Rethinking Marxism: Valences of Hope in Otherworldly Times

Abstract

In this essay the new editorial team introduce themselves, acknowledge the theoretical lineages and problematics that the journal has and will continue to explore, and highlight some of the themes that we expect to explore in the coming volumes. The essay provides both an account of the trajectories of capitalism through the last three decades (neoliberal and neocon counterrevolutions; the insurrection of the multitude, or the global crowd in the aftermath of the 2008 crash; and the return of the counterrevolution in the form of reactionary populisms) and an exploration of the political imaginaries of social movements that work against the grain of the processes of capitalist appropriation and dispossession.

Key Words:

• Rethinking Marxism
• Capitalism
• Crisis
• Populism
• Subjectivity
• Anthropocene
• Alternative Social Imaginaries

Notes

1 See http://www.rethinkingmarxism.org/discussion-papers-1/index.html.

2 See David Harvey’s (2003) The New Imperialism and also Lorenzo Veracini in this issue.

3 See the special issue on “Marxism and Nationalism” in vol. 24, no. 1 for various efforts in this direction.