Selected Works

by José Carlos Mariátegui, Christian Noakes (Editor)

José Carlos Mariátegui was born in Moquegua, Peru, to a poor mestizo family on July 14, 1894. Considered by many to be the father of Latin American Communism, he is celebrated for being the first person to utilize Marxist methods of analysis in order to better understand concrete reality in Peru and for carving a path to revolution based off of these particular historical conditions. As such, he was one of the first Latin American socialists to acknowledge the revolutionary potential of the peasantry and Indigenous peoples. Rather than take a paternalistic or humanitarian position, Mariátegui believed that these overlapping groups needed to be the architects of their own liberation and to do so using their own cultural knowledge, experience, and language.

Genres: Nonfiction

154 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2021

About the author

José Carlos Mariátegui La Chira was a Peruvian journalist, political philosopher, and activist. A prolific writer before his early death at age 35, he is considered one of the most influential Latin American socialists of the 20th century. Mariátegui's most famous work, Seven Interpretive Essays on Peruvian Reality (1928), is still widely read in South America. An avowed, self-taught Marxist, he insisted that a socialist revolution should evolve organically in Latin America on the basis of local conditions and practices, not the result of mechanically applying a European formula.

Reviews

[Zach Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m so happy that Iskra put this collection together. Mariategui is one of the most important communist scholars and writers from Latin America, and his analyses of class, race, imperialism, and the colonies come through with remarkable clarity today just as they did 100 years ago. I particularly enjoyed this from the last chapter, “Pessimism of Reality, Optimism of the Ideal”:

“Those of us who are not content with mediocrity, those who are less satisfied with injustice, are often designated as pessimistic. But, in truth, pessimism dominates our spirit much less than optimism. We do not believe that the world should be fatally and eternally as it is. The optimism we reject is the easy and lazy Pan-glossian optimism of those who think we live in the best of all possible worlds.”

[Tadici · Rating 4 out of 5]

This not only works as a introduction to Mariátegui (and Peru to a certain extent) but also as a introductory book into Marxist theory in general. Here we have a Latin American theoretician in the early 20th century applying the dialectical materialist method to analyse the world crisis of his time, anti-imperialism, nationalism, race, indigeneity in Peru, and education among other things.

I can fully recommend this collection of his works to anybody in the left spectrum regardless of how much theory or history they have read. Fortunately, a pdf of this book is available for free on the website of the publisher.

[astrid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty classic Marxist writing in many ways, so many of my critiques/hesitations/frustrations with that hold true, but also possessing a number of more unique and specific insights to Latin America and the Peruvian Gamonalismo/Latifundia system of land ownership. Thus, I think Mariátegui outdoes key Western contemporaries on points of colonialism, racism, and indigineity, and should be read more by present Marxists to understand these aspects of the anti-capitalist struggle (which, while perhaps outdated (IMO like many crucial aspects of Marxist theory if we do not seek to build on and advance beyond initial framings and articulations of it), are essential for tapping into local communities, the grassroots, and cultural understandings outside of Europe). Many of the political takeaways and recommendations are still pretty commendable, and no doubt Mariátegui is a compelling and useful thinker, especially within the context of this specific struggle. Highlights for me were his essays on 'The Problem of Race in Latin America' (although I did not necessarily agree with all of it), 'Nationalism and Vanguardism' (a more positive/ambivalent approach to nationalism... reminded me of Benedict Anderson), and 'Pessimism of Reality, Optimism of the Ideal' (Gramscian 'pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will'?). I also particularly liked this line in 'Nationalism and Vanguardism, amidst others - "while Peruvian literature retained a conservative and academic character, it could not be truly and profoundly Peruvian." I'm sure at least one of the people reading this review will understand what I mean by that... Bolívar Echeverría and the baroque... speaking of, feeling very tempted to spiral further and read some Echeverría after this. But maybe I should instead veer away from Marxism for now, which altogether doesn't really 'do it' for me like it used to. I digress - despite my skepticism, I am grateful to Noakes for translating and making more Latin American socialism available to the Anglophone world. I wonder what is lost in the translating process and imagine it is definitely something, but hopefully not too much.

[mar · Rating 5 out of 5]

written a century ago and his works are still significant in understanding how to organize for a better world—although some historical elements are no longer accurate how they were then, the essence is still relevant in sharpening one’s analysis of Latin America & how grass-roots orgs today can agitate and organize in the latine community. personal highlights: connecting indigenous struggle to land; defining different forms of nationalism; the role of tradition; and the pessimism/optimism chapter

[Justin Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ideas are what they are (i.e., better than most orthodox Marxists, but still unfortunately dogmatic in many respects). The man is fascinating. The edition is very well put together.