José Carlos Mariátegui Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

José Carlos Mariátegui (1894–1930) was a Peruvian activist, political theorist, and writer. He was born in Moquegua in 1894. His father abandoned his family, creating economic difficulties that were further exacerbated by a serious injury to Mariátegui’s left leg that left him in poor health for much of his life. Mariátegui entered the newspaper trade as an errand boy, ultimately taking on the position of a writer. In 1916 he began working for a leftist newspaper, El Tiempo, before establishing his own newspaper, La Razón, two years later. La Razón published many articles on university reform and defended the young labor movement in Peru. This drew the attention of Peruvian officials, who invited Mariátegui to cease publication of his paper in favor of travel abroad.

Mariátegui traveled throughout Europe and settled in Italy for two years, long enough to gain exposure to Italian trade union activism and experience the dangers of nascent fascism first hand. He returned to Peru in 1923, committed to political action, and began forming connections with populist movements. In 1924 Mariátegui nearly died from a tumor in his left leg. The leg was amputated, and for the rest of his life he relied upon others to carry him and provide for his physical mobility. This episode seemed only to catalyze his intellectual energies, however, as he founded a new journal, Amautu, in 1926 to advance discussions of socialism and culture in Latin America. Two years later he founded what would become the Communist Party of Peru.

In 1928 Mariátegui published Seven Interpretive Essays in Peruvian Reality, which is his best-known theoretical work. In it he synthesizes his political experiences and observations into powerfully written and widely accessible essays.The work includes a lucid analysis of the particular economic legacies of different stages of colonialism in Peru. Mariátegui argues that indigenous practices had been a form of socialism that had largely been replaced by Spanish colonizers, who imported the structures of feudalism. While pockets of the old communal economies remained, Peru had “developed” into a feudal economy in the modern era, and further economic development would only exacerbate inequality, unless all feudal remnants were eradicated.

Mariátegui also examined the impact of Spanish colonial attitudes as they persisted in the universities. In Seven Interpretive Essays, he also argues that the universities guarded prestige and encouraged the study of rarified knowledge, with no concern for pragmatic education or progress of any kind. He states that the attempt to reform the universities in 1921 had failed because the colonial economy was still intact, claiming, “The problem of education cannot be understood in our time if it is not considered as an economic and social problem. The mistake of many reformers has been their abstract and idealistic methods and their exclusively pedagogical approach.”

This discussion of education exemplifies Mariátegui’s unique practice of Marxism: He combined materialist principles with the specifics of Peruvian colonial and cultural history and rejected abstract programs in favor of localized analysis. His work provides guidance and a methodology for political activists interested in land reform, indigenous peoples, and education. Mariátegui died in 1930 of complications from his earlier illnesses.

Bibliography:

Angotti,Thomas. “The Contribution of José Carlos Mariátegui to Revolutionary Theory.” Latin American Perspectives 13, no. 2 (1986): 33–57.
Becker, Marc. Mariátegui and Latin American Marxist Theory. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1993.
Chavarria, Jesus. José Carlos Mariátegui and the Rise of Modern Peru, 1890–1930. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1979.
Mariátegui, José Carlos. “The Anti-Imperialist Perspective. ”Translated by Mike Gonzalez. New Left Review 70 (1971): 68–72.
Seven Interpretive Essays on Peruvian Reality. Translated by Marjory Urquidi. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1971.

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