A significant question of whether Marxism is feasible in Pakistan is surrounded by a complex web of historical legacies, socioeconomic realities, and political processes. Undoubtedly, concepts related to Marxism, having origins in class-based movements and anti-colonial struggles, sometimes sprouting in opposition to feudalism, imperialist exploitation, and structural inequality. However, its feasibility is still dubious due to fortified power structures, state persecution, and ideological division.
A prominent feature of Pakistan’s Marxist history is the localization of revolutionary theory. The Mazdoor Kisan Party (MKP), which remained in power from 1968 to 1978, exemplifies it most suitably. In areas such as South Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the MKP presided over the blood-soaked peasant uprisings in Pakistan by challenging feudal landlords, which resulted in de facto land reforms.
By addressing Pakistan’s rural reality and engrossing discourse at the global level, their approach can be called “worldly Marxism,” which endeavored to go beyond Eurocentric model. After obtaining land rights, upwardly mobile tenants often abandoned class solidarity, exposing vulnerabilities while also highlighting the potential for worker-peasant alliances. This demonstrated the tension between short-term benefits and long-term revolutionary goals.
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), led by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, implemented a diluted form of “Islamic socialism” in the 1970s by nationalizing industries and establishing worker rights. Even though the reforms, for some time, reduced impoverishment across the country, they were critiqued for failure to de-throne capitalism’s systems and for caving in to feudal elites. The assassination of Bhutto in 1979 and the subsequent military dictatorship under Ziaul Haq, which solidified religious conservatism and aligned Pakistan with US anti-Soviet activities, crushed leftist movements. The Communist Party of Pakistan’s (CPP) torment and the mainstream parties’ seizure of socialist rhetoric caused Marxism to become limped, scattered, and discredited.
Pakistan is somewhat manifesting a paradox: despite the current structural hurdles, Marxist criticism harbors a home in the face of increasing inequality and public disenchantment with neoliberal policies. More than 40% of people live below the poverty line, with child stunting rates at 44% and inflation peaking at 38% in 2023. The state’s dependence on IMF bailouts, like the $7 billion Extended Fund Facility, has exacerbated austerity, privatization, and regressive taxes by shifting income from the poor to the wealthy. The military-industrial complex and feudal oligarchs, such as Nawaz Sharif and the Bhutto-Zardari dynasty, who have accumulated a great deal of wealth through land usurpation and crony capitalism, hold the reins of political power.
Marxist movements today face several difficult challenges. State repression is pertinent; military-backed governments sanction dissent, and leftist groups and Baloch separatists are labelled as “anti-state.” Pious people are left alone by religious groups those back conservative bourgeoisies because they usually mistake Marxism for atheism. Internally, the left is divided between traditional Marxist-Leninists, reformist parties like the PPP, which has abandoned its socialist roots, and Maoist organizations. The absence of a unified working-class movement further undermines resistance to neoliberal hegemony.
There is an unrealized potential, though. Keeping in mind that 65% of Pakistanis are under 25, youth disillusionment and labor exploitation – such as the meager wages of those working in the textile in Karachi, which can reach to only £7 per month – could, lead to mass mobilization. In the same vein, the MKP’s calls for land reform, agrarian discontent persists since 2% of landowners control 45% of arable land. Marxists around the globe discourses, specifically those focused on climate justice and anti-imperialism, echo in a country that has been disproportionately affected by floods and IMF stipulations.
Conclusively, overcoming dispersion and building intersectional coalitions are important to Marxism’s survival. Historical events, such as the MKP’s engagement with vernacular Islam, suggest that fusing class conflict with cultural sensitivity could boost support. However, if state violence and elite co-optation are not taken into discussion, Marxist praxis may remain a marginal force. As Pakistan struggles with ecological collapse and debt slavery, there is a growing need for structural solutions, but there is also a need for a revolutionary vanguard that can unite disparate conflicts in a unified opposition to capitalism.
