Decolonization – to understand the contradictions in the world

Frantz Fanon once critically noticed that Marxist studies always had to be stretched somewhat if they were the subject of the connection between class struggle and racism. He was not just with the opinion that there is a lack of a lot in Marxism in order to be able to effectively bring it into the states outside of Europe. In another way, this point of view of the socialist theorist and revolutionary Walter Rodney, born in 1942 in the British-Guayana colony and in 1980 in the now formally independent Republic of Guayana. The Rosa-Luxemburg Foundation promoted the pressure of its writings on decolonial Marxism and Pan African Revolution in German translation in good time.

In the foreword, the Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o Walter Rodney recognizes as a theorist who has completed Marx and creates it from the meaning for the “Third World” next to Fanon. Rodney and Fanon had written the basic texts “to understand the contradictions that Africa and all formerly colonial countries of Asia and South America are still haunted today”. BAFTA Sarbo also sees Rodney’s earnings in developing Marxism. His concern was always to make a contribution to the ideological self -authorization of black people. On the other hand, according to Vivek Chibber, it is about providing Europe, which means to drop Europe as the sole yardstick and role model. A task that is not only difficult due to prejudices and the world -historical balance of power. The difficulties also affect the tools of a plural understood Marxism. Because again, again ngũgĩ wa thiong’o, that Marxism is not free from a often European look at the “developments of capitalism to his current stage of global imperialism”.

In contrast to Fanon, who was strange to an ideological self -articetting and which was hardly referred to as a genuine Marxist, Walter Rodney understood himself as a Marxist. A credo that he attributes in one of his essays Amilcar Cabral, namely to combine revolutionary practice and theory organically, can also apply to Rodney. For him, the most important yardstick for theoretical work is the “usability” of the analyzes for political practice in liberation struggle. However, unlike Fanon, he measures programmatic political explanations and theoretical concepts not only from the social reality of the countries of Asia, Africa and South America, but also on the theoretical building of Marxism. Authentically Marxist work requires critical thinking. As an example, his criticism of “Ujamaa socialism” under the Tanzanian President Julius K. Nyerere stands for this approach.

In contrast to Fanon, Rodney also leaves no doubt that he is concerned with building socialism. Ujamaa is not a “African socialism”. “Scientific socialism (or for my sake of Marxism) is an explicit worldview that looks at every conceivable phenomenon, from protein to literature, in the sense of a method that is applicable to nature and society.” With these and similar statements, critics of Marxism and some “modern” Marxists should easily fall to the “Orthodox Marxism”. But the critics shouldn’t make it that easy. On the one hand, it would be appropriate to read their theses critically. But not in the sense of the dogmatic rejection by anti -dogmatic Marxists, but the continuation of his ideas. This approach then also includes no know -it -alls, which hides every historical context in the creation of the writings. On the other hand, it turns out that the category system itself has a heuristic effect of the Marxism known as Orthodox. Rodney demands linguistic accuracy and sees the use of Marxist terminology as an important means.

Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o recognizes Rodney’s theoretical analysis that clearly recognizes the interdependencies of business, politics, culture and values. It leads to the essentials of capitalism: the main contradiction between capital and work. “But,” says Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong’o, “he succeeded in adding the dimension of racism and colonialism.” The preliminary speller emphasizes: “The Marxist class analysis needs the dimensions of› breed ‹, colony and gender.

These texts of one of the most important left-wing guiding characters of Pan African movements and socialist internationalism have no textbook character, but can stimulate to think and reflect on the earlier, which should still be important for an internationally acting left-wing.

Walter Rodney: Decolonial Marxism. Writings from the Pan African Revolution. Ed. V. Asha Rodney, Patricia Rodney, Ben Mabie and Jesse Benjamin. A. d. Engl. V. Christian Frings. Karl-Dietz-Verlag, 264 pages, born, € 29.