José Carlos Mariátegui, the historical materialism-dialectic of Sumak Kawsay: between religion and myth

Abstract

In dialogue with José Carlos Mariátegui we characterize his historical and dialectical materialism in relation to that of Sumak Kawsay or Buen Vivir. We review the use that the Peruvian gives to Western critical thinking for the understanding and transformation of Latin American societies. We examine his critique of progress; to the concept of history; the importance attributed to culture, religion and myth in dialectical relation to the economic infrastructure; his critique of positivism and the monolithic understanding of the historical subject or class of the socialist revolution. Mariátegui’s thought could be located in romantic and / or melancholic Marxism. He delves into the reference to Sumak Kawsay, the Andean religion, which is related to collectivism and community life. Indigenous communism impels reproduces various forms of cooperation and association. We observe how millenary institutions like the minga, based on redistribution and reciprocity, are the basis of another economy - political - aesthetic, of another world to come.