The Marx of Communism

Setting Limits in the Realm of Communism

verfasst von: Prof. Alexandros Chrysis

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buchreihe : Marx, Engels, and Marxisms

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

Following Marx’s own itinerary from Paris to London, from politics to the critique of political economy, The Marx of Communism delves into a creatively unfolding international debate on the democracy-communism relation, while supporting a 21st century communism as a social alternative to capitalism. Taking into consideration Marx’s analysis of communism both as a movement and a social formation, this study focuses on the dialectics of transition from capitalism to communism. Dealing with communism as the outcome of a long-term cultural and political process, the author defends Marxian communism as the open-ended constitution of a self-governed demos, whose citizens create their own way of life on the ground of a stateless and classless society. From this point of view, the end of the state does not mean the end, but the revival of politics in terms of a communist bios. Reshaping their collective and personal values and setting limits to the production/technology dynamics of their economy, this book argues, the citizens of a communist polis form a promising antithesis to the private individuals of a capitalist society.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Chapter 1. Introduction: From the Marx of Democracy to the Marx of Communism

Abstract

This introductory chapter places the book in the frame of the author’s long-term project of research and brings to the fore the Marx of communism as a radical thinker whose theory is still stimulating in our days. While acknowledging a crucial asymmetry between Marx’s critique of political economy in comparison to his critique of politics, this introduction raises the question of a twenty-first century communist theory of politics and culture. Defining communism as transcendence and not as elimination of democracy, the introductory section of the book introduces the Marx of communism as a revolutionary intellectual who offers inspiration for a communist society not as the realm of unlimited technological development and economic growth but as a classless and stateless polity of a self-regulated and self-limited demos.

Alexandros Chrysis

Chapter 2. Marx in the City of Enlightenment and Revolutions

Abstract

In this chapter we meet Marx in Paris, in the city of Enlightenment and revolutions. After a brief reference to the social and cultural milieu of Paris, our analysis is focussed on Marx’s formation as a communist thinker. Living in the capital of politics and culture, Marx builds his lifelong friendship with Engels and his intellectual relationship with Heine. At the same time, the radical philosopher has the chance to come in contact with French proletarians and German émigrés. Being fond of their feelings of collectivity and solidarity as well as of their thirst for knowledge, Marx is ready to endorse the communist hypothesis. In this section of the book, emphasis is put on Heine’s stance on proletarian communism, which is critically contrasted with Marx’s approach to communism.

Alexandros Chrysis

Chapter 3. Marx as a Critic of Political Revolution

Abstract

This chapter traces Marx’s transition from democratism to communism through his critique of politics. Starting with the Feuerbachian influence upon Marx’s anthropological thought, this analysis moves forward taking into consideration works such as the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right. Introduction, On the Jewish Question, The Holy Family and sheds light on Marx’s social interpretation of the French Revolution as a political revolution. The significance of French historiography as regards Marx’s transition to communism is substantiated through the material of Kreuznach and Parisian Notebooks and his critique of the Déclarations des Droits de l’ Homme et du Citoyen proves an efficient way to transform the citoyen Marx to a communist thinker. Special attention is paid to Marx’s positive evaluation of the Silesian weavers’ revolt in opposition to Ruge’s negative one. As a defender of a social/proletarian revolution the Marx of democracy comes even more close to the Marx of communism.

Alexandros Chrysis

Chapter 4. Marx as a Thinker of Communism: Communism as a Social Formation (Strategy)

Abstract

While rejecting crude communism and other forms of utopian socialism and communism as well, Marx attempts a version of communism in terms of which human individuality can flourish in every aspect of life. Dealing with Marxian communism as the strategic goal of a proletarian movement, this analysis insists on the thesis that communism, as conceived by Marx, is not merely a mode of production, but a new way of life, that means a new civilisation. In a communist society, the state withers away, but politics as a collective process of making choices, taking decisions, and setting limits to the economic and technological growth still exists. Making use of the Aristotelian distinction between poiesis and praxis, the author considers Marxian communism as a communism of moderation and finitude, that is as a stateless polity, the citizens-producers of which are due to act as self-legislators/self-regulators of their lives and relations.

Alexandros Chrysis

Chapter 5. Marx as a Theoritician of the Communist Revolution: Communism as a Movement (Tactics)

Abstract

This chapter sheds light on communism as a real movement towards a classless and stateless society. Dealing with communism not only as a strategy issue, but also as a question of tactics, the Marx of communism faces the problem of transition from capitalism to communism as a theoretical and political challenge. In this context, crucial issues such as the alienation of the proletariat, the role of the political and intellectual vanguard, and the dictatorship of the proletariat, are discussed and considered in relation to Marx’s analysis of the Paris Commune and in connection to the institutional frame and the political culture of a future socialist/communist polity as well.

Alexandros Chrysis

Chapter 6. The Marx of Communism and the Communist Cause of Our Time

Abstract

The concluding chapter sums up the main key points of the analysis developed in the previous chapters and presents the Marx of communism as a pioneer intellectual of our times. Distinguishing Marxian communism from a variety of reformist and post-Marxist contemporary theoretical versions of communism, this study strongly opposes the theoretical and political misuse of the Marx of communism by the bureaucrats of the “actually existing socialism” states in the East and its fellow communist parties in the West. Emphasising the need for a communist alternative which transcends and does not abolish democracy, the author insists that politics can never and should never be banished and disappear from the communist civilisation. In this sense, communism constitutes the meeting point of politics and culture, a classless and stateless society of all-round personalities who enjoy their freedom as the dialectical synthesis of creativity and self-discipline.

Alexandros Chrysis

Backmatter

Titel: The Marx of Communism
verfasst von: Prof. Alexandros Chrysis
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-031-06742-6
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-06741-9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06742-6