Western Marxism and Its Development

May 2018

Prof. Gao Fang senior research fellow in Scientific Socialism Studies, Beijing

The concept of Western Marxism needs to be traced back to the 1920s. After the First World War , the Russian Revolution was victorious, but the revolutions in Central and Western Europe failed. In summarizing the reasons for the failure of the revolution and exploring the revolutionary path, Lukacs , Korsch and others pointed out that the reason for the failure of the revolution was the loss of class consciousness of the proletariat , which was caused by the economic determinism of the Second International.  At the same time, this also proved that the Russian path was not feasible in Central and Western Europe. By 1923, Lukacs and Korsch had written books respectively, interpreting Marxism from a humanistic perspective and emphasizing the continuity of Marx’s thought with Hegel’s thought.

Its Concepts and Its Strong Anti-totalitarian Tone

Currently there is a Marxist trend in modern Western countries that opposes totalitarianism .

This anti-totalitarianism thought trend had first emerged in the 1920s and was initially a “left” trend within the Communist International.

After being criticized by the Communist International, it developed outside the communist party. This trend did not call itself or be called “Western Marxism” at the beginning.

In 1955, Merleau-Ponty emphasized the opposition between Marxism and totalitarianism in his book The Adventures of the Dialectic, and traced the tradition of the former back to History and Class Consciousness published by G. Lukacs in 1923. Since then, people have widely used this concept to refer to this trend of thought.

In the New Left movement in the West in the late 1960s, especially in the French ” May Storm ” in 1968 , this trend of thought was regarded by radical young students and workers as an ideological weapon against the hierarchical alienation system of developed capitalist society. Western Marxism scientifically combines Marxism with some schools of modern philosophy, and puts forward views that are opposite to totalitarianism in the analysis of modern society, the outlook for socialism, and the strategy and tactics of revolution.

Two Different Trends of Western Marxism

Within Western Marxist thought, there are two different tendencies: First trend: Interpreting and developing Marxism in accordance with the spirit of Hegelianism , Freudianism , and existentialism , which is called “Hegelian Marxism”, “Freudian Marxism” and “Existentialist Marxism”. 

Second trend: interpreting and developing Marxism in accordance with the spirit of neopositivism and structuralism , which is called “neopositivist Marxism” and “structuralist Marxism”.

Freudian Marxism, represented by German philosophers Reich , H. Marcuse , and E. Fromm , pointed out that sexual impulse is one of the material needs of human beings, just like hunger, thirst, and labor.

Based on this, they advocated the development of a “psychoanalysis guided by dialectics and humanism” as a branch of dialectical materialism , using it to explain the psychological process of human oppression and incorporate socialist revolution into the channel of repression and liberation of sexual instinct.

Existentialist Marxism, represented by French philosophers J.-P. Sartre and Merleau-Ponty, points out that the main essence of man lies in his self-creative practice. For this reason, personal practice should become the basic starting point of the dialectical method, and personal autonomy and free will should become the source of the future class struggle that Marxism aspires to. It advocates using existentialism to understand the subjective life experience of individuals within the framework of Marxism’s understanding of the objective aspects of history from the perspective of the results of human activities.

Neo -positivist Marxism, represented by Italian philosophers Della Volpe and Colletti , politically opposes the policy of replacing science with vague humanism and Hegelian rhetoric, and has an incorrect understanding of modern capitalism; theoretically, it categorically denies any continuity between Marxism and Hegel, and advocates defining the dialectics of science as the materialist logic of modern experimental science marked by the “concrete-abstract-concrete cycle.”

“Structuralist Marxism” represented by French philosopher L. Althusser interprets Marxism in a dehumanized way, removing all anti-scientific ideological categories attached to it. To this end, L. Althusser divides the development of Marx’s thought into an early non-scientific ideological period and a later scientific period, interpretes Marxism as anti-empiricism, anti-historicism, and theoretically anti-humanism.

Western Marxism advocates rediscovering and re-creating Marxism

Western Marxism advocateds that Marxism gradually became incompatible with the historical movement and rejected the achievements of non-Marxism: “as a result, Marxism was often in danger of not understanding the experience of the changes and development of the working class and other classes. In order to prevent and overcome this problem, Western Marxism opposes dogmatism and advocates that each generation of Marxists should rediscover and recreate Marxism”.

In the process of rediscovering and recreating Marxism, different tendencies and schools of Western Marxism generally emphasizes one aspect of Marxism and criticized and denied another aspect; they all opposed Marx to Engels and Lenin and refuted some of Engels and Lenin’s views according to their own ideas.

Different tendencies and schools of Marxism unanimously emphasized borrowing the achievements of modern bourgoise philosophy. They either systematically borrowed concepts, terms and categories from certain schools of modern bourgoise philosophy, or uses certain philosophical ideas to supplement and innovate Marxism, thus forming a scientific and organic combination of Marxism and modern bourgoise philosophical schools.

Based on the analysis and study of new situations and new phenomena emerging in developed capitalist societes, different tendencies and schools of Marxism have profoundly exposed the chronic diseases and problems of the capitalist system, explored the path of revolution in Western countires, and criticized the shortcomings and defects of the Soviet socialism model.

In 1923, Lukacs and Korsch wrote books respectively, interpreting Marxism as a kind of humanism, and emphasizing the continuity of Marx’s thought with Hegel’s thought. This was fundamentally different from the scientific interpretation of the Second International and the Leninist interpretation of the Third International , and was fiercely criticized. Lukacs was forced to make self-criticism and announced that he would withdraw his views; but Korsch refused to make self-criticism, and instead published an article in 1930 to counter-criticize the Third International. Here, Korsch first proposed the concept of Western Marxism and emphasized its opposition to orthodox Marxism, especially Leninism. But after the 1970s, the concept of Western Marxism has been widely spread around the world. Of course, various different understandings have emerged in the process of such spread. In summary, there are four main different understanding of the concept of Western Marxism:

1. As purely a regional concept: Western Marxism is Marxism in the West, which includes both the independent Marxist theories of Western countries and the theories of the Communist Parties of Western countries.

2. Under the premise of regional concepts, Western Marxism emphasizes the specific ideological connotation and highlights its opposition to Leninism : Western Marxism is a philosophical theoretical system that challenges the Leninist political system.

3. Under the premise of regional concept, the reserach themes transformation is emphasized: Western Marxism shifts its reserach themes from political and economic issues to cultural and ideological issues, and it is argued that Western Marxism  includes both humanistic Marxism and scientific Marxism.

4. Non-regional ideological concept: Any new Marxist theory that transcends the scientific socialism of the Second International, the Leninism of the Third International, and the Trotskyism of the Fourth International , whether in the East or the West, can be called Western Marxism. So why is there so much different understanding of the concept of Western Marxism? The reason lies in Marxism itself.

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