ABSTRACT
Karl Wittfogel (1897–1988) was a well-known German sinologist and political theorist, remembered chiefly because of his concept of ‘oriental despotism’, an adaptation of Marx's concept of the Asiatic mode of production. In subsequent correspondence, Ernest Gellner wrote that Wittfogel's work ‘continues to exercise strong attraction and repulsion’ (4.5, October 1988,p. 22), and T.O. Beidelman that Wittfogel's career should be remembered ‘as an illustration of how the far left can easily become sympathetic to the far right’ (4.6, December 1988,p. 24).
