Date: Wed, 26 Feb 97 12:34:49 CST
Subject: M-TH: Marx's Unpublished Writings


I enjoyed Kevin's essay. I actually read it on another list before.  Some 
of you probably know Kevin through his *Lenin, Hegel, and Western Marxism*. 
I, however, have two questions that have implications for my understanding 
of the issues.  It may also generate some discussions on the list.

a. I haven't yet looked at the "Ethnology Notebook", translated and edited 
by David Smith, although David made a  wonderful presentation in the 
"Marxist Sociology" session that I organized at the Midwest 
Sociological Society meeting last year. The "Notebook", however, is in my 
short reading list and I intend to read it before the year is over.  Kevin 
mentioned Marx's detailed summarization of Morgan's anthropological 
findings in the notebook.  Was that influence any way different from the 
decisive influence that Morgan had on Engels in his " the Origin of the 
Family, the Private Property, and the State"?  Does the Marx-Engels 
divergence that plays an important role in the critical, oppositional 
Marxist tradition has any relevance to the ways these two 
men read Morgan or understood pre-modern cultures ?  (speaking of these 
two men, today is the 149th anniversary of the publication of the 
"Communist Manifesto").

b. Does the fact that Marx became more attentive to non-western cultures in 
his later years alter a deeply seated Eurocentrim of classical Marxism, 
eg., understanding history as progressive sequences of development where 
the occidenatl modern capitalist societies somehow are in a more "advanced" 
stage than the pre-capitalist societies such as India?  Marxists like 
Stuart Hall, Cornel West (does West still calls himself a marxist? I 
noticed his name in the advisory board of "Rethinking Marxism") or scholars 
like Edaward Said (not a Marxist, but still remains critically 
engaged with the Marxist discourses) have pointed out that intrinsic 
Eurocentrism in Marxist theory and practice.  As many of us are aware of,
Marx's understanding of the impact of British colonialsim on india is a 
case in point.  Aijaz Ahmed's brillinant defense notwithstanding ( *In 
Theory: Nation, Class, and Literature*), I am one of those Marxists who 
think that Marx's understanding of India, especially in the early 
dispatches to New York Tribune, was deeply flawed.  I also tend to agree 
with scholars who argue that Marx's grasp of the dynamics of colonialsim in 
Ireland was more adequate that his understanding of india.  In other words, 
Marx understood the West better than he comprehended the East.  I wonder 
whether I should be prepared to change that perspective after reading 
Marx's unpublished writings.


Manjur Karim
Manjur Karim





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