Post-Marxism: The Retreat from Class in Latin America Ronald H. Chilcote Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 17, No. 2, Post-Marxism, the Left, and Democracy, (Spring, 1990), pp. 3-24. Stable URL: http://lnks.jstor.org/sicsici=0094-582X%28 19902 1%2917%3A2% 3C3%3APTRFCI%3E2.0,CO%3B2-9 Latin American Perspectives is currently published by Sage Publications, In. ‘Your use of the ISTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR’s Terms and Conditions of Use, available at hhup:/www.jstororg/about/terms.huml. JSTOR’s Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at hup:/www jstor-org/journals/sage.heml, Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the sereen or printed page of such transmission, JSTOR is an independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating and preserving a digital archive of scholarly journals. For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact support @jstor.org. hupulwww jstor.org/ Mon Jul 17 03:36:56 2006Post-Marxism The Retreat from Class in Latin America by Ronald H. Chileote ince its inception Latin American Perspectives has recognized many Marxisms and a Marxist tradition of many contending theories and strategies. More important, the journal represents the view that no single tendency ‘within Marxism should dominate its pages, and that Marxism is not reducible tothe conceptualization of class, relations of production, or mode of produe- tion, but that all of these concepts are fundamental in understanding the problems of contemporary capitalist society. Its also evident that attention to individual, group, and class interests may be relevant to analysis of struggles that seek political equality, resolution of human needs, and a fair distribution of available resources. Marxism today, however, is in a period of crisis, provoking @ rethinking of its premises and usefulness but also leading some left theorists to search for a new understanding as they move on to a “post-Marxist terrain.” This journal issue explores the implications of this crisis and the turn of some intellectuals away from Marxism in their retreat from analysis of class and class struggle in Latin America. The intent is not only to invite dialogue on this question, but also to challenge the premises of the new thinking. Among uestions asked of contributors were: To what extent did Latin American intellectuals exiled in Europe associate with the thought of Gramsci, Poulanteas, Althusser, and others? Did Eurocommunism of the late 1970s influence their thinking? What has been the impact of dictatorship and repression upon the new thinking as discussion moves from rural and urban guerrilla warfare to issues of political culture, pluralist democracy, and roformism? What has been the significance of the split in the Communist ‘movement since the 1960s, especially among currents that sought collabora- tive political arrangements and alliances with social democratic and liberal ‘currents? What has happened tothe political parties as they came to dominate ‘Roald H, Cicoe i Managing Elton of Latin American Perspectives and organized this sue ‘on post-Marrsm, He isthe thor of polished monographs an jotral arcs on comparative ‘theory, politcal economy, abd developmen. His forthcoming Power and the Ruling (Classes in Northeast Brat wil be published by Cambridge University Press, {LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, le, Vo 17No.2, ping 190,328 161990 Latin AmeranPespsives4. LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES the democratic openings, thereby obscuring the mass popular movements that emerged to challenge the dictatorships? How does a class analysis relate to mass popular movements (feminist, ecological, grassroots, and so on)? ‘Whats the situation ofthe labor movement and its traditional tes tothe state (especially in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico), its struggle for autonomy, and its participation in the electoral process? To what extent have the advances ‘of capitalism worldwide and the reorganization of capital and labor in Latin ‘America had their consequences for the new thinking? Have these changes (including a declining standard of living) undermined the revolutionary ‘commitment of intellectuals tied to the state-financed universities? As re- ‘gimes moved from dictatorship to democracy, to what extent were state institutions and class forces structurally retained, and what has been the impact on post-Marxist thinking? What is the state of the current search for ” now that some intellectuals see the working clas in decline and the traditional left parties in disarray? ‘The notion of post-Marxism has appeared in recent theoretical literature as the latest of many “post” formulations of an evolution toward a new society, These formulations imply a transition from the contradictions of the bourgeois order, the classstruggle, and the dilemmas of capitalism toa newly emerging order devoid of ideology and conflict. Danie! Bel foreshadowed this trend with his advocacy of an “end of ideology” (1960), while his thesis, of the “post-industrial society” (1976) envisioned better living standards and a closing of the gap between social classes through mass education, mass production, and more consumption. Other “post” formulations have referred to society as “postbourgeois,” “posteconomic,” “postcivilized,” “postmate- rialist,” and “postmodern” (See Frankel, 1987, for discussion and criticism of these “post” forms; and Jameson, 1984 and 1989, for the view that they are idealistic manifestations in defense of capitalism). However, radical criticisms of these conservative and liberal views have not deterred some left theorists from also moving beyond capitalism. The anticaptalist and utopian socialism of Rudolf Bahro (1984) and André Gorz (1982), for example, provide a basis for their search for a more egalitarian and democratic world. Fred Block (1987) sees the state as comprising less traditional hierarchies, @ postindustral “debureaucratization” dependent on a renewal of citizen pat- ticipation in the regulation of social life. Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis (1986) seek a radical democratic synthesis in their advocacy of postliberal- ism, and argue that neither liberalism nor Marxism has given priority to ‘democracy. Their postliberalism seeks the expansion of personal rights through traditional forms of representative democracy and industrial liberty while ensuring innovative and democratically accountable economic free- doms. Becker et al. (1987) attempt to move beyond neoimperialist and