Anti-Capitalist politics and labour for the twenty-first century: history and future challenges

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Anti-kapitalizmas; Darbo jėga; Kairioji ideologija; Kapitalizmas; Karlas Marksas; Komunizmas; Politika; SSRS; Socialinė klasė; Anti-capitalism; Capitalism; Communism; Karl Marx; Labour; Left ideology; Politics; Social class; USSR.

ENThe methodological approach in this paper is based on what may be called a mild version of conflict-driven class struggle. The most prominent contemporary Marxists such as David Harvey and Daniel Bensaïd have argued that neoliberalism is the political project of top economic elites who via lobbyists and key politicians advanced deregulation and other national policies in order to increase the share of their wealth (Bensaïd 2002, Harvey 2005). According to this approach the weaknesses of the Left are due to the onslaught of neoliberal pro-market reforms by business elites. On the other hand, thinkers such as Anthony Giddens (1997) have argued that it is the cultural changes of modern societies, on the one hand, and globalization together with the societal emphasis on individual self-expression on the other hand, which gave rise to identity politics that gradually distanced the Left from the (neo)Marxian politics of emancipation broadly understood. Thus, in postmodern societies people chose the idea of a consumer life in a free-market economy for its general appeal. In short, the difference between two major theoretical approaches is Karl Marx’s historical materialism in contrast with post-Marxist sociology of democratic societies. My own position in this paper is somewhere between these two approaches. One of the tasks of this paper is to clarify an intermediary position and to elaborate on its importance in our debate on the future of the political Left.The paper will thus engage with two related issues: it will give a brief historical outline of the Left prior to the project of neoliberalism and confront the shift in the post-Cold War power balance during the dominance of neoliberalism. The second part will be theoretical and normative, briefly looking at Marx’s conceptions of alienation and exploitation. It will argue that despite the essential significance of Marx for the Left today we need to find new theoretical resources for the renewal of neo-Marxist thought. The teleological notion of “practice” in Alasdair MacIntyre’s work (1985) and the idea of ‘immaterial labour’ developed by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri (2005) are, among other things, also employed to serve us in the important task of providing new fuel for the anti-capitalist politics. [Extract, p. 229-230]

• Politikos mokslai / Political sciences
• Ekonomika / Economics