‘On the Side of the Bourgeoisie’: Keynes, Marxism, and the Marginalisation of Kalecki

This discussion article argues that persistent attempts to link Keynes with Marxism frequently depend on downplaying or marginalising Michał Kalecki’s contribution to what is provisionally termed in this article ‘economics of effective demand’. Through a critical examination of selected contributions on Keynes, Kalecki, and Marxism, it shows that such interpretations may misrepresent both Kalecki’s work and the relationship between Marxism and Keynesianism. The article further argues that the historical privileging of Keynes over Kalecki should be understood not merely as an intellectual phenomenon, but as a consequence of broader structures of power embedded in capitalist science. Drawing on the concepts of ‘Eastern Europeanism’ and the ‘people’s history of science’, it interprets Kalecki’s reception as shaped by ethnic and class hierarchies. The article concludes that discussions of economics of effective demand — particularly within Marxism and among economists sympathetic to Kalecki — should begin from Kalecki rather than Keynes and calls for a reassessment of the social mechanisms through which economic ideas acquire authority.