Marxism, Theory, Conjuncture: Notes on a Possible Contemporary Gramsci–Althusser Dialogue

This article offers various hypotheses regarding the conditions necessary for the reconstruction of a Marxist theory capable of meeting contemporary dilemmas. The central hypothesis posits two beliefs: first, the deep crisis of contemporary capitalism (and perhaps of civilisation) can only be critically addressed by rehabilitating strong theories based on a perspective of totality (this category’s fall from grace, as well as how to rework and revive it, are in part the focus of this text); secondly, while the current crisis might be outwardly novel, the heterogeneous body of texts making up what is called Marxism is already capable of furnishing tools to address the crisis. The starting point is the characterisation of the present conjuncture as anti-theoretical. By this is meant an excessive interest in how reality describes itself and an equally excessive disinterest in the use of strong concepts to think through that reality. Based on this hypothesis, the possibility explored is that a certain interpretation of Antonio Gramsci’s Marxism – excessively historicist and immanentist – has participated, in its own way, in a form of anti-theoricism. In order to propose a theoretical alternative, the article aims to rehabilitate a virtuous relationship between the contributions of Gramsci and those of Louis Althusser with the purpose of thinking a Marxism concerned with the problem of theory, but also attentive, through the centrality of the problematic of the conjuncture¸ to the question of historical singularity.