Marxism and the Sociology of Civilisations

Abstract

The 150th anniversary of Karl Marx’s birth occurs in a fundamentally different setting from that in which his critical theses were developed. Those theses, from his ‘youthful’ work to Capital (which is celebrating its own centenary) and the foundation of the International, have changed the destiny of the world, of its peoples, states and nations. Obviously we are aware of the modifications that have occurred in historical, economic and political conditions, under the onslaught of revolutions and confrontation. Yet it is only with difficulty that the specialists, whether of theory or practice, take account of the other dimensions of this difference — a difference that we consider fundamental to, and constitutive of, the very formulation of the theoretical problem which is the object of this essay. None the less, the nationalitarian phenomenon increasingly asserts itself, with each day that passes, as objectively the central factor in the multifaceted dialectics of revolution and evolution, of counter-revolution and apparent stagnation. A geographical thread is added to the historical; yet it is not, as some would have it, a matter of topography. The object of this geographical dimension, or rather, of historical geography, is not to accommodate the geo-political analysis of the contemporary world, but on the contrary to provide a framework for the emergence on to the sociological level of the key factor of civilisation, and the key concept of specificity.