Marxism’s cultural turn, which has been prominent in its operation over at least the past four decades, continues to belie the hope it had initially held out. The idea that such a move would eventually pull Marxism out of its ‘ontological crisis’ is on the verge of a miscarriage. That is certainly the case in sub-continental South Asia. Unsurprisingly, therefore, ‘culturally-turned’ Marxism survives as the sign of the very crisis it was meant to surpass. Its canonisation within the academia, and beyond, as a mere analytic of culture has led to the blurring of politico-ideological lines. The quietist impulse that this theory of the science of revolution has, as a consequence, come to share with so-called poststructuralism implies its complete detachment from all notions and conceptions of class and class action.
The 13 essays that comprise this book are envisaged as a small attempt from South Asia – where communitarian postcolonialism and ‘Marxist’ culturalism constitute the most respectable trend in radical theory – to remedy the situation.
1. In Search of Class
2. Fascism and a Marxist Praxis of Art
3. Academics, Politics and Class Struggle
4. The Siren Songs of Neo-traditionalism
5. Akhtaruzzaman Elias: Beyond the Lived Time of Nationhood
6. Kafka and the Question of Revolutionary Subjectivity
7. Media and the Indian State: On the Draft Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill, 2006
8. The Blind Art of the Concrete
9. In Defence of Hamas
10. Sri Lanka: Genocide and Other Majoritarian Falsehoods
11. Fascism in its Liberal Womb
12. Lalgarh beyond Maoism, Maoism beyond Lalgarh
13. Three Fragmentary Theses on the Politico-theoretical Problematic posed by the Current Phase of the Indian Maoist Movement for Working Class Politics
Biography
Pothik Ghosh was educated as a professional journalist in Calcutta, Lucknow and Delhi. Active with various Left groups, he is currently based in Delhi and is one of the editors of Radical Notes. His monograph, Loss as Resistance: Towards a Hermeneutic of Revolution, has also been published by Aakar as part of the Radical Notes booklet series.
