Lee Harris: The Intellectual Origins of America-Bashing

Part 6 – 9-11 Calling (Policy Review, 2002)

Some Marxist-influenced intellectuals initially interpreted the September 11 attacks as a revolutionary act by the globally immiserized against their primary oppressor—the United States.

Harris argues that this reading fails even on classical Marxist terms. Marx required a genuine civil war within the capitalist society itself—deep internal division that would paralyze the state and allow revolutionaries to seize power. The 9/11 attacks, however, produced the opposite effect: unprecedented national unity and resolve in the targeted society.

Far from weakening American capitalism or creating revolutionary conditions, the attacks strengthened domestic solidarity and public support for decisive retaliation. From a strictly Marxist-realist standpoint, they were politically counterproductive.

Harris concludes that attributing world-historical revolutionary significance to 9/11 reflects wishful thinking rather than sober analysis.

Next: Part 7 – The Temptation of Fantasy Ideology

Series Contents

• Introduction
• Part 1 – The Intellectual Origins
• Part 2 – Marx’s political realism
• Part 3 – Immiserization
• Part 4 – Immiserization goes global
• Part 5 – America as “root cause”
• Part 6 – 9-11 calling
• Part 7 – Fantasy ideology