What Does It Mean to Be a Marxist

The Hari Sharma Memorial Lecture series was instituted by the Dr. Hari Sharma Foundation for South Asian Advancement in memory of Hari Sharma, who left his estate to the Foundation when he passed away in 2010. The purpose of the series is to present scholars and writers who have made a significant contribution to the struggle for emancipation in South Asia. The first lecture in this series was presented by Jan Myrdal, one of the most prominent Swedish writers, a life-long Marxist, and for many years a friend of Hari Sharma. Myrdal wrote his first book on India, India Waits, after his visit to the "disturbed areas" of Andhra as a guest of C.P. Reddy in 1980. He visited Dandakaranya in 2010 at the invitation of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and wrote about his conversation with the leadership of the party in Red Star over India: Impressions, Reflections and Discussions When the Wretched of the Earth Are Rising (Kolkata, 2012). Following his speaking tour after the book's release in Kolkata, Myrdal was banned from visiting India by the Government of India. The 2012 Hari Sharma Memorial Lecture was held at the Vancouver Public Library in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, on 17 November 2012. (Note: Hari Sharma was a longtime member of the editorial board of Critical Asian Studies.) Notes 1. MEW 35, 388. 2. Wittfogel Citation1931, 9. 3. Krader Citation1972, 37. 4. Ibid., 324 and 335. 5. Available at www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1894-c3/pref.htm/pref.htm. His original German text is in MEGA 2, II, 15, p. 16. 6. See on this MEW 4, p. 462. Berlin 1964. 7. "The British Rule in India. Correspondence of the N.Y. Tribune," New-York Daily Tribune 3804, 25 June 1853. See MEGA 2, I, 12, p. 170. 8. "The Future Results of British Rule in India. Correspondence of the N.Y. Tribune. New-York Daily Tribune 3840, 8 August 1853. See MEGA 2, I, 12, p. 248. 9. Lokongo Citation2012. 10. Buchbinder Citation1976. 11. The English version is available at www.marxists.org/archive/mehring/1918/marx/preface.htm. 12. Neue Oder-Zeitung 295, 28 June 1855. (Original German text MEGA 2, I, 14, p. 442-47.) The English version is available at www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1855/06/25.htm. 13. The article by Engels was published (with minor variations) first in Neue Oder-Zeitung on 17 March 1855 and then in the New-York Daily Tribune 4353, on 2 April 1855 ("Fate of the great adventurer"). (MEGA 2, I, 14, p. 195.) 14. Rjassanoff Citation1920, 514. 15. English text available at www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1892/letters/92_09_28.htm. German original: MEW 38, p. 480. Berlin 1968. 16. MEW 38, p. 308. Berlin 1968

Emancipation · Indian Economic and Social Development · Indian History and Philosophy