Beyond the “pink tide”: Dependent capitalism in crisis in Argentina and lessons to be learned for radical social change

Abstract

The global capitalist crisis has had a huge impact in the so-called neo-developmentalist processes of capitalist development in South America. In particular, in Argentina the combination of local barriers and limits (originated in the particular form of dependent development) with regional an global events, have put into question the continuity of this particular way of capitalist strategy for development. We propose to analyze this process and its current transitional crisis in the light of class conflict and the particular form of dependent capitalism in Argentina. We will stress the way in which the articulation of (a) class relationships and struggles with (b) patriarchal rule (and struggles against it) and (c) super-exploitation of nature (and clashes to stop it), amount to a particular form for working class strategies for radical social change. We will analyze the particular form of these struggles and the way in which they constitute and -at the same time- put into question, the production and reproduction of capitalist value in Argentina’s dependent setting.