Social Theory and Revolutionary Activity in Marx
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3363985 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alan Gilbert (University of Denver, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1979 |
| Volume | 73 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 521-538 |
| Publication date | 1979-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Political Science Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-0554 • E-ISSN: 1537-5943 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1954895 |
| OpenAlex | W2322481691 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 17 |
Economic determinist attempts to deduce specific political conclusions or strategies from Marx's general theory do not jibe with Marx's own extensive political activity. Instead, Marx's development as a political theorist and organizer passed from observation of (French Revolution, Chartism) or participation in (1848, the International Workingmen's Association) existing radical movements to formulation of new theories and strategies, and then to application of these strategies in subsequent movements. In applying his general theory to formulating strategies and historical explanations, Marx utilized a framework of mainly political auxiliary statements to define the specific international and national historical setting. Faced with the defeat of a strategy or a tension between the strategy and an older theory, Marx reformulated his theory in different ways, sometimes altering these auxiliary statements rather than the general theory to explain unexpected events, more rarely changing the general theory itself. These new explanations reinforced his strategies. This impact of political experience on Marx's thinking illustrates his famous definition, drawn from Theses on Feuerbach, of revolution as a "practical-critical" activity. Taken as a whole, Marx's new explanations underline the role of politics in historical materialism and conflict with Marx's general expectation that economic oppression alone would ultimately drive the proletariat to make socialist revolution
Determinism · Economics · Epistemology · Historical materialism · Marxist philosophy · Materialism · Neoclassical economics · Oppression · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Proletariat · Sociology · Law · Marxism and Critical Theory · Philosophy · Political Economy and Marxism · Political theory and Gramsci
Marx on Internationalism and War
Handwerkerbünde und Arbeitervereine 1830–1853
Organization and Revolution
From the German Ideology
Marx's Theory of History
Lire Le Capital
The Civil War in France
Karl Marx
I. Salvaging Marx from Avineri
Marx's Initial Problematic
Marx against the Peasant
The Problem of Social Stability in Urban Russia, 1905-1917 (Part One)
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.13 |
| Citation span | 1981 - 2025 (45) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |