Ali Shariati (1933–1977) has been described by many as the main ideologue of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. In the years prior to the victory of 1979 Iranian Revolution, Islamic and Marxist schools of thought were the two major anti-regime political tendencies that animated Iranian politics. Shariati advocated unity by praising both revolutionary tendencies. He combined Marxist and existentialist traditions of thought with a religious and nationalist discourse, which attracted millions of Iranians, particularly the youth. He offered a Marxist view of history, but he was preoccupied with the Islamisation of Marxism or the Marxification of Islam. He reconstructed the entire history of Islam and highlighted the revolutionary aspects of Shia history and thought, emphasising the fact that social justice and equality were inherent values in Shia Islam. His ‘red Shiism’, in contrast to the ‘black Shiism’ of the conservative clergy, was a religion of the masses, a religion which had the capacity to make its adherents aware of the multiple levels of exploitation and injustice forced upon them.
Amílcar Cabral (1924–1973) was the leader of the national liberation movement that freed Guinea-Bissau (formerly Portuguese Guinea) and Cape Verde from Portuguese colonialism. In 1956, he founded the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (Partido Africano para a Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde, PAIGC), which later waged a decade of successful armed struggle against Portuguese colonialism. Cabral underlined the significance of the ‘mode of production’ as ‘the motive force of history’ and thereby made an important theoretical contribution to Marxist class analysis. He demonstrated that national liberation was more than just self-rule, as it required a change in the mode of production. Therefore, he strongly emphasised changing neo-colonial structures, and in doing so he gave a prominent role to the national petty bourgeoisie. Finally, he highlighted the role of culture and its relation to national liberation struggles. Apart from the significant role he played in the PAIGC, Cabral was also instrumental in the establishment of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, MPLA).
The conclusion summarises the main points that have been raised in the book. It emphasises the fact that the figures discussed in the book engaged in Marxism in various ways and this helped mobilise support and ultimately victory in hard-fought struggles. It touches upon their creative engagement with Marxism and how, despite local adaptations, Marxism has remained a coherent set of ideas as it has developed historically and spread geographically. Marxism offered a methodology that enabled these revolutionary leaders to link the local and national to the global, in spite of the fact that they faced very different challenges. A clear circulation of ideas and practices is apparent in global Marxism, with internationalism being a cornerstone of revolutionary politics for many of the figures. The Conclusion also discusses challenges of putting Marxism on the agenda as a theory of social change and a method of socio-economic analysis.
Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara (1928–1967) was an Argentine revolutionary, intellectual, physician, writer, guerrilla strategist and diplomat, among other things. He joined the Cuban revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro and played a significant role not only in the victory of the Cuban Revolution but also in the process of constructing socialism in its aftermath. Based on Marxist ideas, he developed and implemented numerous concrete policies for the post-revolutionary transition to socialism in Cuba. The structural changes he implemented transformed Cuba from a semi-colonial dependent country to an independent country which was fully integrated into the socialist bloc. Guevara’s original contributions to Marxism were his focus on the political economy of transition to socialism, the significance of the transformation of the human being into a ‘new man’ (hombre nuevo) via the construction of socialism and his theory of the foco as a revolutionary strategy for the global South. Guevara’s practical policies, in particular his Budgetary Finance System (BFS) of economic management, enhances Marxist theory.
Frantz Fanon (1925–1961) was a psychiatrist and revolutionary from the French colony of Martinique. He joined the Algerian National Liberation Front (Front de Libération Nationale) and became fully involved with Algeria’s war of independence. Fanon developed a dialectic analysis of the colonial subject’s psychological condition that had been created due to the history and culture of the empire. His emphasis was on the interconnection of racism, colonialism and capitalism and the ways these intersections were manifested. Fanon saw the wide category of ‘the wretched of the earth’ behind bringing down the capitalist system. Due to the resilient character of capitalism and colonialism, violence was an absolute necessity for him. Because of his ideas about violence he has sometimes been referred to as someone who preaches a gospel of hate while others have admired his combined unconditional support for the oppressed with continuous anger towards the oppressor. Apart from various revolutionary struggles, his work has also impacted many academic fields, from postcolonial theory to literary criticism and critical theory, to name just a few.
For much of the twentieth century Marx’s ideas not only inspired resistance to colonial rule, but also provided the backbone of other movements for social justice around the world. This book demonstrates that Marxism is a living tradition that has been the cornerstone of revolutionary practice and theory in the global South. It shows that rather than being a rigid set of propositions, Marxism has reflected local conditions and contexts, which have determined how it has travelled around the world. This is the first book that makes available to a large community of readers the lives, ideas and legacies of a selection of revolutionaries from the global South who have played an exceptional role in contributing to counter-hegemonic change. It urges us to learn from global Marxism in the never-ending task of grasping the changing historical conditions of capitalism and the complex world in which we live.
Hồ Chí Minh (1890–1969) led the Vietnamese independence movement, and under his leadership French colonial rule in Indochina came to an end after three-quarters of a century. He introduced a revolutionary path for his people that followed a Leninist approach of a two-stage revolutionary process, but in addition he emphasised the significance of national independence and coalition building. He asserted that the role of the peasants was fundamental in the Vietnamese context and that a revolutionary process needed a clear ideology, organisation and future vision. He founded the Communist Party of Vietnam and established the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, where he served as the President until his death. Moreover, he played a significant role in the People’s Army of Vietnam and the Việt Cộng (the National Liberation Front of Southern Vietnam) during the Vietnam War, which started in 1955 and lasted twenty years. The victory of Vietnam in the war against the US military forces led to the unification of Vietnam under communist rule.
The Introduction traces Marxism’s global impact and its influence on the twentieth-century liberation struggles of people in Asia, Africa and Latin America. It criticises accusations of Eurocentrism against Marxism and discusses the problems with the decolonial turn that disconnects decolonisation from Marxism. It calls for the urgency of (re)engaging with Marxism’s global relevance and with the important ideas developed by southern revolutionaries discussed in the book for analysing global capitalism’s multiple crises and as the basis for reimagining an alternative world.
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) was a leader of India’s independence movement and subsequently served as its first Prime Minister after India’s independence from the British Raj (1858–1947) until his death. Many consider him the founder of the modern Indian state. He influenced India’s progressive thinkers for years and inspired generations of nationalists in Asia and Africa. He made an earnest attempt to define socialism as widely as possible to make it acceptable to Indian politicians as well as the masses. Marxism helped Nehru to combine nationalism and socialism and reconstruct nationalism by situating it within the framework of an ideology. During the struggle for independence, his efforts focused on moving the ideology of the Indian National Congress towards socialism; after independence, his efforts to combine Marxism and nationalism remained confined to policy reforms. Nehru was one of the most prominent spokespeople for socialist ideas in India, although he never became a member of any socialist organisation.
Kwame Nkrumah (1909–1972) was a Ghanaian revolutionary thinker and politician. He led Ghana – then called the Gold Coast – to independence in 1957, making it the first sub-Saharan country to break free of colonial rule. He became the first Prime Minister of the Gold Coast when the country was still under British control and served as the Prime Minister and President of Ghana from 1957 until 1966, when he was overthrown in a coup led by the police and military. Nkrumah tried to develop Lenin's analysis of imperialism to a new level by incorporating it into the African neo-colonial context. His socialism was associated with ‘conscience’, which is about the reconstruction of social cohesion. After independence, Nkrumah developed socialist policies, including an Accelerated Development Plan for Education and a state-controlled economy that emphasised industrialisation and domestic manufacturing. Shortly after independence, he organised the First Conference of Independent States followed by the All-African Peoples' Conference. In addition, he was instrumental in the creation of the Organisation of African Unity in 1963, which was the forerunner of the African Union.