Marxism vs. Postcolonialism
Postcolonial theorists argue that Marxism is ‘Eurocentric’ and that the class struggle is inapplicable in countries oppressed by imperialism. They view culture as primary, and thus advocate a struggle against imperialism purely along cultural and linguistic lines. These methods will never achieve liberation for the oppressed, yet they hold sway in much of academia and filter into social movements. Marxists start from opposite premises: imperialism is based on economic relations, and the class struggle is the decisive element in the former colonial world.
Questions discussed will include: how communists understand imperialism, the history of communist involvement in national liberation struggles, and what we can do in the United States today to fight and end imperialism.
This discussion will be introduced by Ali Shamshiri, a leading member of the RCA in New York City.
Reading list:
Books
Articles
- Marxism vs Postmodernism – Daniel Morley and Hamid Alizadeh
- Marxism vs. Identity Politics – RCI
- The 2025 Italian General Strike for Gaza – IS of the RCI
Podcasts
- Marxism vs Postcolonialism – Hamid Alizadeh
Additional Reading:
How Marxists understand imperialism:
- Imperialism, Chapter 6 (Division of the World Among the Great Powers) – V.I. Lenin
- Palestine: The Failure of the Two-State Solution and the Communist Alternative – Josh Holroyd
Works of postcolonial theorists for reference:
- Orientalism (Introduction) – Edward Said
- Can the Subaltern Speak? – Gayatri Spivak
