Marxism and the Question of the Asiatic Mode of Production

Wherever possible in this monograph I have referred to English trans­ lations of works originally appearing in other languages. Where this has not been possible, for example with Russian material, I have followed the Library of Congress system of transliteration, but omitted the diacritics. I have also retained the conventional use of 'y' for the ending of certain Russian proper names (e.g., Trotsky not Trotskii). In accordance with the policy of using existing English translations, I have referred to the Martin Nicolaus translation of Marx's Grundrisse, which is relatively faithful to the text. (The Grundrisse, although the Dead Sea Scroll of Marxism, bear all the characteristics of a rough draft, characteristics which are preserved in the Nicolaus translation.) The term 'Marxian' has been employed in the conventional way in this book, to distinguish the views of Marx and Engels from those of their 'Marxist' followers. In preparing this work I have received bibliographical assistancefrom Professor Israel Getzler, now of the Hebrew University, and critical assistance from Mr Bruce McFarlane of the University of Adelaide and especially from Professor Eugene Kamenka of the Aus­ tralian National University. Professor Jean Chesneaux of the Sorbonne, as one of the leading participants in the more recent debates discussed here, provided me with some further insight into the issues, and Pro­ fessor K.A. Wittfogel of Columbia also supplied some valuable in­ formation.

I. The Prehistory of the Marxian Concept of the Asiatic Mode of Production.- The Legacy of Aristotle.- Travellers' Tales.- Oriental Despotism and French Politics, the First Phase: A Negative Model for Europe.- Oriental Despotism and French Politics, the Second Phase: A Positive Model for Europe.- Empires Belonging to Space and not to Time.- The Contribution of Political Economy: The Relation of Private Property to Progress.- II. The Marxian Concept of the Asiatic Mode of Production.- Marx's Perception of the Non-Western World.- Alternative Interpretations: The Question of the Continuity or Discontinuity of Marx's Model of Asiatic Society.- Marx's Analysis of Asiatic Society in the General Perspective of his Social Theory.- The City in East and West.- The Ancient East.- The Asiatic Village System: Passport to the Future?.- The Contribution of Engels to the Marxian Analysis of the Non-Western World.- 'Asiatic Feudalism'.- The Asiatic Mode of Production and Sino-Soviet Relations.- The Impact of the Sino-Soviet Rift.- III. The Asiatic Mode of Production in Relation to the Place of Geographical Factors in Historical Materialism.- Marx on the Role of Geographical Factors in Historical Development.- Engels' Account of Laws of Nature.- The 'Geographical Deviation': Plekhanov.- The 'Geographical Deviation': Wittfogel.- Historical Materialism Versus Geographical Determinism: Stalin and Beyond.- The Revolt of the Soviet Geographers against Stalin 129.- The Reassessment of the Place of Geographical Factors in Historical Materialism.- A Note on the Population Factor.- IV. Marxist Perspectives on Russian History: The Practical Application of the Concept of the Asiatic Mode of Production.- Marx's Conception of the Character of the Russian State: Russia Contrasted with Europe.- Marx and the Service-State Theory of Russian History: A Parallel Theory of the Non-European Character of Russian History.- Russian History in European Dress: The Orthodox Marxist Approach.- Plekhanov on Russian History: The Alternative Marxist Approach.- Modernisation in a Non-Western Milieu: Trotsky on Russia's Past and Present.- V. The Asiatic Mode of Production in Relation to the Marxist Analysis of Progress and Modernisation.- The Unilinear Schema of Social Development.- The Hegelianised Version of the Unilinear Schema.- Chronological and Logical Problems Associated with the Progressive Ranking of Socio-Economic Formations.- The Multilinear Schema of History as Found in Marx.- Variations of the Multilinear Schema as Applied to Pre-Capitalist Societies.- The Dynamics of Modernisation in the Non-Western World: Towards a New Marxist Historiography.- VI. Epilogue.- Select Bibliography.- Works by Marx and Engels.- Other Works Consulted.