MarxSchmarx
12th March 2012, 04:25
We all known and routinely recommend the classics - lenin, bakunin, engels, luxembourg, trotsky, kropotkin marx, mao, gramsci - but I am wondering if you think there is an author alive today who has a similarly broad perspective in analyzing contemporary society and trying to sketch what should be done about it. But doing so in plain, accessible language that doesn't require embracing any esoteric jargon.
I guess one example will be David Graeber, I think he writes very clearly and addresses the kinds of "big picture" questions leftists brood about. Having gone through Chomsky, the pareconists, and people like Bookchin, I think I have a pretty good feel for where contemporary anarchism is headed. Ha joon chang is another marvelous writer IMO, but doesn't identify from the traditional marxist analysis.
I'm wondering if there is anybody contemporary on the more authoritarian left side who has a similar style that people can recommend. There was some great stuff from the 70s and I've read a lot of the analytic marxists (who largely avoided practical politics), but I'm interested if there is anything outthere written since say 2001 that seeks to broaden the scope from historical interpretation. I should say I find Zizek often impenetrable at best and mundane at worst. Another example is Lars Lih, who I think is an excellent historian but doesn't really offer anything concrete about extending Lenin's analysis to today's situation.
So which contemporary author that sees themselves in the Marxist or even Leninist tradition would you recommend? Do they eskew jargon? Do they address questions beyond their tiny subfield? If anybody you have read fits this bill, I would be very interested.
I guess one example will be David Graeber, I think he writes very clearly and addresses the kinds of "big picture" questions leftists brood about. Having gone through Chomsky, the pareconists, and people like Bookchin, I think I have a pretty good feel for where contemporary anarchism is headed. Ha joon chang is another marvelous writer IMO, but doesn't identify from the traditional marxist analysis.
I'm wondering if there is anybody contemporary on the more authoritarian left side who has a similar style that people can recommend. There was some great stuff from the 70s and I've read a lot of the analytic marxists (who largely avoided practical politics), but I'm interested if there is anything outthere written since say 2001 that seeks to broaden the scope from historical interpretation. I should say I find Zizek often impenetrable at best and mundane at worst. Another example is Lars Lih, who I think is an excellent historian but doesn't really offer anything concrete about extending Lenin's analysis to today's situation.
So which contemporary author that sees themselves in the Marxist or even Leninist tradition would you recommend? Do they eskew jargon? Do they address questions beyond their tiny subfield? If anybody you have read fits this bill, I would be very interested.