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first use of the term 'world system'
by g kohler
22 May 2001 01:56 UTC
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The earliest use of the term "world system" (in the sense of a
political-economic system) that I could find is from July, 1920.

Details:
(a) Neanderthal or other Neolithic caves - no online search possible
(b) ancient Greeks - "kosmos" (core = earth + about 7 peripherical
 "spheres")
(c) Aztecs = feathered serpent god = the law of motion of everything
(feather=bird=sky + serpent = earth ---- sky + earth=everything)
(d) Galileo - "universum" (planetary system, core = sun, periphery = earth
etc.)
(e) Marx/Engels - search of Marx/Engels online archive - result = 2
locations in The Holy Family, but different meaning  (not wsn meaning) - In
"The Holy Family",
Ch. 4 = in the context of a critique of Herr Edgar - here the expression is
used in a philosophical meaning like "world view"
Ch. 5 = mentions "the world system of the mysteries of Paris" -
philosophical meaning
(f) online search of Rosa Luxemburg online archive = no occurrence of "world
system"
(g) online search of Lenin, Imperialism Highest Stage (1916) - "world
 system" not in the body of the book
(h) online search of the  July 1920 preface of the German and French
editions of Imperialism Highest Stage of Capitalism. The expression "world
system" appears once. The sentence is: "Capitalism has grown into a world
system of colonial oppression and of the financial strangulation of the
overwhelming majority of the population of the world by a handful of
'advanced' countries." This is the earliest occurrence of the term "world
system" in the meaning of a global political-economic system that I could
find.

GK




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