Marxism and Modern India
Dipesh Chakrabarty looks at the dialogue between nationalism and the inspiration of Marx in the formation of the world's largest democracy.
Though born in Europe and a product, as Lenin said, of 'German philosophy, British political economy and French socialism,' Marxism, by a peculiar twist of history, found a 'natural' home in much of what historians wrote in India after the country achieved its independence. This is particularly true of the last twenty-five years which have seen a generation of historians make their mark in diverse areas of Indian history by producing a variety of Marxist interpretations of Indian pasts. I will concentrate here on Indian historians who have worked on the colonial and modern period from a recognisably Marxist point of view. This cannot, however, be a roll-call of these historians, nor a journey through the Benares-like lanes and by-lanes of Indian historiography. What I shall attempt instead is to outline the historical context within which the particular Indian uses of Marxism evolved, briefly rehearse the arguments within 'Indian' Marxist historiography, and speculate on their future.
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