Apr-Jun (2024)

Imperialism, Revolution, and Class Struggle: A Marxist Analysis of Historical Change

Aftab Ahmad Mir

Ph.D Research Scholar, Department of Sociology & Social Work, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar

The study critically investigates the development of Marxist history, following its change from classical materialism to its contemporary variants. Analysing how Marxists have interacted with imperialism, revolution, and global capitalism, it investigates the dialectical link between economic systems, class struggle, and historical transformations. Emphasising the change from moralistic criticisms to systematic historical analysis, the study compares utopian socialism with Marx's scientific socialism. It also covers the Eurocentrism of early Marxists, its applicability to non-Western civilisations, and the ideological differences among Marxists including Leninism, Trotskyism, and dependence theory. The paper looks at the limits of deterministic historical models and the difficulties presented by modern capitalist systems as well. This essay offers a complex view of historical materialism's relevance now by reevaluating the Marxist approach in light of current world events.

Keywords: Marxist historiography, historical materialism, class struggle, imperialism, revolution
1. Isaac Deutscher, “Marxism in Our Time,” Marxism, Wars & Revolutions, Verso, 1984, pp. 243–255.
2. Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution, 1789-1848, The World Publishing Company, 1962.
3. Ibid., p. 50.
4. Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Extremes: A History of the World, 1914-1991, Pantheon Books, 1994.
5. Ibid., p. 200.
6. Giovanni Arrighi, Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the Twenty-first Century, Verso, 2007.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. François Furet, Le Passé d’une illusion. Essai sur l’idée de communisme au XXe siècle, Laffont/Calmann-Lévy, 1995, p. 18.
10. Jürgen Osterhammel, Die Verwandlung der Welt: Eine Geschichte des 19. Jahrhunderts, C. H. Beck, 2009, pp. 758, 777.
11. Karl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, chap. 1.
12. Penelope J. Corfield, “The State of History,” Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 36, no. 1, 2001, p. 156.
13. Paul Blackledge, Reflections on the Marxist Theory of History, Manchester UP, 2006.
14. Ibid., p. 45.
15. E. P. Thompson, The Poverty of Theory, Merlin Press, 1995, p. 63.
16. Georg G. Iggers, Historiography in the Twentieth Century: From Scientific Objectivity to the Postmodern Challenge, Wesleyan UP, 1997.


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Published: 24 JUN 2024

Issue: Apr-Jun (2024)

Section: Articles

Metrics: 132 43

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