 Tracing the Genesis of the Split between Western and Soviet Marxism: the Case of Karl Korsch and Georg Lukacs in the 1920s Debate over ‘Ultra-Leftism’Vlada Asadulaeva
HSE Working papers from National Research University Higher School of Economics Abstract: Although a certain incommensurability between Soviet and Western Marxism has been assumed in a wide variety of studies, no research has been done on the genesis of the split between the two traditions in the context of the political turmoil of the 1920s. The current study aims to address this issue. By highlighting the commitment of the so-called ‘fathers of Western Marxism’ to the political tactics of left communism, I argue that the tradition of Western Marxism emerged specifically as a philosophical justification for what in the Soviet Union was considered the ‘ultra-left’ political ideology. Further, I demonstrate that that the works of Karl Korsch and Georg Lukacs were read precisely in this light by the Bolshevik philosophers whose criticism marked an important watershed in the genesis of the split between Western and Soviet Marxists. Keywords: Western Marxism; Soviet Marxism; Georg Lukacs; Karl Korsch; Left Communism (search for similar items in EconPapers) Published in WP BRP Series: Humanities / HUM, June 2023, pages 24 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hig:wpaper:212/hum/2023 Access Statistics for this paper More papers in HSE Working papers from National Research University Higher School of Economics |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.