This thesis attempts to contextualize the emergence and development of South African Marxist studies in terms of political and economic changes in South Africa, the influence of overseas Marxist and related theories and internal and external historiographical developments. The early Marxist approach was constituted by the climate of political repression and economic growth in South Africa during the 1960's, by its antagonism to the dominant liberal analyses of the country, and by the presence of indigenous Marxist theories of liberation. The unstable theoretical foundations of this approach prompted a critique and reassessment, which led to the coalescence of a stable Marxist paradigm and the start of the second phase of Marxist studies. The debate on the nature of the state that characterized this second phase was informed by the rival Marxist political theories of Nicos Poulantzas and the West German Staatsableitung school, and proved to be largely inconclusive. However, under circumstances of a resurgence of resistance and economic decline in South Africa, the late-1970's debate focussed attention squarely upon the revolutionary potential of the black working class. The heightening of struggle and a growing awareness of crisis formed the basis for the 1980's shift away from the reductionism and instrumentalism of the earlier literature. Continuing research on the state highlighted issues of strategy, the spaces for struggle opened up by the restructuring of the state and capital, and the degree of state autonomy. The political and economic gains made by the oppressed also combined with the influence of elements of British Marxist historiography and a reaction to the 'structuralism' of the 1970's to produce Marxist social history, emphasizing subjective human agency and 'history from below'. The social historical perspective dominates Marxist studies in the 1980's, and has influenced both the tradition of Marxist Africanism, focussing on pre-colonial African social formations, and the related approach to agrarian history. It is argued in the . conclusion that recent calls for a synthesis of structuralist Marxism and social history within South African Marxist studies take for granted the dualist appearance of Marxism and fails to reflect upon Marxism's essentially monistic presupposition. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1988.

This thesis utilises the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze alongside theory from the field of 'utopian studies' in order to think through how the concepts of utopia and utopianism might be relevant in an age that seems to have given up on the future. It develops – and argues in favour of - a 'nomadic utopianism', which proceeds through non-hierarchical organisation, maximises what Deleuze calls 'difference-in-itself and creates new forms of living as it proceeds. From this, nomadic utopias are produced, meaning that the relationship between utopianism and utopia IS inverted, such that the former is ontologically prior to the latter. I show how such an approach maintains an etymological fidelity to the concept of utopia as 'the good place that is no place'. I also develop the concept of 'state utopianism', in which a utopian vision functions as a 'perfect', transcendent lack orienting political organisation to its realisation and reproduction. I argue that this is a dystopian politics, and consequently that the state utopia is a dystopia. Contrary to received wisdom - which sees today's 'capitalist realism' as anti-utopian – I argues that the contemporary world can be seen as a state utopia in which 'there is no alternative'. This makes utopia a central force in contemporary ideology. These two forms should not be seen simply as opposites, however, and this thesis also shows how nomadic utopias can ossify into state utopias through the emergence of tyrannies of habit. These theoretical concepts are then applied to works of utopian and dystopian literature (Yevgeny Zamyatin's We, Albert Meister's The so-called utopia of the centre beaubourg and Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed); and the practices of 'musicking' (with a focus on the symphony orchestra and collective improvisation) and education. It is hoped that this will offer a new way of theorising utopia and utopianism, as well as generating a productive political approach from the thought of Gilles Deleuze, and contributing to debates on the political function of musical and educational practice.

The central question which will be considered in this thesis is how Mao Zedong formulated a concept of imperialism and resistance to it, to enable and continue the socialist revolution in China. The specific focus in this thesis is an explanation of how Mao understood imperialism in order to use it and to turn it into anti-imperialism, the origins of his ideas, his theoretical development of it and his application of this idea in practice. At the same time, it will be examined how other aspects of Mao's thinking were linked to this central, strategic concept. The thesis begins by examining Mao's connection and indebtedness to Marx and Lenin: this has not yet been done with regard to his use of the concept of 'imperialism'. This thesis, besides being a contribution to the history of Marxism therefore, aims to fill a gap in research on Mao. It will help to establish how Mao used the concepts of imperialism and anti-imperialism. In addition, my research is part of the discussion as to what degree Marxism has been revised in the process. The argument essentially will be that Mao, basing himself on Marx and Lenin, used their concepts to adapt Marxism-Leninism in a novel manner in Chinese circumstances, first to win the revolution, and then to construct what he regarded as socialism. Thus the thesis will do two things: a) it will clarify Mao's relationship to Marx and Lenin: Why did Mao's Marxism-Leninism take the form it did. Did Mao stand on Lenin's shoulders.; and b) it will contribute to understanding why the Chinese Communist Party won the revolution.

No description available.

No description available.

This thesis examines, classifies and evaluates the tactics and organisational methods of British and Irish anarchist groups, which operated in the period 1984-1999 (although reference is made to groupings and events outside of this period). The thesis explains how class struggle anarchism, which was a minority trend even within the libertarian milieu, has developed into a significant and lively (anti-)political movement. This thesis examines recent groups through their own publications and their accounts of their recent actions. Previous studies have attempted to assess anarchist methods through either liberal or traditional Marxist categories. This thesis develops a mode of assessment that is consistent with the methods of evaluation used by anarchists themselves. This prefigurative ethic is used to build up an ideal-type of anarchism that is consistent with the main characteristics of libertarian theory. Anarchist prefiguration - which demands that the means must be synecdochic in relation to the ends - requires that the oppressed become the agents who bring about change. Oppression is irreducible to capitalism alone, but in most contexts, economic oppression will be a significant force in the creation of the oppressed agent's identity. Anarchists' preference for 'direct action' captures their commitment to the means being in accordance with the ends, and the primacy of the oppressed in resisting their oppression. The anarchist ideal is used as a standard to assess the operations of existing anarchist groups. Consistent with prefiguration, anarchist organisation and tactics have to be multiform and flexible, without strategic priority being given to any single organisation or structure. Anarchist tactics must also involve a variety of oppressed subjects, while undermining hierarchies of power. It will be shown that certain organisational methods associated with anarchism; such as old style syndicalism is incompatible with the prefigurative ethic. Similarly certain organisational structures, often dismissed as inconsistent with anarchist principles, such as temporary small groups carrying out selective propaganda by deed, can, under certain conditions, be consistent with anarchism. The growth of class struggle anarchism is shown to be a result of its prefigurative and multiform organisation and its corresponding diversity of tactics.

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Toronto, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-86).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Wollongong, 2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: leaf 235-262.