In the first part, we deal with K. Murali’s concept of bureaucrat capitalism and bureaucratic bourgeoisie. In the process, we discuss the general yardsticks to determine the character of a capitalist class and therefore discuss the concepts of comprador-bureaucratic bourgeoisie, national bourgeoisie, imperialist bourgeoisie and ‘junior partner’ or what Mao termed as ‘reactionary national bourgeoisie’ in the light of writings of Mao Tse-tung and other comrades from the Chinese Communist Party. We also discuss Murali’s reading of the history of Indian capitalism and Indian bourgeoisie in the light of some authoritative historical works. In the second part, we will deal with Murali’s concept of semi-feudal relations in agriculture, in general, including the questions of feudal ground-rent, absolute and differential capitalist ground-rent, lease-price, forms of tenancy and the role of usury.
Lenin
Fragmentary Critical Notes Towards a Preliminary Investigation of Althusser’s Concept of Ideology
For Lenin, ideologies have a class character depending upon the real class interests of the classes engaged in political and economic struggle. The proletarian ideology is a scientific ideology because the interests of the proletariat lies with revealing the reality, obliterating the fetishistic character of the social relations in the bourgeois society and exposing petty secret of capitalist exploitation. Its interests coincide with truth, equality and justice. On the other hand, the bourgeois ideology stems from the interests of bourgeoisie in struggle with the proletariat to maintain its domination and exploitative system. Therefore, bourgeois ideology has a fetishistic character, even if individual members of the bourgeoisie are as unaware of this fetishistic character as individual members of the working class who have not internalized the dialectical materialist world-view and methodology and the science of historical materialism. Therefore, for Lenin, ideologies could be proletarian or bourgeois.
Maruti Workers’ Struggle and the “Far Left” fallacy of the “New Philosophers” of India
In the recent years, we have witnessed a spurt in working class militancy in India. The relentless informalization carried out by the Indian bourgeoisie since the late-1980s and especially after the introduction of the New Economic Policies by the Narsimha Rao government in 1991 has pushed the working class of India to the brink of … Continue reading Maruti Workers’ Struggle and the “Far Left” fallacy of the “New Philosophers” of India
Red Polemique 