ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: BREAKING THE MIRROR OF PRODUCTION
[I]f the system could function without feeding its workers, there would be no bread.
(Baudrillard, 1981: 86)
No fool this Marx. (Baudrillard, 2001b: 119 n. 1)
The notion of a ‘break’ with Marxism is misleading. From his earliest writings Baudrillard was clearly dissatisfied with both classical Marxism and the attempts at revision made by the Frankfurt School theorists and others. This is demonstrated in the important early essay ‘Police and Play’ (2001a: 61-9) and in other writings of the time published in the journal Utopie. Baudrillard never was a Marxist as such, yet he was deeply influenced by Marxism and retained a great admiration for Marx’s theorisation of capitalism (1993b: 10). In what sense, then, can we speak of a ‘break’ with Marxism?
