This brief commentary discusses several errors in the thesis of Vivek Chibber about the past of capitalism. Chibber wrongly insists that capitalism endogenously sprung up in eighteenth-century England and northern Europe, turning his back to the last half-century of robust empirical and analytical contributions that decisively challenged the Eurocentric bias of classical Marxism. To argue that Europe was the navel of the world economy before and after A.D. 1492, is to ignore ongoing debates on the patterns and rhythm of world commodity production and trade shaping European agrarian change. The idea that capitalism was a 'European fairy tale' has long been discredited by towering figures in the fields of economic and monetary history. Written in response to a popular podcast hosted by Chibber on the subject, the commentary calls the attention to the dangers that 'Marxism on demand' pose to the making of rigorous Marxist history and theory on the past and present of capitalism.
The use of military metaphors has been a consistent feature of Marxist discussions of revolutionary strategy and organization. At the same time, though, the use of these metaphors has been subjected to considerable criticism from the Left for imposing authoritarian definitions of strategy and organization that have undermined the revolutionary project. While such criticisms raise important points that Marxists must take into account, nonetheless they are based on a flawed understanding of these metaphors. The use of military metaphors remains an essential resource for the development of strategy and organization for contemporary revolutionary movements.
