ABSTRACT
This chapter carries out a genealogy of critical development theory in relation to Marxism, which has played a dominant role in the field. It traces the complex views of Karl Marx himself, the sharp turn taken by Leninism, and the practice of development in the socialist world to finally take up the challenge of post-development. Lenin developed his ideas further in his turn-of-the-century book The Development of Capitalism in Russia considered by many as one of the best Marxist studies of the emergence of capitalism from feudalism. Lenin's theme is the apparently technical one of how the home market of Russian capitalism was formed. Marx expected socialism to flourish in the most advanced capitalist countries, but most socialist revolutions occurred in conditions of relative or absolute underdevelopment. From a post-Marxist perspective, both feminism and ecology appeared to be attractive alternatives. The various attempts to carry out an 'engendering' of development theory utterly transformed this area of study.
