Prof. Erik Olin Wright died on 23rd January 2019, due to acute myeloid leukaemia. He was 72.
Prof. Wright was one of the most distinguished Marxist scholars of our times. He was best known for his theory of class, a field that preoccupied him for more than four decades. In his hands, Marxist class theory became a rigorous weapon of sociological research and hundreds of his students employed it in their study of numerous social formations.
Prof. Wright was one of the founders of Analytical Marxism. But unlike many of his colleagues who later on abandoned Marxism altogether, Prof. Wright was always mindful of the excesses of analytical theory and never lost sight of the basic socialist vision.
Towards the final decade of his life, Prof. Wright had turned his attention to the question of transition and socialist alternatives. In a series of articles and books, Prof. Wright argued that revolutions of the twentieth century kind (in his terms – ‘ruptural transformations’) are no longer in the agenda because of the changed times. So what is required today, among other things, is building of certain processes and institutions which will help the working classes in training and preparing themselves well before the moment of transition (transfer of state power). This involves, among other things, building and expanding non-capitalist solidarity sectors within the body of capitalism. This will ensure that when the time of transition comes, it will be less painful and a backlash doesn’t occur against the new socialist regime, as it is faced with a shrinking economy as a result of investment strike by capital. An already existing and nourished non-capitalist sector will ensure that the workers will be in a position to launch a successful counter-strike and run a worker controlled economy and polity on their own.
We, at NSI, believe that there is an urgent need for renewal of socialist theory and practice, given our past experiences and requirements of the present. In this regard, we have a lot to learn from Prof. Wrights immense contributions.
