Marxism as a speech community
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F49bd1ca2-ed6a-482d-a750-938e01a06b75_361x399.jpeg)
I think this can certainly be a useful way of thinking about Marxism if we begin with a particular understanding of language.
Marxist linguist Valentin Volosinov argued that the sign is “an arena of class struggle.” I think what he meant by this is fairly straightforward and uncontroversial: when there are political controversies about language, those co…