Marxist humanism
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- For criticism see Criticism of Marxist_humanism
Marxist humanism[1] is a branch of Marxism that primarily focuses on Marx's earlier writings, especially the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 in which Marx espoused his theory of alienation, as opposed to his later works, which are considered to be concerned more with his structural conception of capitalist society. The Praxis School, which called for radical social change in Josip Broz Tito's Yugoslavia in the 1960s, was one such Marxist humanist movement.
Marxist humanism was opposed by the "antihumanism" of Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser, who considered it a revisionist movement.
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The theory of "Marxist Humanism"
The term "Marxist humanism" has as its foundation Marx's conception of the "alienation of the labourer" [2] as he advanced it in his Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 -- an alienation that is born of a capitalist system in which the worker no longer functions as (what Marx termed) a free being involved with free and associated labor.[3] And although many scholars consider late Marx less of a humanist than the Marx who wrote pre-Das Kapital (For Marx by Althusser),[4] as his later works are rather bereft of references to this alienation, others {for example David McClellan, Robert C. Tucker, George Brenkert[5]} argue that the notion of alienation remains a part of Marx's philosophy. Theodor Shanin[6] )and Raya Dunayevskaya go further, not only is alienation present in the late Marx, but that there is no split between the young Marx and mature Marx, but one Marx.
As is assumed under the very notion of alienation, there is a human who, when disenfranchised by his own labour, becomes less human — in fact, Marx says he becomes objectified. According to Marx, humans naturally produce for their own benefit; and, furthermore, he freely produces in association with other free beings. However, under a capitalist society the alienation of the means of production gives rise to "fettering" productive relations; there is a single capitalist employing an army of workers at wages just sufficient to provide for their mere subsistence. The worker becomes a slave. He is no longer a free productive being, but instead he absolutely must produce to simply meet his most basic needs. Multiple alienations are evident: from themselves, from the human being,from the object they produce, and the process of work itself. The stamp of Hegel is clear and unmistakable.
However, there is more to this. In his Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts Marx writes: "A forcing-up of wages (disregarding all other difficulties, including the fact that it would only be by force, too, that the higher-wages, being an anomaly, could be maintained) would therefore be nothing but better payment for the slave, and would not conquer either for the worker or for labour their human status and dignity." It is here that Marx as a humanist is well evinced.
This quote is intended to convey that it is not the 12-hour work-day alone that enslaves man, forcing him to give his entire productive being -— his natural skills, or that which constitutes his essence as a man -— over to another. Rather, it is the very (philosophic) condition behind the capitalist structure that enslaves man. Basically, capitalism is not conducive to democracy on Marx's conception. On his conception, capitalism inherently gives rise to an elite bourgeoisie for whom the rest of society, the proletariat, must work. Insofar as this is the case, the proletarian himself will never be able to dictate the conditions of his work; they will always be determined by the capitalist himself. So even if the capitalist pays the worker higher wages than he himself incurs (from his profits made off the labourer's efforts), he still controls the terms of the worker's production.
Marx held that insofar as man only has his liberty to produce, and produce according to his own conceived ideas (e.g., he designs a very fancy shoe and wants to see this shoe materialize), capitalism, as a system, will be an eternal stymie to man's natural freedom.
This is Marx's humanism. Marxist Humanism is the political, or philosophic, association that assumes this as its premise.
Marxist humanists
Notable thinkers associated with Marxist humanism include:
- S.Popov
- Georg Lukács
- Walter Benjamin
- Raya Dunayevskaya
- C. L. R. James
- Erich Fromm
- David McReynolds
- Herbert Marcuse
- Lucien Goldmann
- Jean-Paul Sartre
- The Praxis School
- John Lewis
- E.P. Thompson
- Marshall Berman
- Frantz Fanon
- John Berger
- Paulo Freire
- Lewis Gordon
- Leszek Kolakowski
- Antonio Gramsci
- Nigel Gibson
- Edward Said
- Christopher Hill
- Peter McLaren
- Wang Ruoshui
See also
- Karl Marx
- Marxism
- Autonomist Marxism
- Structure and agency
- Orthodox Marxism
- Luxemburgism
- Subjectivity
- Frankfurt School
- Dialectic
- Historical Materialism
- New Left
References
- ^ "Marxist Humanism and the 'New Left': An index to the writings and biographies of Marxist-Humanist writers", Marxists Internet Archive
- ^ Alienated labor - http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch06.htm
- ^ Free and associated labor - http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1871/civil-war-france/ch05.htm
- ^ For Marx by Althusser - http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/althusser/1965/index.htm
- ^ George Brenkert - http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/us/brenkert.htm
- ^ Theodor Shanin - http://www.amazon.com/Late-Marx-Russian-Road-Peripheries/dp/0853456461
External links
- Marxist Humanism, subject index
- Raya Dunayevskaya Archive
- Libertarian Communist Library Marxist Humanism holdings
- C L R James Archive
- News & Letters, the Newspaper
- Socialist Party USA - contains a Marxist-Humanist current. Socialist Humanism is mentioned in its handbook.
- The Hobgoblin, a Journal of Marxist-Humanism
Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Marxist humanism" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxist_humanism, used under the GNU Free Documentation License.
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