[Marxism] A. G. Frank

["George Snedeker" <snedeker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I want to begin by stating my general agreement with the importance of Frank's  
work on the Development of Underdevelopment thesis in Latin America which put 
eurocentric Marxist theory into question and offered a new way of 
conceptionalizing imperialism, even though many today have come to reject this 
theses as wrong headed. I for one am not convinced that it is wrong. it led 
other Marxists to rethink the underdevelopment of Africa and the uneven 
development of the U. S. economy and society. authors like Walter Rodney and 
Manning Marable come to mind in this context. the work Frank did jointly with 
Immanuel Wallerstein and Samir Amin in World Systems Theory has also been very 
important to the history of left analysis and struggle. 

Frank's later work offered an even more radical critique of many of the central 
Marxist assumptions that many on this list still cling to like the Capitalist 
Mode of Production. this has caused us all to rethink, redefine and defend our 
Marxist analyses of  capitalism as a world system. I for one cling to the 
usefulness of the CMP. it seems to me that Frank's argument that capitalism is 
five thousand years old makes the very theoretical concept of capitalism 
useless as a way of furthering our understanding of the contemporary world.  I 
will let people on this list who have had the time and patience to read Frank's 
later work more carefully than I have comment on this work. it does seem to me 
that one way of honoring Frank's life and work is to continue to carry on a 
reasoned debate with his central ideas. he is no longer with us but his work 
and commitment to struggle lives on. we will all miss his courage and 
willingness to challenge given assumptions about Marxist analysis and politics 
in the spirit of comradeship. 

George Snedeker


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