Marx’s Late Writings: Theories of revolutionary change and of alternatives to capitalism. A talk with Kevin Anderson, in conversation with Aditya Bahl and Emeer Hassanpour | Program in Experimental Critical Theory
February 20 @ 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
The Program in Experimental Critical Theory presents
Marx’s Late Writings: Theories of revolutionary change and of alternatives to capitalism
A Talk with Kevin Anderson, in Conversation with Aditya Bahl and Emeer Hassanpour
Friday, February 20, 2026
3:00-4:30pm
Kaplan Hall Room #348
In Person
Advanced Registration
Advanced registration is required by Wednesday, February 18, 2026.
This talk is co-sponsored by the Department of Comparative Literature and the Department of Political Science.
About the Talk
In his last years (1869-83), Marx sketches three types of revolutionary change. (1) In 1869-70, he speculates that a British workers uprising might be sparked by the peasant-based Fenian nationalist movement in Ireland. These writings build upon his 1860s work on race, class, and revolution during the US Civil War. (2) In the 1870s, Marx clarifies and deepens his concept of communism, as in the Civil War in France (1871), where he sketches non-statist forms of free and associated labor that go far beyond the more statist notions put forward in the Communist Manifesto. (3) In his 1877-82 writings on Russia, Marx suggests that the directionality of revolution was moving from Eastern to Western Europe. The struggle of Russia’s communal villages could lead to a form of modern communism. He made similar links to struggles in Algeria, India, and Latin America, sometimes with gender as an important element.
Readings to be discussed are listed below and are available on the ECT site:
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- Kevin Anderson, “Marx on Communal Villages as Loci of Revolution” from New Politics 79, vol. XX, no 3 (summer 2025)
About the Speakers
Kevin B. Anderson (PhD Sociology, City University of New York Graduate Center, 1983) is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology at University of California, Santa Barbara, with courtesy appointments in Feminist Studies and Political Science. His main areas of specialization include Marxism, Critical Theory, and History of Social Thought. He is the author of several books, including Lenin, Hegel, and Western Marxism (1995); Foucault and the Iranian Revolution (with Janet Afary, 2005); Marx at the Margins (2010); and The Late Marx’s Revolutionary Roads (2025). He is also an editor of the forthcoming English edition of the late Marx’s notebooks on non-Western and precapitalist societies.
Aditya Bahl is Assistant Professor in English at UCLA. His writings on culture and politics have appeared in The Nation, New Left Review, and London Review of Books.
Emeer Hassanpour is a Ph.D. student in Comparative Literature at UCLA. His research examines anger and violence in the Global South, with a focus on the Mesopotamian region.