Rethinking Marxism Today: Lessons from the Past and the Urgent Path Forward
Marxism was born in the nineteenth century and developed enormously in the twentieth. It became a cornerstone of revolutionary struggles of the past century, beginning with the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and extending to anti-colonial and anti-imperialist movements across the Global South. These included countries as diverse as Vietnam, China, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, and Cuba, with hundreds of political organisations and parties across the globe proclaiming themselves Marxist or Marxist-inspired.
However, by the end of the twentieth century, many proclaimed Marxism to be dead and irrelevant to the postCold War world. Yet such hasty conclusions reflected a limited understanding of the historical moment. In reality, Marx and Marxism have proven remarkably resilient, particularly in the Global South, regardless of changing circumstances. In this presentation I argue that Marxism today must be seen as globally situated and rooted in actual struggles, rather than as a purely Western phenomenon or as a closed theoretical system. It must be understood as a living tradition shaped and inspired by concrete situations and struggles, where activists and revolutionaries have time and again drawn on its insights to challenge colonial domination, imperialist expansion, and economic exploitation. From anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggles to post-revolutionary and postcolonial state-building projects, Marxism has provided both a language of critique and a practical guide for constructing more just and equitable societies, where conditions of life improved for millions of people. These experiences demonstrate that Marxism’s significance lies not in abstract doctrine, but in its capacity to contribute to the material conditions of the masses when adapted to specific historical and social contexts.
