The Andean Marxist theory of the national question in the works of José Carlos Mariátegui and René Zavaleta Mercado

Abstract

This article comparatively analyzes the theoretical contributions of the militant intellectuals José Carlos Mariátegui and René Zavaleta Mercado to the Marxist tradition surrounding the concept of the national question, both in their respective national contexts, Peru and Bolivia, and in a broader Andean context. We conduct a brief theoretical and historical recapitulation of the concept of the national question and of Marxism within the Latin American context, in which the aforementioned authors are situated. We then proceed to an analysis of how the concept is mobilized in the main works of each author. Starting from the hypothesis that both authors’ theoretical production falls within what we call a Marxist theory, whose main elements we identify as: the centrality of the indigenous question; the continuity of colonial elements even in the capitalist mode of production; and the symbiotic relationship between large landholders, imperialism, and the local bourgeoisie.