The Brazilian Reading of Marx
Brazil stands out in the global social sciences as a country where Marxism still has a strong influence. This paper argues that there are two reasons for this unique phenomenon. On the one hand, the fact that Brazil has not had a socialist government. On the other hand, the fact that the Brazilian reception is strongly marked by a “epistemological reading”, which has attenuated the political meaning of Marx's work and transformed this author in a “classic”. The paper proposes an analysis according to which texts and authors are not born but become “classics” because of cultural and political disputes among their readers, and it focuses on the disputes surrounding the legitimate readings and uses of Marx in Brazil. It begins by situating the main initiative that lifted Marx out of a marginal position and turned him into an unavoidable author in the Brazilian context: the first university philosophical reading circle in the country, started in 1958, at the University of São Paulo (USP). It will emphasize the innovation of this initiative in the cultural scenario, the sociological profile of its members and the professional interests that motivated them. This is followed by an in-depth analysis of the determining factors behind Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s stance on capitalism, slavery, and Marxism in the discipline of sociology. The article then characterizes the effects that the “epistemological reading” of Marx produced among academics and communists, to social sciences and ideologies.