KARL MARX ON COLONIALISM AND MODERNIZATION: His Dispatches and Other Writings on China, India, Mexico, the Middle East and North Africa

by Shlomo Ed. Avineri ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 25, 1968

For nine years the New York Daily Tribune's London correspondent was Karl Marx, who wrote interpretive articles on the non-western world. They are collected here along with excerpts from the theoretical writings and a few letters on the Eastern question. Avineri, senior lecturer in political theory at Hebrew University and a former visiting lecturer at Yale, specializes in Marx (The Social and Political thought of Karl Marx). He provides a thoughtful introduction and attempts to relate these topical articles to Marx's general theories of social change and modernization. Marx was aware that his theory of history and economic development seemed to be applicable only to the Western world and he devised intricate arguments to include the Asiatic method of production in his model of the ""progress of the economic formation of society."" Thus, European expansionism--anathema in itself--was to serve the revolution: ""England has to fulfill a double mission in India: one destructive, the other regenerating the annihilation of the old Asiatic society, and the laying of the material foundation of Western society in Asia."" Marx's arguments are often convoluted, sometimes brilliant, and are of particular importance now that orthodox Marxism has become so very important in the non-Western world. Surprisingly readable, these articles are of particular interest to political scientists, economists, and historians.

Pub Date: Oct. 25, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1968

Categories: NONFICTION