The purpose of this article is to discuss some of the implications of the interpretation of the unequal and combined development theory of capitalism present in several passages of Michael Löwy’s work in order to indicate its importance for the critical renewal of Latin American Marxism. In order to do so, we seek to advance through three moments: 1) first, we will present the general outlines of the unequal and combined development theory in Löwy’s work; 2) in the sequence, we will highlight the importance of the Latin American historical context between the years 1959 and 1979 in the interpretive and political effort of Löwy, especially for updating the theory of uneven and combined development; finally, 3) we will argue that the fecundity of Löwy’s interpretation of the Latin American context stems from his familiarity with the thinking of the Peruvian Marxist José Carlos Mariátegui.
Löwy; Mariátegui; Marxism; Sociology; Latin America