Marx, Neo-Gramscianism and Globalization

Abstract

The neo-Gramscian critique, as presented by Bieler and Morton, of the ‘Open Marxist’ approach amounts fundamentally to the claim that class struggle has moved from a ‘national’ to an ‘international/transnational’ plane. In the following chapter they claim, ‘new, transnational social forces have emerged and class struggle is now taking place not only between capital and labour at a national level, but potentially also between national capital and labour and transnational capital and labour. It is this transnational form of class struggle which Open Marxists do not take into account’ (this volume, 197). On this basis, Bieler and Morton suggest that the Open Marxist (or CSE) tradition is ahistorical, viewing class struggle in an outmoded fashion as a national phenomenon. In short, Open Marxism is criticized as ‘unthinking mate-rialism’, shorn of any historical dimension. Neo-Gramscianism, it is claimed, by contrast is properly transnational and Bieler and Morton seek to demonstrate this primarily through a comparative analysis of trade union activity. Bieler and Morton clearly intend to remain within a framework of analysis informed more by Marx than Weber. However, their ‘critique’ sidesteps many of the complex methodological debates which have characterized Marxist analysis and in particular they show scant familiarity with the intricacies of the ‘open’ tradition itself.