Philip,
If you read Engels letters from the 1890s, he vehemently argues that Marx was
NOT a strict economic determinist, the Marx recognized that in historical
analysis there is always a reciprocation between general (not GLOBAL) and local
phenomena, etc. Althusser insists that Marx's historical materialism IS NOT a
"totalizing" or "global" approach -- it has been cheapened into being one,
principally by humanist historians. In other words, Marxist historiography is
not necessarily "totalizing" - there are, of course, Marxists who have made it
so.
If you read Engels letters from the 1890s, he vehemently argues that Marx was
NOT a strict economic determinist, the Marx recognized that in historical
analysis there is always a reciprocation between general (not GLOBAL) and local
phenomena, etc. Althusser insists that Marx's historical materialism IS NOT a
"totalizing" or "global" approach -- it has been cheapened into being one,
principally by humanist historians. In other words, Marxist historiography is
not necessarily "totalizing" - there are, of course, Marxists who have made it
so.