Open Marxism

Open Marxism is a school of Marxism that emerged as a distinct theoretical current in the post-World War II era, developing in both Western and Eastern Europe before being consolidated by a group of theorists in the United Kingdom in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It is defined by its emphasis on the "openness" of dialectical categories, the centrality of class struggle as a dynamic and indeterminate process, the unity of theory and practice, and a strong opposition to economic determinism, positivism, and scientism within Marxist theory.

The school of thought represents a critique of and alternative to dominant forms of Marxism, particularly structural Marxism and the state ideologies of Leninism and social democracy. The term was first used in the 1950s by intellectuals like Kostas Axelos in France and later by dissident theorists in Eastern Europe, such as the Praxis school in Yugoslavia, before being adopted by a group in Britain that included Werner Bonefeld, Richard Gunn, Kosmas Psychopedis, and John Holloway. Intellectually, Open Marxism draws on a "subterranean tradition" of Marxist thought that includes Rosa Luxemburg, the early Georg Lukács, Theodor W. Adorno, and Johannes Agnoli, as well as the Italian autonomist tradition of Mario Tronti and Antonio Negri.

Open Marxism's core tenets include a critique of "closed" theories that treat social structures as fixed or governed by deterministic laws, with historical materialism being a key target. Instead, it proposes a form of analysis where social forms—such as the state, money, or capital—are understood not as static structures but as "modes of existence" of the antagonistic relationship between capital and labour. A central target of its critique is fetishism, the process by which social relations under capitalism appear as relations between things. Open Marxism argues that many "closed" forms of Marxism reproduce this fetishism in their own theories by treating social categories as objective and independent of the class struggle that constitutes them. The project has had a substantial impact, particularly in Europe and Latin America, sparking numerous debates and critiques.