Marxist Theory, Egalitarianism and Edward Bellamy's Utopia

LIZÁRRAGA, FERNANDO ALBERTO

Londres

Conferencia; Historical Materialism Conference; 2017

Historical Materialism Journal

Within the many theoretical topics discussed in the Marxist tradition, the question of whether Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels anticipated an egalitarian society is still a pressing one. Some think they did; others starkly deny it; still others propose alternative values as desirable in the society of the freely associated producers. The utopian ring that necessarily comes up when talking of a future society reminds us also that socialism has to do with utopia, be it to embrace or reject it. So, this paper tries to make, in a nutshell, a case for equality and utopian thinking in Marxism, drawing on one of the key utopian writers of the nineteenth century, Edward Bellamy, and asserting the relevance of his works for ongoing debates on egalitarianism. Thus, when arguing that some kind of egalitarianism is needed in Marxist theory, one crucial precedent can be found in Bellamy´s utopian novels Looking Backward (1888) and Equality (1897). The reasons for equality given by Bellamy ?in whose utopian society economic equality is the basis and the natural extension of political equality- will be compared with the normative underpinnings of Marx´s Needs Principle as stated in the Critique of the Gotha Programme. Some other relevant values will be singled out when comparing Marx´s and Bellamy´s views, to wit: their rejection of ?natural privileges? as sources of valid distributive claims -an argument that has been assumed by contemporary (liberal) egalitarians-; the underlying denial of the right-libertarian thesis self-ownership; and the importance of striking a balance between institutional change and a new egalitarian ethos.