Class and the Question of Transition: Redrawing the Contour of Marxism in India

What the paper says

Many of the participants in the Indian modes of production debate realized that nothing substantial was being gained in terms of explaining the transition process by simply referring to some broadly defined institutions or social arrangements as “semi-feudal” or “capitalist.” They felt a need to explain the particular configuration of class relationships that were inhibiting the development of the forces of production and the capitalist mode of production as a whole. The debate consequently shifted to the concepts of class, class formation, and the effects of class differentiation on the Indian economy, especially the class effects produced by the transition of Indian society from one mode of production to another. In our analysis, we will consider three attempts made variously by Patnaik, Bhaduri, and Rudra because (i) they are by far the most important positions on class developed so far by Indian Marxists in the debate and (ii) their concept of class takes into account most of the concerns regarding the theorization of class that was put forward by other traditional Indian Marxists. In short, they represent the most comprehensive attempts to theorize class in India’s context.