Marxism and Classes

"The history of all hitherto societies is the history of class struggles." The phrase "until today" in this famous sentence of the Communist Manifesto written by Marx and Engels may have been interpreted by some to mean until the period they describe as the "postmodern age", especially since the 1990s, that is, the rise of capitalism in the Soviet Union, China and Eastern Europe. After the phase in which the restoration accelerated, it became a common view on the left that class politics was replaced by "identity politics".

But on the other hand, in the same period, the bourgeoisie was making perhaps the longest attack in the history of capitalism against the working class under the name of neoliberalism. The strangeness of the situation was striking: The bourgeoisie was attacking the working class, that is, it was waging a class struggle. Intellectuals (left intellectuals!), on the other hand, turned to the working class and suggested that class struggle was unimportant or outdated. The authors whose articles are published in this book are people who have long distanced themselves from this trend that is widespread on the left. Researchers who have given a central place to the category of class in their studies for many years have taken as their compass to understand the development of society, both around the world and in Turkey, on the basis of class struggles. Here they bring together their writings on these topics.

The topics of the articles span a wide range. The theoretical status of classes in Marxism, whether classes have disappeared today, unions that play a central role in class struggles, the structure of classes in Turkey, class struggles from the peasantry to Gezi are some of these. The thread that connects all these articles is that they share a common understanding about the injustice and alienation experienced in class societies, and that they believe that creating a classless society by ending class domination in Turkey and the world is a supreme goal.
(From the Promotional Bulletin)



Number of Pages: 400

Year of Printing: 2015


Language: Turkish
Publisher: Yordam Kitap

First Print Year: 2014

Language Turkish