21st-century communist theorists

According to the political theorist Alan Johnson, there has been a revival of serious interest in communism in the 21st century led by Slavoj Žižek and Alain Badiou.[1][2] Other leading contemporary communist theorists are Michael Hardt,[3] Antonio Negri,[4] Alessandro Russo,[5] Angela Davis,[6] Andreas Malm,[7] Jose Maria Sison,[8] Étienne Balibar,[9] Jodi Dean,[10] Ruth Wilson Gilmore,[11] John Holloway,[12] J. Moufawad-Paul,[13] Paul O'Connell,[14] Silvia Federici,[15] Richard Seymour,[16] Jeremy Gilbert,[17] Mark Fisher,[18] China Miéville,[19] Vijay Prashad,[20] Kohei Saito,[21] Isabelle Garo,[22] Nicholas Thoburn,[23] Azfar Shafi,[24] Costas Douzinas as well as Alberto Toscano,[25] Terry Eagleton,[26] and Bruno Bosteels.[27]

Whilst these theorists come from a broad range of traditions, included but not limited to Leninism, Maoism, eco-socialism, autonomism, Black radical tradition and post-Marxism, what they all tend to have in common is a critique of past socialist experiments, and a re-orientation of the revolutionary subject.[28]

In 2009, many of these advocates contributed to the three-day conference, "The Idea of Communism", in London that drew a substantial paying audience.[29] Journals such as Endnotes, Salvage, Ebb Magazine[30] and Historical Materialism launched with communist outlooks, as well as news outlets such as Novara Media.[31]

Furthermore, internet culture and declining life prospects[32] has led to a general rise amongst Millennials and Gen-Z in support for communism and socialism,[33] in tandem with the rise of left-populism in the US[34] and the UK.[35] Explicitly left-wing contemporary artists, such as filmmakers,[36] musicians,[37] video-game creators[38] and comedians[39][40] have received widespread attention, such as the rapper/producer JPEGMafia,[41] and a whole media-creator ecosystem has developed around the online left, known as BreadTube.[42]

Notable works

Theoretical publications, some published by Verso Books, include The Idea of Communism, edited by Costas Douzinas and Žižek;[43][27] Badiou's The Communist Hypothesis; and Bosteels's The Actuality of Communism. The defining common ground is the contention that "the crises of contemporary liberal capitalist societies—ecological degradation, financial turmoil, the loss of trust in the political class, exploding inequality—are systemic; interlinked, not amenable to legislative reform, and requiring 'revolutionary' solutions".[1][43]

In the introduction to The Idea of Communism (2009), Žižek and Douzinas also identified four common premises among the thinkers in attendance:

  1. The idea of communism confronts depoliticization through a return to voluntarism.
  2. Communism as a radical philosophical idea. It must be thought of as taking distance from economism and statism as well as learning from the experiences of the 21st century.
  3. Communism combats neoliberalism by returning to the idea of the "common".
  4. Communism as freedom and equality. Equality cannot exist without freedom and vice versa.[43]


A rise in Marxist thought followed the financial crisis of 2007–2008, with the publishing of books including G. A. Cohen's Why Not Socialism? (2009), Paul Paolucci's Marx's Scientific Dialectics (2009), Alain Badiou's The Communist Hypothesis (2010), Kieran Allen's Marx and the Alternative to Capitalism (2011), Terry Eagleton's Why Marx Was Right (2011) and Vincent Mosco's Marx is Back (2012).[44][45][46] The Communist Horizon,[47] published in 2012 by Jodi Dean, marked the beginning in a series of books from Dean which argue for the necessity of communist and Leninist politics.

The Communist Necessity,[48] published in 2015 by J. Moufawad-Paul, also argues for the necessity of the communist party in radical social change. Fully Automated Luxury Communism, published in 2019, has helped normalise the term 'communist' within public discourse in the anglophone world.[49]

2023 saw the publication of two significant books on the topic of communism: Marx in the Anthropocene,[50] which developed a notion of a degrowth communism, and Communism and Strategy,[51] which examines contemporary communist theorists in relation to Gramsci and Marx.

Non-Marxist contributors

Other non-Marxist thinkers who have also had an effect on the 'new communists' include the revolutionaries Subcomandante Marcos,[52] Abdullah Öcalan,[53] historian Robin Kelley,[54] and the late anthropologist David Graeber.[27]

See also

References
  1. Johnson, Alan (May–June 2012). "The New Communism: Resurrecting the Utopian Delusion". World Affairs. SAGE Publications, Inc. 175 (1): 62–70. JSTOR 41638993.
  2. Thoburn, Nicholas (2013). "Do Not Be Afraid, Join Us, Come Back? On the "Idea of Communism" in Our Time". Cultural Critique. 84: 1–34. doi:10.5749/culturalcritique.84.2013.0001. ISSN 0882-4371.
  3. Hardt, Michael (2011-02-03). "Reclaim the common in communism". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  4. "Communists like us - Felix Guattari & Toni Negri | libcom.org". libcom.org. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  5. Russo, Alessandro (2016). "Mummifying the Working Class: The Cultural Revolution and the Fates of the Political Parties of the 20th Century". The China Quarterly (227): 653–673. ISSN 0305-7410.
  6. By (2020-10-19). "Angela Davis Still Believes America Can Change". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  7. Eaton, George (2020-10-14). "Andreas Malm: "The likely future is escalating catastrophe"". New Statesman. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  8. Scalice, Joseph (2021). ""We are Siding with Filipino Capitalists": Nationalism and the Political Maturation of Jose Ma. Sison, 1959–61". Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia. 36 (1): 1–39. ISSN 0217-9520.
  9. "'Communism is an active and diverse collective subjectivity': An Interview with Etienne Balibar". Versobooks.com. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  10. Dean, Jodi (July 2018). The Communist Horizon. Verso Books. ISBN 978-1-78663-552-5.
  11. Otto, Mark (2022-06-02). "Newsletter #31: Prison Abolition and Communism, with Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Alberto Toscano, and Brenna Bhandar". The Dig. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  12. "Change the World Without Taking Power". Pluto Press. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  13. "Critique of Maoist Reason - J. Moufawad-Paul". Foreign Languages Press (in French). Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  14. 135 - The Return of War Communism ft. Slavoj Žižek & Paul O'Connell, retrieved 2023-03-31
  15. Martínez, Josefina L. (2022-07-17). "Feminism and Communism: A Debate with Silvia Federici". Left Voice. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  16. "Richard Seymour, Author at Salvage". Salvage. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  17. "Podcasts". website. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  18. "Mark Fisher | Acid Communism (Unfinished Introduction)". BLACKOUT ((poetry & politics)). 2019-04-25. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  19. Miéville, China. "A Spectre, Haunting". haymarketbooks.org. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  20. Vijay Prashad | The Necessity of Communism, retrieved 2023-03-31
  21. Goodfellow, Maya (2023-02-28). "A greener Marx? Kohei Saito on connecting communism with the climate crisis". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  22. "Communism and Strategy". Verso. Retrieved 2023-04-04.
  23. "Nicholas Thoburn". Research Explorer The University of Manchester. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  24. "Azfar Shafi". Pluto Press. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  25. "Alberto Toscano: Solidarity and Political Work | Historical Materialism". www.historicalmaterialism.org. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  26. Eagleton, Terry (2011). Why Marx was right. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-16943-0. OCLC 668403779.
  27. Brincat, Shannon (2014). "Introduction - Communism in the 21st Century: Vision and Sublation". In Brincat, Shannon (ed.). Communism in the 21st Century. Vol. 1. Praeger. pp. xxvii–xxviii. ISBN 978-1-4408-0126-6.
  28. Cosmonaut (2023-02-17). "For a 21st Century Marxism". Cosmonaut. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
  29. Campbell, Duncan (12 March 2009). "Move over Jacko, Idea of Communism is hottest ticket in town this weekend". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  30. "About". Ebb. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
  31. "I met today's communists... and I wasn't convinced". British GQ. 2019-09-05. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  32. Lowrey, Annie (2020-04-13). "Millennials Don't Stand a Chance". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  33. "More than a third of millennials approve of communism, YouGov poll indicates". The Independent. 2019-11-07. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  34. "The Rise and Fall of Bernie Sanders". tribunemag.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  35. "The Astonishing Rise of Jeremy Corbyn". The New Yorker. 2016-05-16. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  36. Sang-Hun, Choe (2020-02-13). "Bong Joon Ho's Path From Seoul to Oscar Dominance". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  37. Kornhaber, Spencer (2016-03-11). "What Kendrick Lamar Has to Say About Capitalism". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  38. "The Radical Politics of 'Disco Elysium' Make For a Potentially Complicated Legacy". www.vice.com. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  39. Maxwell, Dominic. "From Hannah Gadsby to Sacha Baron Cohen: the 30 best living comedians". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  40. Burrows, Marc (2023-03-30). "Frankie Boyle's "shock" comedy was vile – no wonder he's given himself a makeover". New Statesman. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  41. "L.A. rapper JPEGMAFIA lashes out at the right and the 'fake-woke' left. Just don't call it 'trolling'". Los Angeles Times. 2018-06-29. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  42. Lee, Alexander Mitchell. "Meet BreadTube, the YouTube activists trying to beat the far-right at their own game". The Conversation. Retrieved 2023-04-04.
  43. Žižek, S. (December 2010). "Introduction". In Douzinas, C.; Žižek, S. (eds.). The idea of communism. London: Verso Books. pp. vii–x. ISBN 978-1-84467-459-6.
  44. Casey, Gerard (2016). "The End of Socialism (Review)". The Review of Austrian Economics. 29 (3). ISSN 0889-3047.
  45. Jeffries, Stuart (4 July 2012). "Why Marxism Is on the Rise Again". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  46. Lamola, M. John (2013). "Marxism as a Science of Interpretation: Beyond Louis Althusser". South African Journal of Philosophy. 32 (2): 187–196. doi:10.1080/02580136.2013.817635. ISSN 0258-0136. S2CID 144299487.
  47. "The Communist Horizon". Verso. Retrieved 2023-04-04.
  48. "The Communist Necessity 2nd Ed". Leftwingbooks. Retrieved 2023-04-04.
  49. Merchant, Brian (2015-03-18). "Fully automated luxury communism". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  50. Saito, Kohei (2023). Marx in the Anthropocene: Towards the Idea of Degrowth Communism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-84415-4.
  51. "Communism and Strategy". Verso. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  52. Self, Andrew. "Mexico's masked Marxists: meet the Zapatistas". The Conversation. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  53. "Interview with Abdullah Öcalan". The Anarchist Library. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  54. "Hammer and Hoe | Robin D. G. Kelley". University of North Carolina Press. Retrieved 2023-03-31.

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