New Books in World Affairs Agustín Santella and Adrián Piva, "Marxism, Social Movements and Collective Action" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023)
Feb 16, 2026
Agustín Santella, professor of sociology at the University of Buenos Aires and Marxist researcher, discusses efforts to forge a cohesive theory of collective action. He explores linking class struggle with diverse protests. Short takes cover fragmentation in Marxism, neoliberal individualization, the role of practice and materialism, and rethinking labor, reproduction, and new forms of struggle.
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Theory Must Connect Antagonism To Action
- A theory of class struggle must bridge class antagonism and diverse forms of collective action.
- Marxism needs mechanisms explaining both strikes and revolutions within a unified framework.
Classical Marxism Gave Concepts, Not A System
- Early Marxist generations developed many concepts but lacked a systematic theory of class struggle.
- Their work was fragmentary and strategic debates prevented unified theorization.
New Left Reoriented Marxist Focus
- The New Left and Western Marxists shifted toward methodology and general theory after the Soviet critique.
- Both generations contributed distinct resources but lost a common object of study.
