It s all over now, baby blue
The secret of today’s anticommunism consists in the confusion between the theory of real socialism and communist theory, readily, albeit involuntarily, assisted by Stalinists and their unconscious heirs.
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The secret of today’s anticommunism consists in the confusion between the theory of real socialism and communist theory, readily, albeit involuntarily, assisted by Stalinists and their unconscious heirs.
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Philosophy of history in its essence includes the idea that human history has its own meaning, the beginning and the end, that there are driving forces of history, that historical process during its own linear, progressive development aims to fulfil its own purpose and objective, whose realisation leads to the eschatological end of history. The approach of philosophy of history to the world history as a meaningful wholeness with its beginning and end is not known in the ancient foundations of Western European tradition. In Ancient Greek philosophy, which influenced Albert Camus’ Mediterranean thought, historical events were mainly seen as circular movement analogous with the nature. Refusing historical absolutism which sacrifices the man’s present for the sake of an eschatological future, Camus returns to the invincible postulate of the human nature whose secret has been kept by the Mediterranean. With his Mediterranean philosophy Camus confronts moderation with perfection, nature with history, revolt with revolution, carpe diem of the present with eschaton of the future, the sunny thought of the Mediterranean with the darkness of the European North.
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Massimiliano Tomba, Strati di tempo. Karl Marx materialista storico, Jaca Book, Milano 2010. In this article the author reviews the book Strati di tempo. Karl Marx materialista storico (Jaca Book, Milano 2010) by Massimiliano Tomba, reconsidering it in a wider conceptual-philosophical, cultural-historical, and social-political context. Just like Tomba in his study, the author emphasizes the thoughts of Karl Marx, especially historical materialism, which represents a framework for rethinking the time, the history, and the (possibility of) revolution, as well as the state of the left today.
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From the perspective of the history of ideas the output of Karl Marx poses a very difficult object of research. Though Marx himself made the issue of social justice a central aspect of his scientific praxis, the idea of “justice” itself seems to be paradoxically rather insignificant in his work. Nevertheless, no other philosophical conception has initiated such a number of social and political movements that eagerly tried to overcome the injustice of the capitalistic system and thereby radically change the fundamental processes of sociation. On the basis of the thoughts of non-Marxist Ralf Dahrendorf I will try to show that Marx’s conception of historical materialism itself contains two ideas of justice: first a “relative” idea of justice, which Marx criticized for being a functional superstructure of the capitalistic system – and the second is an “absolute” idea of justice, which Marx did not articulate directly but which can be understood on the basis of his work as a target of the social revolution. However, in Marx’s work this “absolute” idea of justice is not a utopian one, but it poses a materialistic potential of the capitalistic system that is still waiting for its realization.
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This paper presents Bogdan Suchodolski’s (1903–1992) general programme of socialization of the culture and pedagogical programme of creation „the new man”. The main question is: is this conception a marxist’s „programme maximum”? And, if not, what’s the marxist’s „programme maximum” in the subject of culture (in the wider meaning), and what’s the main goal of the marxist’s pedagogics? Is it a programme of humanization of the work, or a programme of egalitarian „kingdom of freedom”, where everybody are an artists? What’s the role of pedagogics in preapering to future „kingdom of freedom”? Could be Suchodolski’s pedagogics usefull in this area? Although Suchodolski’s vision of culture based on optimistic presumptions according possibility of the future humanization of the work, one of the most important goal of his pedagogical programme is preapering to creativity activity during free time and popularization of non-instrumental style of life (also, non-instrumental attitude to the knowledge). The author tries to reconstruct of evolution of Suchodolski’s conception of the future, and suggests, that late Suchodolski modifies his old views on the possibility of radical dezalienation of the work.
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Na značaj i ulogu teorije za avangardu ukazali su Marks i Engels još u Manifestu komunističke partije, kao i u mnogim drugim svojim djelima. Od samog početka njihovog stvaranja proleteri svih zemalja gledaju u njima svoje učitelje i ponose se njima kao jednima od najuniverzalnijih i najdubljih umo- va, jednima od najplemenitijih i najsamoprijegornijih karaktera koje uopšte poznaje istorija. Savremeni proleter koji je usvojio teoriju naučnog socijalizma i koji ostaje vjeran njenom duhu ne može a da ne bude revolucionar i po logici i po osjećanju, to jest ne može a da ne pripada najopasnijem ,varijatetu' revolucionara.«
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The main thrust of the paper could be brought down to the thesis that the concept of middle class is an oxymoron. This is the case because there is a contradiction between the associations pertaining to the adjective part of the term in question and those pertinent to its noun part. “The middle” is a hierarchical term, which fits social stratification rather than class, as class relations generally have a more complex character. The said confusion matters because of some important weaknesses of stratification approaches.
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Dame i gospodo! Prije nego što započnem sa svojim predavanjem, rado bih zahvalio Rajnsko-rurskom klubu na ljubaznome pozivu. Po tom bih se unaprijed rado ispričao za svoj loš njemački. Za mene je, međutim, velika radost držati predavanje na Hegelovu jeziku.
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Tko je bio Aleksandar Vladimirovič Koževnikov? Kako bismo shvatili Koževnikova, Rusa koji je preuzeo francusko državljanstvo i promijenio ime Aleksandar Koževnikov u Alexandre Kojeve, trebamo za misliti utjecajnoga agenta ruske obavještajne službe, KGB-a, koji je djelovao u središtu Europe i francuske ekonomske i međunarodne ekonomske politike.
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Kada je Walter Benjamin 1935. godine otvorio nova ≫dva bojna polja≪ mišljenja sabrana u prvome nabačaju motiva iz Arkada/Das Passagen-Werk i Umjetničkoga djela u razdoblju tehničke reproduktivnosti (Das Kunstwerk in Zeitalter seiner technischen Repro duzierbarkeit), u jednom pismu Theodoru W. Adornu govorio je o procesu preobrazbi. Spomenuo je izraze ≫metafizika u kristaliziranome stanju≪ i ≫dijalektičke slike≪.
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The paper deals with the normative democratic theory of the Czech dissident Petr Uhl (born in 1941), a revolutionary Marxist and Trotskyite. It describes the ambitions and analyses the problems of his main political work “Program of Society’s Self-Organization” written in the late 1970s. In this work Uhl attempted to describe, interpret, and criticize the existing political system in Czechoslovakia but also in the Western world and designed a normative democratic theory. The article also discusses the question of who influenced his thinking and answers two further questions: How was his “Program” perceived? and Did Uhl change his political point of view in the years following the publication of his program?
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The most influential personality theories, mainly psychoanalysis and its critique, Marxist, and Eastern psychology, help determine the impact of Doris Lessing’s literary engagement and the way literary patterns in her novels redefine terminology detrimental to gender cohabitation. The three crucial elements making up her feminism are compared and the common denominators briefly presented as the basis of a new approach to shaping a socially productive balance between male and female characteristics. Individual novels have been analyzed and compared in order to summarize examples of the novelistic application of her sociopolitical program.
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In this article, Nicos Poulantzas’ theory of the state is evaluated. By evaluating this theory, it is aimed that Poulantzas’ cited ideas on transformation of the state can be influential, only it is understood from a perspective that traces the shift from structuralism to relational approach in his work. Firstly, one of the constituent elements of Nicos Poulantzas’ theory of the state, the philosophy of Louis Althusser is examined. Then Poulantzas’ thoughts on the state are examined in detail. The state’s role in building the social cohesion is noted. The importance of the notions such as isolation effect, hegemony and power bloc is emphasised. Poulantzas’ ideas on the relative autonomy of the political, Bonapartist and bureaucracy are mentioned. Than the change of scope in Poulantzas’s theory is focused on. The relational approach which evaluates the state as the condensation of a relationship of forces between classes is mentioned. It is argued that Poulantzas’ step from seeing the state as a structural entity utilized in building the social cohesion to conceiving it as a relation is an improvement. It is concluded that the relational approach generated by Nicos Poulantzas can be guiding for the critique of instrumentalist and economist approaches within Marxism and also for understanding the fundamental elements and dichotomies of neoliberal state. His theory of exceptional state is examined by his relational approach which adopts more relational concepts like class struggle, political crisis and international conjuncture.
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Eszter Babarczy and László Kisbali in conversation with György Markus
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The article is devoted to the concept of the communist man that emerges from the writings of Vladimir Lenin. The author emphasizes that it is an incomplete concept, and therefore ambiguous - provoking us to fill its “gaps” with material that does not refer directly to the issue of a communist society. The reconstruction in this article follows two concepts: self-discipline and versatility. However, the proposed distinction between positive and negative self-discipline is here of a great importance. Through positive general self- discipline the author understands self-discipline as work for the greater good of society, with the key area of this kind self-discipline being the realm of work. It is therefore mainly a self- disciplined work - necessary due to the absence of mechanisms of economic coercion under communism (embodying the principle of the distribution according to ones needs, rather than ones labor input). By negative self-discipline the author understands refraining from acts that are harmful to society, that is, so-called “excesses” – a necessary element due to the stateless nature of a communist society. Self-discipline (positive and negative) is correlative to communist negative freedom, which consists (in Lenin’s terms) of the absence of any external mechanisms of discipline and thus any “management” of people (even if ultra-democratic in character). In turn, characterizing the Leninist understanding of the postulate of versatility, the author cites, among others, the concept of polytechnic education (put forward by Marx and developed by Nadezhda Krupskaya), the problem of “intelligentsialization” of the proletariat, and therefore the postulate of the assimilation by the proletariat of the positive qualities of the intelligentsia (the extent of its horizons, the capacity for the independent and critical “survival” of humanity’s cultural heritage), however separated from its negative traits (lack of teamwork skills).
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Between the First and Second World Wars, bourgeois philosophy fought against dialectical materialism more indirectly than openly. Through all its currents and schools it tried to undermine people's confidence in their ability to know and to transform the world, taking care to maintain a total silence around dialectical materialism - which they have always endeavoured to reduce to the mechanistic materialism of past ages - the bourgeois philosophers strove to disarm people in the face of life by discrediting the reason and the transformative role of work.
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For Marxists, man was and is, implicitly and explicitly, a primary and permanent theme of philosophy. The deep and multilateral interest in man, both as an "individual" and as a "social being", is constitutive of Marxism. Nowadays, Marxist philosophers, through their many forays into the problems of humanism and alienation, necessity and freedom, socialist and communist morality, the question of character and personality etc., prove that they consider it necessary to address new and new sides of the human question.
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One noteworthy aspect of the theoretical debates between Proudhon and Marx, which is of historical significance in terms of highlighting the relationship between anarchism and Marxism, is their differing views on property. In the discussion of the origin and development of property, Proudhon characterizes property as theft, while Marx argues that property can only be evaluated within the framework of the social production relations of the relevant period. Proudhon’s aim is to analyze the forms of usurpation by revealing the impossibility of property. In Proudhon, who deals with this through the right to abuse, property is conceived as a legal concept and approaches that construct property as a "natural right" are criticized. Pointing out that Proudhon perceives property as a legal will, Marx emphasizes that he reduces all economic relations to property as a general concept of law, and he thinks that Proudhon’s critique of property does not go beyond Brissot’s motto “property is theft” used much earlier. The basis that Marx provides for this idea is that Proudhon’s economic-political critique was also based on the assumptions of the precursors of economic-political. In this study, the property-centered divergence between Proudhon and Marx is revealed through how the assumptions of a real critique of political economy are positioned in the critique of Proudhon.
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The basic thesis of the article is that in historical materialist theory adistinction can be made between the terms work and labor. Work refers to a specificactivity – sewing, weaving, painting, sculpting. Labor refers to the social relationship,primarily between different social groups, i.e., classes – wage labor, serfdom, slavery,petty craftsmanship. Art history has approached the avant-garde mainly from the aspectof artistic work – for example, how the avant-garde transformed work in thedomain of painting into work in the domain of three-dimensional construction. Thisarticle tries to think of the avant-garde as a phenomenon that has transformed art interms of artistic labor. The basis is the transition from constructivism to productivismin Soviet art in the 1920s, and especially Boris Arvatov’s theoretical postulates.
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