This paper shows the analysis of the Zygmunt Bauman’'s thought in his marxist period (1960s). Article starts with Bauman’'s statement on importance of social sciences and humanities in the building of socialist Poland’'s Peoples Republic. Then author analyzes category of „ideology”, a four main modern ideologies: conservative, liberal, ideology of christianity and communist. Next chapter is focused on the issue of class warfare. This paper contains also general characteristics of terms „alienation” and „commodity fetishism” in Marxian thought. Young Bauman was communist and radical follower of the marxism. In conclusion, author in short underlines, that ideology could be helpful in scientific enterprise, but only, if thinker is consciously choosing ideology and knows its strong and weak sides.
In this paper the author discusses the concept of hegemony as a tool of political analysis. He reviews the history of the concept within the Marxist tradition (Kautsky, Bernstein, Sorel, Gramsci), focusing in the key part of the paper on the idea of hegemony in contemporary context, especially on Ernesto Laclau's views. In conclusion the author interprets the theory of hegemony as a rescue strategy whose aim has been to save Marxism ,,from the inside''. In his view, Ernesto Laclau aims to achieve this goal by eliminating from the Marxist theory the residues of essentialism, and by combining Marxism with the theory of discourse and deconstruction.
This text show the analysis of Christian thought by Marxist philosophers: Alain Badiou, Slavoj Žižek and Terry Eagleton who discover subversive message in Christianity. They reject the official interpretation of Christianity represented by churches and argue that Christian thought has emancipatory message, which serves to creative critique of capitalism and postmodernism. At the same time, they denounce other religions that distract attention from problems caused by capitalism and serve as justification for capitalist social order. The criticism is also directed at the legacy of the Enlightenment, whose critical message has been squandered. Atheism and rationalism, values formerly regarded as progressive, now turn out to justify conservatism.
The paper is a part of a wider discussion regarding such problems as the right to the city, spatial justice or gentrifi cation. Drawing from the Marxist tradition, the article focuses especially on the heritage of Frederick Engels and the analysis of his crucial “urban” writings: The Condition of the Working Class in England (1845) and The Housing Question (1872). On the one hand the article offers relatively literal reconstruction of Frederick Engels’ views and their evolution. In this regard it focuses on a description of numerous practices of depriving the working classes of the rights to the city (e.g. miserable conditions of living, cottage system as a form of social control). On the other hand the paper translates these classic views into the contemporary sociological language and imagination, putting them into the context of such practices as spatial (in)justice or gentrifi cation.
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.
The author engages in a polemic with a structuralist perspective on globalisation. Whereas acknowledging the fact that the particular perspective has dominated the globalisation debate in recent years, he assumes a highly critical stand towards that view. In the authors' eyes, there is no evidence sufficient to support not only the structuralis thesis itself but also any deterministic approach towards globalisation. However, determinism - albeit of its multiple faces - still enjoys enormous popularity within the academic milieu, and even seems to be shared by the circles that consistently disagree on any other subject. In the end, it is argued the third wave of globalization requires a great deal of reflection at the level of ontology, epistemology and methodology.
Marxism accepted the notion of social justice, but realized it through liquidation of private property and violence of the totalitarian state. Liberalism and neoliberalism, in the name of maximal economic liberalism, reject the idea of social justice and postulate a minimal state. Republicanism and communitarianism accept ideas of common good and social justice. The social teaching of the Church proposes a subsidiary state which is not a protective one. Contemporary popes – Pius XI (Quadragesimo anno), John XXIII (Mater et Magistra), Paul VI (Populorum progressio), John Paul II (Sollicitudo rei socialis, Centesimus annus) – postulate participation of the state in social justice. The main of its obligations are: protection and financial aid for key sectors of economic life (including agriculture), profamily policy, fighting against unemployment and providing fair salary, limited economic intervention (while respecting the rules of the free market economy at the same time), medical and social care.
Rosa Luxemburg’s proposal on researching Marx’s reproduction and capital accumulation theory was not a random selection but her reflection on capitalist crisis. Therefore, only re-reading The Accumulation of Capital from the viewpoint of crisis can we understand the thought of the work more profoundly. That is the basis for this thesis.
Rosa Luxemburg significantly expanded economic thought for the first time seriously putting the issues of effective demand and money in a capitalist economy. Although her attempts to unravel how capitalism expanded reproduction takes place in the universal acceptance were considered to be incorrect, but it was close to a good solution pointing to a possible role for the public sector and quite accurately guessing the role it plays in the dynamics of capitalism export. Her idea was developed by Michal Kalecki, who proved that private investment can drive economic situation developed capitalism, which by nature have a tendency to crash, as described in his simulations Henryk Grossman. However, Kalecki predicted that public investment and debt will save capitalism, that he had no illusions that these solutions except the crises and political offensive of the capitalists. The prospect of Kalecki is in most aspects in line with contemporary neo-chartalist monetary theory, which assumes stable growth thanks to the possibility of endogenous money creation by the state and commercial banks. But is it broader and more mature politically, because the polish marxists predicted that about the prospects of capitalism will not decide even the most realistic economic policies of the democratic government, but in fact not entirely predictable class struggle between the capitalists and the working class.
Der Band enthält die Abstracts ausschließlich in englischer Sprache.
EN
While Industrial Revolution helped England to become a great power in the world, capitalism created a huge gap between the middle classes and working classes. Observing the condition of the society, Marx and Engels created their famous claim of class struggle in The Communist Manifesto. They emphasized the gap between two classes and how to revolt against the capitalist system by the working class. This paper ventures to study the class issue in the Victorian society from the perspective of the Marxist literary theory. It analyses how the capitalist system makes working class people’s life miserable while it enriches the lives of middle class people. In this respect, Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel Mary Barton will be studied together with the links between the novel and The Communist Manifesto.
FR
Le numéro contient uniquement les résumés en anglais.
The collapse of Eastern Bloc equivalent with disappearance of the Second World left great political and geographical sphere in the ‘vacuum of ideas’. A priori the Postcommunist space has been included into transition and transformation studies discourses. In principle following the scientific fashion whole former space of Eastern Bloc has been classified as the developing consolidating democracies with neoliberal model of economy. Futuristic presumptions from the beginning of 90s after 25 years required additional critical perspective and revision. Social facts analysis is emphasizing the mistaken and limited contexts of transitology and in parallel leads to reflection why postcolonial potential of the sphere is by postcolonial theory omitting. Paper is delivering the analyze of the significant obstacles for postcolonial rewriting of the history of postcommunist space amid others the role of Marxism, importance of experience, reductionist character of transition studies and wrong interpretation of the basic assumptions of postcolonialism. Article is aiming to describe those crucial barriers which led to the ignoring of the achievements of postcolonial critique in the analysis of cultural, social and political conditions of former Second World.
This paper aims to present the methodological face of Polish historiography after World War II. In the centre of the Author’s interest is Marxism and its role in historians’ research practice. The article briefly mentions other methodological trends present in Polish historiography after 1956 (Annales school, individualistic historicism).
My paper refers to Leszek Kołakowski’s Main Currents of Marxism: Its Origin, Growth, and Dissolution (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1987). Kołakowski’s intention was to write a textbook on the history of Marxism based on his lectures but his book is much more than that. It is a philosophical treatise in which Marx’s doctrine of mankind and the program of its liberation are critically analysed and reinterpreted. The core of Marx’s philosophy is the idea of man and the belief that the real existence of humans is not identical with their essence. Kołakowski shows that this belief is rooted in mythological thinking, the Platonic tradition, and in the Christian thought. A moral that follows from Kołakowski’s critical analysis of Marx’s doctrine is that man has never lived in a paradise and yet he perceives himself as banished thereof; that he will never enter a paradise and yet he cannot live without the faith that this is somehow possible. Therefore, what he should do is to have a minimum of common sense and skepticism related to it, for they would protect him against the traps laid by false prophets repeatedly asserting that they know the means to construct the paradise today or at least tomorrow.
PL
Artykuł traktuje o Leszka Kołakowskiego Głównych nurtach marksizmu (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1987). Zamiarem Kołakowskiego było napisanie podręcznika z historii marksizmu na podstawie prowadzonych przez niego wykładów, ale jego książka jest czymś więcej. Jest to traktat filozoficzny, w którym marksowska doktryna człowieka i program jego wyzwolenia poddane są krytycznej analizie i reinterpretacji. Sednem filozofii Marksa jest idea człowieka i przekonanie, że rzeczywista egzystencja ludzi nie jest tożsama z ich istotą. Kołakowski pokazuje, że źródłem tego przekonania jest myślenie mitologiczne, tradycja platońska i myśl chrześcijańska. Morał, który wynika z Kołakowskiego analizy doktryny Marksa jest taki, że człowiek nigdy nie żył w raju, a jednak uważa, że został z niego wygnany; że nigdy nie znajdzie się w raju, a jednak nie może żyć bez wiary, że w jakiś sposób jest to możliwe. Powinien zatem zachować odrobinę zdrowego rozsądku i związanego z nim sceptycyzmu, co zabezpieczałoby go przed popadnięciem w sidła łatwych obietnic fałszywych proroków, niezmiennie zapewniających, iż znają skuteczne środki osiągniecia owego raju już dziś, a najpewniej jutro.
The article deals with the relation of the Social Democratic Czechoslavonic party in Austria to the consumer cooperative movement. This relation developed from rejection at the very beginning (as a result of Marxism and negative experiences from the past), to being accepted as a part of the party in year 1907. The central role in this process was played by the changes in the political thinking as a result of strengthening Revisionism, and also unofficial cooperation between consumer cooperatives and local socialist organizations at the end of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century
This article addresses the theoretical problems which matriarchal theory has introduced into Marxism (Engels and Soviet scholarship). The author discusses fi ve problem areas: 1. The extent to which it is possible to defi ne social formations and modes of production using gender categories. 2. The relationship between matriarchy (or: the high position of women) and communism (in the past as well as the future). 3. The relationship of matriarchal theory to the general premises of the materialist theory of history (the dialectic of productive forces and relations of production). 4. The relationship between matriarchal theory and theoretical issues relating to sexuality, in particular female sexuality. 5. The extent to which it is possible to construct collective identities based on the matriarchal tradition and the tradition of research into matriarchy (Russian identity, Eastern identity – in opposition to Western identity). The author proposes that the Marxist typology of the modes of production (based on the category of “asexual” “direct producer”) be supplemented by a typology of the relationship between women and men (in the process of production), and formulates the following questions concerning the future: – Will a future socialist revolution be able to establish a connection with the remains of matriarchal “ideology” surviving in the social consciousness (above all, in the consciousness of older women)? – Will the ethos of motherhood be an element of the ideology of a future socialist society? – Can Marxism eschew its occidental bourgeois revolution perspective, and take as its reference point the (collectivist-matriarchal) Eastern identity (as was unwittingly done by Soviet researchers into matriarchy during the Stalinist period)?
The article is a critical reading of Jacques Derrida’s Spectres of Marx. Apart from presenting the Eagleton's and Negri’s critical interpretations and philosophical unproductiveness of Derrida's proposals, I also try to show their inability to fulfill the ethical and political promises, which they makes.
PL
Artykuł jest krytyczna interpretacją Widm Marksa Jacquesa Derridy. Obok przedstawienia krytycznych odczytań Eagletona czy Negriego, próbuję pokazać nie tylko filozoficzną jałowość propozycji Derridy, ale także niezdolność do wywiązania się z politycznych i etycznych obietnic, które składa.
The main objective of this article is to find the actual subject of the classical marxist revolution. The paper starts with the analysis and critics of the modern views on the process of revolution and its effects. Currently, critical theory depicts the project of socialism/communism in completely utopist manner, the project of workers revolution is integrated with the project of total emancipation of the women, nature and everything. The criticism of this approach is also the criticism of operaist and anarchist belief in the naturally obtained revolutionary consciousness of proletariat. Showing differences in the ideological identities between different parts of proletariat I show the global worker class as totally divided between bourgeois and proletarian ideologies. The class struggle within workers class is a tool of bourgeois and its colonialism. Next, pointing at Lenin’s concept of imperialism as the current stage of capitalism I try to describe some most important, necessary conditions for the revolution to occur and to indicate the exact moment of the revolutionary outbreak.
To argue for the acknowledgment of the importance of historical materialism today when the cold-war and communism have for more than two decades ceased to exist it might create the perception of appearing dejected. Yet such a task which we attempt to take in this work is possible, if only because of the way that our actuality has depicted itself. One can argue for example that the significance of historical materialism as an elucidating method was never reliant on the success of the authoritarian regimes of communism that gave it a face of their own, any more than has traditional conservatism been dependent on social Darwinism, racist or/and aggressive regimes. Beyond this indication we argue of the possibility that historical materialism can be recognised as explanatory system, as one that in derivation and maturity has as its focus of analysis and particularly lays emphasis on what more than ever before governs our social world today, capitalism. The cold war proved the ground or rather the fit for concealing the social and economic divide and made that division namely in competing strategic interest: with the failure of communism and the freeing of historical materialism itself, IR might as well accept the degree to which socio-economic issues determined its agenda and policy of the west.
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