79
GAYATRI CHAKRAVORTY SPIVAK
supplementing marxism 109
part two transition to/f rom socialism 121
q
CARLOS VILAS
forward back
capitalist restructuring, the state and the working class
in latin america 123
KEITH GRIFFIN and AZIZUR RAHMAN KHAN
the transition to market-guided economies
lessons for russia and eastern europe from
the chinese experience 153
ASHOT GALOIAN
marxism, the nationality question and soviet leadership
a comparative discussion of western views
and political reality 191
STEPHEN RESNICK and RICHARD WOLFF
lessons from the USSR
taking marxian theory the next step 207
SU SHAOZHI
rethinking marxism in the light ofc hinese reforms 235
notes on contributors 251
editors' introduction
In the wake of the orgy of self-congratulations which followed
the 1989 crumbling of the Berlin Wall, the subsequent dissolution of the
Soviet Union, and a series of confrontations perhaps forever to be captured
best in Tiananmen Square in the image of a single individual blocking the
path of an onrushing military tank, a wave of optimism engulfed the Western
democratic States. This contagious optimism was best exemplified by the con
fidence and popularity of Francis Fukuyama's claim that the end of history
was at hand, that the future-if that word could still be said to have the same
meaning-was to become the global triumph of free market economies.
At the same time many of us felt a vague sense of foreboding, a haunted
sense that international changes of such magnitude were as likely to result,
< WHITHER MARXISM?
Vitt
at least initially, and perhaps for a long time to come, in transformations as
malign as they are benign. Some of us grew tired more quickly than others of
the many hasty postmortems of Marxism, as if the virtually global collapse
of communism and Marxism referred to the very same thing, especially in
different times and places as well as to different thinkers.
And yet, it seemed to many that the collapse of communism in Eastern
Europe and the Soviet Union, as well as democratic insurgencies in China,
had created a new world order. Politicians from George Bush to Vaclav Havel
had proclaimed that the ideological and political alliances which structured
the global community prior to 1989 must now be rethought and restructured.
Less dramatically, but j~st as significantly, the economic integration of Europe
beginning in 1992, and the continued economic growth ofJ apan and the
emergence of South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore as economic forces have all
profoundly changed the international economic, social, and political land
scapes. The meaning and consequences of these changes are of vital
importance to us all; no discipline or sector of culture has a monopoly on
potential analyses, much less a monopoly on answers.
In response to the changing social, political, philosophical, and economic
dimensions of the global community, scholars and intelle~tuals throughout
the world are rethinking the meaning of past verities and de\'eloping new the
oretical approaches. Among the central contested issues: \Vhat remains of the
socialist vision(s) after the "collapse" in 1989? Has the collapse of commu
nism also spelled the death of Marxism, and of Marx as an important
philosopher and political thinker? Have we indeed reached "the end of his
tory" as Fukuyama has argued, where pluralistic democracies and capitalist
economies reign supreme? Is the future now to be simply a choice between
Scandinavian-style social democracy on the one hand, and unrestrained free
market capitalism on the other? Given the difficulties some democratic, free
market economies are experiencing-including the plight of the homeless,
the lack of adequate health care, environmental degradation, and enormous
national debt burdens-what sort of model for the future do we have? And
what is one to make of the destructive, even violent "nationalisms" which ha\'e
followed in the wake of the collapse of communism, not to mention \'irulent
forms of ethnocentrism and xenophobia perhaps not seen since Hitler's
Germany? \Vhat does this imply, then, about the future structure and func
tioning of the global economy and life throughout our shared world? What
