The upsurge of colonial revolution in recent years has led to a fresh examination of earlier Marxist work on this topic, both by Marx and Engels themselves, and by theorists of the Third International. This bookfootnote1 gives a serious and mainly non-polemical approach to some aspects of this issue. Two central themes are included: the evolution of the theory of colonial revolution among Europen Marxists from Marx, through the Second and Third Internationals, to present Soviet theory; and the growth in China of a theory of revolution and socialist transformation. The body of the book is a selection from relevant documents, which is preceded by an essay discussing matters raised in the texts.

It is precisely because it discusses such a major political question that the book, despite many virtues and a wealth of material, suffers from two crucial defects. The first concerns its thematic and geographical limits. Thematically, the book is confined almost entirely to discussions of revolutionary strategy in the colonial areas and of the way colonial revolution relates to struggle in the industrial capitalist societies. The problem of Marxist analysis of Asian societies is treated in a cursory manner. Any strategy has to presuppose some analysis of class structure in these societies, and of the role of kin, tribe and religion in forming the consciousness and social practice of Asian societies. Such analytical material is also necessary for Marxists outside Asia. Since the Second World War and the world dominance of us imperialism, universities in the usa have evolved a wealth of ideological analysis based on the spurious concept of ‘modernization’ and often vaunting the progressive role of the military in this modernizing process. The Soviets have now evolved analogous theories, of which a few examples can be found in this book. Such theories are wide open to attack and form an important link, and a weak one, in the imperialist idealogical hegemony over universities in the advanced nations; in the few places where such ideologues have not prevailed, power is held by empiricist Fachidioten who jealously guard their departments and subjects against the incursions of any theory. The theme of Marxist analysis of pre-industrial societies and of colonial Asia is thus of vital political importance both for revolutionaries in the third world, and also for an anti-imperialist student movement in the capitalist world. It is an essential component of the problem ‘Marxism and Asia’.

The book also has a serious geographic limit. The only Asian country given serious consideration in the book is China. The Chinese Revolution has been the greatest single revolutionary victory in Asia, but much material has been produced on the important struggles in such other countries as Vietnam, Japan, India, Persia and Indonesia. This is largely ignored. Thus in both its thematic and its geographic content the book falls far short of the title, Marxism and Asia. Either a different title should have been chosen, or the full extent of the problem should have been indicated and discussed, even if a comprehensive treatment would obviously go beyond the confines of any one book.