From Marx to Morales: Indigenous socialism and the Latin Americanisation of Marxism

John Riddell describes the development of Communist theory From Marx to Morales: Indigenous socialism and the Latin Americanisation of Marxism.

Riddell contends that the retardation of Capitalist development in Latin America means that the peasants (along with the indigenous population) form the backbone of the revolutions there. This is akin to the Bolshevik revolution of 1917.

The development of agricultural cooperatives leads to a degree of Communist consciousness, but it is still limited by being local to the land. The difficulty lies with jumping from organising a farm on a cooperative basis to that of a society.

This difficulty is based around the awareness of dependence upon others. Farmers can produce all that they need. They can be self-sufficient.

On the other hand, workers in a manufacturing plant are keenly aware that they usually cannot eat what they produce. They need to depend on others for their raw materials and sustenance.

Unfortunately, I should say that industrial workers should be aware. Since Capitalism in Western countries has worked flawlessly for the past 60 years, workers are lulled into believing that there will always be food in the supermarket as long as they have money.

When a crisis strikes, it is too late then to work how interdependent we all are in an advanced industrial society.

Marx was right to say that only the Poletariat can lead a Communist revolution because they are the only ones who are capable of appreciating the need for social cooperation for survival and who do the actual work.

The question remains of how to awaken this awareness? Even now as the economic crisis looms, we are still blissfully ignorant.