Does there exist anywhere a decent Marxist analysis of the reasons behind the fall of the Roman empire?
Parenti's book on Julius Caesar is excellent regarding the transition from Republic to Empire.
"Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek World" by G. E. M. de Ste. Croix is super great as well.
His argument is that the corrupt Roman aristocracy, which refused to make any concessions to other classes, destroyed Classical civilization. Many people in the Roman empire were so unhappy with Roman rule that they joined peasant rebels (called bagaudae) or defected to the barbarian invaders.
As someone who studied ancient and medieval history, it's my dad duty to inform you that most Marxists know jackshit about ancient civilisations because they are still working off the information Marx and Engels had in the 19th century, obviously history has come a long way since then.
It's not really that it matters because Marx's analysis of capitalism is still correct but it's sometimes nice for theoretical circlejerk if you are into that type of thing. Honestly Cockshott didn't seem to be too bad with his takes on feudalism and antiquity, I haven't read Parenti's book though.
Henry White
sad duty*
lol
Jaxson Evans
Oh and Ismail has scanned some Soviet history of the world and it didn't seem to be bad either at the first glance, they had the best Soviet historians compiling it.
Xavier Mitchell
What are some common thing Marxists get wrong?
Caleb Martin
Stop worshiping the Dengoid cultist
Levi Anderson
Human nature. xd
Is it you who's in every thread to shit on Ismail? The guy's doing great work scanning tons of books, who cares if he's a Dengoid when this is about a soviet history of the world?
Nathaniel Cook
Wish I could help you more, OP. I know there's plenty of Marxist books about the Romans out there but I wouldn't know where to begin.
Are there any worthwhile Marxist/radical analyses of the Incans, Aztecs, and/or Mayans?
Dominic Rivera
Ellen Meiksins Wood for a political analysis.
Nolan Edwards
Michael Hudson has researched a lot when working out the history of money. Privatisation in Antiquity is awrsome
