February 18, 2006: Marxism is not an economic determinism.
What role does "the economy" play in Marx's theory of history? Almost none. Marxism is a class-struggle theory of history. The role which "the economy" plays is to create the classes which do the struggling. To some degree it defines and constrains the "terrain" on which they do their struggling, meaning, determines the relative weights and directions of development of the various classes and class fragments at any particular moment. That's about it.
This is why it's a mistake to read Capital as economics. Or Philosophy, or any of the other popular readings. Capital is properly read IMO as a manual for class struggle generals. It demonstrates how to define the classes which do the struggling, and how to map the terrain on which their struggle takes place.
This is also why it's a mistake -- for Marxists -- to try to understand the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as determined by the need for oil or for oil pipelines. As it was a mistake to try to understand Imperialism's alliance with, say, Latin American latifundists during the Cold War.
