World systems and Marxism

At 07:43 PM 3/30/99 -0500, David Richardson wrote:
>Could somebody say how much bourgeois activity
>and/or capitalism is presupposed or recognized by the
>most typical socialist or Marxist world system analysist?
>Are most world system analysts Marxists or socialists?
> 

I have actually started a thread on my own mailing list marxism@panix.com
on this very question. This was a response from a Portugese list member.

Louis Proyect wrote:
> I am also very
> interested in the whys and wherefores of Gulbenkian funding of the Fernand
> Braudel Center at the Binghamton campus of New York State University. The
> Gulbenkians, superrich Portugese oilmen, have been accused by people in
> Macao of stealing their wealth and giving it away to high-minded projects
> in the West for public relations purposes.

Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian (1869-1955) was not portuguese. He was a big oil
tycoon from armenian origins. He was born in Istambul into a family that owned
the exclusive of Baku oil sells to Turkey. He studied in London and actually
became a british citizen. He founded the Irak Petroleum Company in 1920. The
man was absolutely L-O-A-D-E-D. And he loved the arts.

He came to Portugal during WWII and stayed here until he passed away. At the
urgings of his portuguese lawyer Azeredo Perdigao, he instituted the
Gulbenkian
Foundation in Lisboa. The foundation has a huge patrimony (museums, libraries,
theaters, etc.). It also has some secure revenue in oil transactions. It
grants
scholarships and finances a vast array of cultural events. For portuguese
standards it's a very big institution, almost a state within the state. A
nephew of the old tycoon still sits at the board of directors but the
institution is dominated by portuguese professors and other art loving
gentlemen. It's general political orientation can be considered "liberal" in
the american sense.

I had no idea that Gulbenkian was funding the Fernand Braudel Center. I have
recently translated Wallerstein's 'Historical Capitalism' and 'Capitalist
Civilization' into portuguese (I did it for the money), and that has put me in
brief contact, by letter and e-mail, with the Professor in Binghamton.

I don't like his present outlook (Jim Heartfield must positively hate it). He
says capitalism has brought nothing good to humanity. We were much, much
better
in the Ancient Regime. He dismisses the role of the working class as an agent
of change and puts his hope on a complex gathering of "anti-systemic"
movements. He is a multi-culturalist. He says we have a chance of overcoming
capitalism and making the transition to a more "egalitarian" society. For
that,
he uses some pedantic analogies with "hard" science models that should secure
him a place in Alan Sokal's black list.

However, the man clearly has had a fairly decent political history (mainly
regarding the african nationalist movement in the 60's and 70's) and must be
considered a progressive scholar and "compagnon de route".

This system is producing enemies and discontents of many origins. We,
marxists,
should be able to lead a movement composed of a vast and variegated gathering
of them. Some, of course, will never join us in our efforts. Nonetheless, they
too are weakening the system's resistance in some way, at some point.

It's a work of wrath and patience.


Joćo Paulo Monteiro


Louis Proyect
(http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)