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Western Marxism is a current ofMarxist theory that arose fromWestern andCentral Europe in the aftermath of the 1917October Revolution inRussia and the ascent ofLeninism. The term denotes a loose collection of theorists who advanced an interpretation ofMarxism distinct fromclassical andOrthodox Marxism and theMarxism–Leninism of the Soviet Union.[1]
Less concerned witheconomic analysis than earlier schools of Marxist thought, Western Marxism placed greater emphasis on the study of thecultural trends of capitalist society, deploying the morephilosophical andsubjective aspects of Marxism, and incorporating non-Marxist approaches to investigating culture and historical development.[2] Key themes included the influence ofGeorg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel onKarl Marx's thought,[a] and the recovery of the "Young Marx," emphasizing his early, humanistic writings.
While some early Western Marxists were prominent political activists,[3] Western Marxism became predominantly the reserve of university-based philosophers.[4] Since the 1960s, the concept has been closely associated with theNew Left. Many Western Marxists were adherents ofMarxist humanism, but the term also encompasses figures and schools of thought that were strongly critical of humanism and the dialectics of Hegel.[5]
In the 1920s, theThird International disparagingly branded certain Marxists of the period as "West European" theorists.[6] By 1930, one such figure,Karl Korsch, had begun to refer to himself as a "Western Communist".[7]Maurice Merleau-Ponty popularized the termWestern Marxism with his bookAdventures of the Dialectic in 1955.[8] Merleau-Ponty delineated a body of Marxist thought starting withGyörgy Lukács that differs from both theSoviet interpretation of Marxism and the earlier Marxism of theSecond International.[9]
Perry Anderson notes that Western Marxism was born from the failure ofproletarian revolutions in various advanced capitalist societies in Western Europe – Germany,Austria,Hungary, andItaly – in the wake of theFirst World War.[10] He argues that the tradition represents a divorce betweensocialist theory andworking-class practice that resulted from the defeat and stagnation of the Western working class after 1920.[11]
Western Marxism traces its origins to 1923, when György Lukács'sHistory and Class Consciousness and Karl Korsch'sMarxism and Philosophy were published.[1] In these books, Lukács and Korsch proffer a Marxism that underlines theHegelian basis of Marx's thought. They argue that Marxism is not simply a theory ofpolitical economy that improves on itsbourgeois predecessors. Nor is it a scientificsociology, akin to thenatural sciences. For them, Marxism is primarily a critique[12] – a self-conscious transformation of society.[13] They stipulate that Marxism does not make philosophy obsolete, as "vulgar" Marxism believes; instead, Marxism preserves the truths of philosophy until their revolutionary transformation into reality.[12]
Their work was met with hostility by the Third International,[14] which saw Marxism as a universal science of history and nature.[12] Nonetheless, this style of Marxism was taken up by Germany'sFrankfurt School in the 1930s.[1] ThePrison Notebooks of the Italian CommunistAntonio Gramsci, written during this period, but not published until much later, are also classified as belonging to Western Marxism.[15]Ernst Bloch is a contemporaneous figure who is likewise sometimes judged to be one of Western Marxism's founding fathers.[16]
After theSecond World War, a French Western Marxism was constituted by theorists based around the journalsArguments,Les Temps Modernes andSocialisme ou Barbarie such asLucien Goldmann,Henri Lefebvre,Maurice Merleau-Ponty, andJean-Paul Sartre.[1] This later generation of Western Marxists were overwhelmingly professional academics and frequently professors of philosophy.[17]
Although there have been many schools of Marxist thought that are sharply distinguished fromMarxism–Leninism, such asAustromarxism or the Dutchleft communism ofAntonie Pannekoek andHerman Gorter, theorists who downplay the primacy of economic analysis are considered Western Marxists. Where thebase of the capitalist economy is the focus of earlier Marxists, Western Marxists concentrate on the problems ofsuperstructures,[18] as their attention centres onculture,philosophy, andart.[1]
Western Marxism often emphasises the importance of the study ofculture,class consciousness, andsubjectivity for an adequate Marxist understanding of society.[1] Western Marxists have thus tended to heavily use Marx's theories ofcommodity fetishism,ideology, andalienation,[19] and they have expanded on these with new concepts such asreification andcultural hegemony.[20]
Engagement with non-Marxist systems of thought is a feature that distinguishes Western Marxism from the schools of Marxism that preceded it.[21] Many Western Marxists have drawn frompsychoanalysis to explain the effect of culture on individual consciousness.[22] Concepts taken from GermanLebensphilosophie,Weberian sociology,Piagetianpsychology, Frenchphilosophy of science,phenomenology, andexistentialism have all been assimilated and critiqued by Western Marxists.[21]
Theepistemological principles of Marx's thought are an important theme for Western Marxism.[23] In this regard, Western Marxists view the theoretical contributions ofFriedrich Engels'sAnti-Dühring as a distortion of Marx.[24] While Engels seesdialectics as a universal and scientific law of nature, Western Marxists do not view Marxism as a general science, but as a theory of the cultural and historical structure of society.[12]
Many Western Marxists believe the philosophical key to Marxism is found in the works of theYoung Marx, where his encounters with Hegel, theYoung Hegelians, andLudwig Feuerbach reveal what they see as thehumanist core of Marxist theory.[25] However, thestructural Marxism ofLouis Althusser, which attempts to purge Marxism of Hegelianism and humanism, also belongs to Western Marxism, as does the anti-Hegelianism ofGalvano Della Volpe.[26] Althusser holds that Marx's primary philosophical antecedent is not Hegel or Feuerbach, butBaruch Spinoza.[27] Della Volpe claims thatJean-Jacques Rousseau is a decisive precursor to Marx, while Della Volpe's pupilLucio Colletti holds that the true philosophical predecessor to Marx isImmanuel Kant.[28]
While Western Marxism is often contrasted with the Marxism of theSoviet Union, Western Marxists have been divided in their opinion of it and otherMarxist–Leninist states. Some have offered qualified support, others have been highly critical, and still others have changed their views over time:[29] Lukács, Gramsci, and Della Volpe were members of Soviet-aligned parties; Korsch,Herbert Marcuse, andGuy Debord were inimical to Marxism-Leninism and instead advocatedcouncil communism; Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, Althusser, and Lefebvre were, at different periods, supporters of the Soviet-alignedCommunist Party of France, but all would later become disillusioned with it; Ernst Bloch lived in and supported theEastern Bloc, but lost faith in Soviet Communism towards the end of his life.Nicos Poulantzas, a later Western Marxist, was an advocate forEurocommunism.[30]
Western Marxists were concerned less with the actual political or economic practice of Marxism than with its philosophical interpretation, especially in relation to cultural and historical studies. In order to explain the inarguable success of capitalist society, they felt it necessary to explore and understand non-Marxist approaches and all aspects of bourgeois culture.
