Revolution and Its Alternatives: Other Marxisms, Other Empowerments, Other Priorities

313 Pages·2019·3.68 MB·English

by  Tom Brass

Revolution and Its Alternatives
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Studies in
Critical Social Sciences
Series Editor
David Fasenfest (Wayne State University)
Editorial Board
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva (Duke University)
Chris Chase-Dunn (University of California-Riverside)
William Carroll (University of Victoria)
Raewyn Connell (University of Sydney)
Kimberle W. Crenshaw (University of California, la, and
Columbia University)
Raju Das (York University)
Heidi Gottfried (Wayne State University)
Karin Gottschall (University of Bremen)
Alfredo Saad-Filho (University of London)
Chizuko Ueno (University of Tokyo)
Sylvia Walby (Lancaster University)
volume 129
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/scss
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Revolution and Its
Alternatives
Other Marxisms, Other Empowerments,
Other Priorities
By
Tom Brass
leiden | boston
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Cover illustration: Citta by Anna Luisa Brass, courtesy of the artist. The drawing depicts the continuing
attempts by Marxists to build socialism, a task symbolized in the illustration of a city steered into its his-
torical place by wheelbarrow. Why at times this seems like a Sisyphean task is hinted at in the drawings that
precede each of the three sections in the book.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available online at http://catalog.loc.gov
lc record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2018043312
Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface.
issn 1573-4234
isBn 978-90-04-38403-3 (hardback)
isBn 978-90-04-38404-0 (e-book)
Copyright 2019 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi,
Brill Sense, Hotei Publishing, mentis Verlag, Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh and Wilhelm Fink Verlag.
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This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner.
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For Amanda, Anna, Ned, and Miles;
and in memory of my parents
∵
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Contents
Acknowledgements  XI
Introduction: The Best of Times, the Worst of Times?  1
1 The Vanishing  3
2 The Banishment  7
3 Making a Difference?  8
4 The Shrewd Scholar?  11
5 Something They Have Forgotten?  13
6 Themes  15
Part 1
Revolutionary/Counter-revolutionary Practice/Theory
1 Revolution in Practice  23
1 Introduction: Revolution, or Reform
(and Counter-revolution)  23
2 Educate them to Revolt  25
3 The Greatest of All Proprietors  28
4 Desperation and Vengeance  31
5 As the Part to the Whole  34
6 Conclusion  38
2 Revolution in Theory  40
1 Revolution and/as Modernity  42
2 To the Barricades?  47
3 Half the Voters Plus One?  49
4 Confused Chatter and Legislative Obstruction  54
5 Modernity and/as Bourgeois Democracy  57
6 Conclusion  62
3 Refusing Revolution, Empowering Counter-revolution  65
1 Introduction: To the Barricades?  65
2 What History Taught Us  66
3 The Nation’s Great Concerns  72
4 The Balance of Class Power?  75
5 To the Barricades  78
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viii Contents
6 The World We/(They) Have Lost  83
7 A (Marxist) Warning from History  87
8 Conclusion  89
Part 2
Other Marxisms, Other Priorities/Identities
4 The (Revolutionary) Path Not Taken  95
1 Introduction: Promoting Capitalism, Not Socialism  95
2 Laissez-faire Discourse-for  101
3 In the Footsteps of Laissez-faire  105
4 Capitalism – or Socialism?  109
5 The Path Not Taken  111
6 Conclusion  113
5 Avoiding Revolution: A Return to Patronage  116
1 Introduction: From Periphery to the (Academic) Core  116
2 Empiricism, Patronage and Subsistence  119
3 Personal Tie of Affection?  122
4 Two Concepts, or One?  125
5 A Caring State...  127
6 ...or Permanent Revolution  130
7 Conclusion  131
6 Misunderstanding Revolution: (Re-)Defining Labour
Coercion?  133
1 Introduction: A Necessary Journey?  133
2 The Debate  135
3 The Debate Transcended?  139
4 Problems with Theory  143
5 Butterfly Collecting  149
6 Conclusion  151
7 Other Priorities, Other Identities: Unmasking the Subaltern  153
1 Introduction: (Armchair) Generals Go to War  153
2 Subaltern Conquests  156
3 Nationalist Appropriation I: Cambridge and England  158
4 Nationalist Appropriation II: Delhi and India  161
5 Critique of a Critique  164
6 Difference and Sameness  167
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Contents ix
7 ‘A Reiteration of the Already Said’  170
8 Conclusion  175
Part 3
Alternatives to Revolution?
8 Betraying Revolution (Again)  181
1 Introduction: Revolutionary Socialism as
the Fifth Horseman  181
2 Peasants, Left and Right  184
3 A Plan of Campaign?  186
4 Power Wanting, But Wanting Power?  194
5 Resistance, Not Revolution  198
6 Conclusion  201
9 Viva La Revolución? Eric Hobsbawm on Peasants  203
1 Introduction: A Time There Was …  203
2 Big in Brazil  205
3 Hobsbawm and Feudalism  208
4 Hobsbawm and the Hacienda System  211
5 Hobsbawm and Capitalism  215
6 Hobsbawm and Marxism  217
7 Outside Latin America  219
8 Conclusion  222
10 Marxism, or Postmodern Precursor? John
Berger on Peasants  224
1 Introduction: Holy Humble Peasants?  224
2 No Country for Old Peasants  228
3 Migrants, Gender, Money  231
4 Different Stories, Same Themes  235
5 Looking, But Seeing?  239
6 Too Much History, Too Many Lives  244
7 Conclusion  249
Conclusion  250
Bibliography  265
Author Index  284
Subject Index  289
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