Political economy blinded Marx and Engels to industrial movements’ ideological nature.

Evidence

Nationalism was acceptable if its success resulted in the construction of a “viable” industrial nation. In the same vein, it was unacceptable (“nonsense,” “impracticable,” “fanatical”) for nationalist movements to threaten what Engels had termed “true [i.e. productive] national boundaries” in Po und Rhein. As late as 1888, Engels was still giving his blessing to German nationalism on this basis: One can see from all this that the desire for a united “Fatherland” had a very material foundation. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 353 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

I think, however, that Marx is wrong in two respects. First, the social circumstances of which account must be taken are quite as much political as economic; they have to do with power, of which wealth is only one form. Second, social causation largely ceases to apply as soon as a problem becomes detailed and technical. — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2847 (#expands, via linked claim)

The dismissal of culture, that is, a transmitted historical consciousness, as an aspect of class consciousness, did not equip the Marxian movement for the political forces that would not only erupt in Europe and the Third World but within the movement itself. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 363 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Marx overemphasized economics while neglecting power and technical detail — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2847; Dismissing culture as class consciousness left Marxism unequipped for political forces — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 363; Ideology expresses lived imaginary relations rather than actual conditions of existence. (+4 more)

Related

• Political economy blinded Marx and Engels to nationalist ideological dynamics (similarity 0.89)
• Anglo-Marxists neglected the state while fixating on ideology within the superstructures (similarity 0.88)
• Political economy limited Marx’s grasp of nationalism in workers’ movements (similarity 0.87)
• Marx and Engels judged nationalism by its service to industrial capital (similarity 0.86)
• Marx’s drive for theoretical elegance made him dismiss race, gender, and culture (similarity 0.84)
• Engels held that capitalism favored some nations’ boundaries and not others’. (similarity 0.84)
• Marx and Engels judged the German national movement’s anti-French instinct correct. (similarity 0.83)
• Marx held contradictory world-historical and national views of bourgeois development (similarity 0.82)
• Marx overemphasized economics while neglecting power and technical detail (similarity 0.82)
• Marx and Engels’ German nationalism skewed their judgment of Slavic liberation movements. (similarity 0.82)
• Engels himself admitted that Marxism’s economic reductionism was partly his and Marx’s fault (similarity 0.81)
• Marx and Engels judged other national movements by German national interests (similarity 0.81)
• Marx treated nationalism’s historical role as ambiguous while Engels saw it as threatening (similarity 0.81)
• A new Marxist paradigm seeks to overcome economism and reductionism (similarity 0.81)
• Marx distinguished nations from nationalities by economic independence capacity (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Marx overemphasized economics while neglecting power and technical detail #expands (0.70) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2847
• Marx and Engels judged nationalism by its service to industrial capital #exemplifies (0.70) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 353
• Dismissing culture as class consciousness left Marxism unequipped for political forces #corroborates (0.65) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 363
• Ideology expresses lived imaginary relations rather than actual conditions of existence. #contradicts (0.60)
• Anglo-Marxists neglected the state while fixating on ideology within the superstructures #complicates (0.55)
• Historical specificity distinguishes Marx’s materialism from vulgar or technological determinism #qualifies (0.50) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 881