In the Tracks of Political Marxism: Eurocentrism, Imperialism, and Capitalist Development

Abstract This paper offers an intellectual history of the reception of Robert Brenner and Ellen Meiksins Wood’s work in relation to the concepts of Eurocentrism, imperialism and capitalist development. We trace Political Marxism’s reputation for disregarding the importance of colonialism to the history of capitalism back to the debates of the 1970s on capitalist development, underdevelopment and imperialism. We unpack the political subtext of these debates and examine how Brenner’s intervention against Dependency Theory and World Systems Analysis shaped subsequent interpretations of class-structural accounts of the origins of capitalist development. The paper then evaluates the resurgence of similar criticisms in the reception of Wood’s intervention in the mode-of-production debate, regarding the centrality of colonialism and extra-economic coercion to capitalist society. We develop an interpretation of Brenner and Wood’s theories that highlights the positive contributions of Political Marxism while assuaging the concerns of its critics.