Book Review: Historisch-kritisches Wörterbuch des Marxismus, Band 8/II (Historical-Critical Dictionary of Marxism) by Wolfgang Fritz Haug, Frigga Haug, Peter Jehle and Wolfgang Küttler (eds.)

Abstract

Wolfgang Fritz Haug, Frigga Haug, Peter Jehle and Wolfgang Kuttler (eds.) Historisch-kritisches Worterbuch des Marxismus, Band 8/11 (Historical-Critical Dictionary of Marxism), Berliner Institut fur kritische Theorie, InkriT, Argument-Verlag Hamburg, 2015; 888 pp: 9783886194414, 98 [euro] This review needs to be embedded as a brief reference to the whole project of which this particular volume is just a component part. The Historical-Critical Dictionary of Marxism was founded in 1983, commemorating 100 years from Karl Marx's death. The first volume, edited by Wolfgang Fritz Haug, was published in 1994 and, according to the preface of the present volume, it may take another 20 years to accomplish the planned 15 volumes. The dictionary is now published under the editorial team of Wolfgang Fritz Haug, Frigga Haug, Peter Jehle and Wolfgang Kuttler. The project is based at the Berliner Institut fur kritische Theorie (InkriT), founded in 1996 as a scientific institution at the Freie Universitat Berlin. Since Volume 6, each number has consisted of two books, so we may expect the whole series to encompass 25 books of about 1,000 pages. More than 800 scholars are cooperating in this gigantic and ambitious project. A clue to the inspiration and fundamental concept of this dictionary, or rather encyclopaedia, can be found in the entry on 'Marxismus' by Wolfgang Fritz Haug in the present volume. It reflects on the final stage of Comecon state socialism as a social formation claiming to have implemented the principles of Marx's legacy after the Soviet Revolution. In Germany, a young generation of eminent scholars, having embraced communism or socialism under the auspices of Karl Marx as a movement of liberation from fascist capitalism, started rethinking their political background after the collapse of the students' revolt and the 'reform' programme of the GDR under Erich Honecker. Wolfgang Fritz Haug and Frigga Haug, the best known figures among the founders of the Dictionary, typically represent the generation which embarked on this 'historical-critical' rethink of Marx's legacy and its diverse ramifications. The most recent Volume 8/II, published in 2015, covers 75 entries between 'links/ rechts (left/right) and ' Maschinensturmer' (machine-breakers), almost all of them written by different authors, sometimes more than one, but with no less than seven entries by Wolfgang Fritz Haug alone. Most striking at a first glance is the wide scope and variety of subjects. Besides core issues of Marxism, such as 'Linkssozialismus (left socialism), 'Lohnarbeit' (wage labour), 'Lucacs-Schule', 'Luxemburgismus, 'Marxismus etc., entries under 'Luxus, 'Machiavellismus, 'Marchen (fairy tales), 'Marktfrauen (market-women) etc. are much less obvious. This diversity corresponds with the wide range of theoretical approaches represented by the individual authors, from, on the one hand, adhering to strict orthodoxy, such as Michael Kradtke on 'Lohnform (wage form), to, on the other, contributions in which Marx is neither quoted nor even mentioned, such as Ruth May on 'Marktfrauen. Each entry is written as an essay in its own right, with its own often very extensive bibliography and references to other entries. The whole book consists of 888 pages, not accounting for the extensive appendices. The longest entry I found by Wolfgang Fritz Haug on' Marxistsein/Marxistinsein (male/female being a Marxist) covered 62 pages, whilst the average length of the entries is about 12 pages. …