UMA ARMA PARA A GUERRA FRIA: KARL AUGUST WITTFOGEL E A CONSTRUÇÃO DO ORIENTE A PARTIR DE UMA LEITURA CONTROVERSA DO MARXISMO.

This article analyzes the work The Oriental Despotism of Karl A. Wittfogel, geographer and Frankfurt School member. The analysis of the book, its intellectual influences and its social context of production shows that Wittfogel uses the Marxist legacy to build a theoretical argument affirming Asiatic societies as essentially despotic. Communism is view as an evolution of despotism face industrial phenomenon. Wittfogel therefore tries to institute an anti-communist Marxism, defending the western world in the cold war context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]