Myth: Marxism is Eurocentric

In this episode, we examine the myth that marxism is Eurocentric. Recently, Marxism has seen a resurgence of interest and criticisms across the political spectrum. We want to understand how most Marxists in the world are not white and not men yet some still view Marxism as Eurocentric.

We are not interested in mounting a defense for a "dead white man" or converting you to be a cult follower of him. Our inquiry into whether Marxism is Eurocentric is not reducible to an intellectual question. Why did some of the most colonized nations throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America such as China, Vietnam (where they defeated both the French and the United States), Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde, Burkina Faso, Angola, Mozambique, Cuba and use some version of Marxism as a tool to help guide them towards freedom from their colonial masters if it's so Eurocentric?

So for this episode, we explore the thought of Marxism beginning with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel, we unpack the origins of the term Eurocentrism and look at Black/Afrikan contributions to the discipline that stretched and advanced Marxism to the applicability of oppressed and colonized people.

00:00:51 - Intro

00:03:10 - Initial reactions

00:09:49 - Monologue

00:14:02 - Kwame Toure

00:00:51 - Eurocentric claims

00:18:42 - What is Eurocentrism?

00:27:03 - Eurocentric claims

00:39:24 - Who was Karl Marx?

00:45:06 - 3 primary of components of Marx: Materialist Philosophy

01:19:34 - Critique of Political Economy 

01:45:39 - Marxist politics

01:51:45 - Lenin, the Colonial Question, and African Contributions

02:01:04 - Last thoughts

 

Sources

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QXoA8Tbw6GoYxC9qNWIMCcT6EtjKGOJ8