José Aricó explores why Latin-American reality was apparently 'excluded' from Marx's thought. Identifying the contradictions in Marx's attitude to 'peripheral' countries, Aricó challenges charges of 'Eurocentrism', demonstrating how Marx's hostility to Simón Bolívar's 'Bonapartism' coloured his attitude towards the continent.

José Aricó (1931-91) was among Argentina's leading twentieth-century socialist thinkers. Co-founder of the journal Pasado y Presente, his works include Mariátegui y los orígenes del marxismo latinoamericano (Siglo XXI, 1978) and La cola del diablo: Itinerario de Gramsci en América Latina (Puntosur, 1988).