Marxism and the Political Economy of Abolition

This chapter examines the ways Marxist and neo-Marxist thought has contributed to abolitionist praxis. In doing so, it first explores Marx’s early writings in the 1840s, demonstrating how these were foundational to his later critique of political economy and his understandings of crime and punishment under capitalist conditions. Second, it examines analyses of political economies of punishment, suggesting that these provide one indication of the ways Marxist-inspired work has proved germane for advances in understandings of criminalisation and power. And finally, it draws on critical insights regarding the ways dominant institutions of punishment mystify the harms of capitalist power and reproduce forms of social order. Whether explicitly or implicitly, Marxism has been and is a core component abolitionist praxis, this chapter argues; and in the Marxist tradition, those working within such frameworks seek not just to interpret the world, but to change it.