The Ambivalence of Gewalt in Marx and Engels: On Balibar's Interpretation

Historical Materialism 17 (2):215-236 (2009)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This article is a reflection on Balibar's account of the concept of Gewalt in Marx, Engels and Marxism. The German term contains both the meanings of power and violence. At the centre of the analysis is the structural link between the notion of Gewalt and the capitalist mode of production and state-form. The problem is whether Gewalt can be understood in relation to the actions of the working class. Balibar rightly refuses any sort of counter-politics of power set against the power of the state which would retain the same overall logic as the latter. However, the question is how such a critique of the ahistorical ontology of violence can interact with Marx's idea of capital as a constitutively violent entity which threatens to subordinate to itself any stance of non-violence.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,593

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Marx and Engels on the Scottish Highlands.Neil Davidson - 2001 - Science and Society 65 (3):286 - 326.

Analytics

Added to PP
2010-09-14

Downloads
36 (#385,000)

6 months
4 (#319,344)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

Add more citations

References found in this work

Exchange.[author unknown] - 2008 - Ethics, Place and Environment 11 (1):49-90.
La mésentente.Jacques Rancière - 2000 - Cités 1:260-262.
From class struggle to struggle without classes?Étienne Balibar - 1991 - Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal 14 (1):7-21.

View all 7 references / Add more references