Socialist Humanism Research Articles

The Wager of Lucien Goldmann: Tragedy, Dialectics, and a Hidden God

This is a full-length study of a major figure of postwar French intellectual life, who was a champion of socialist humanism. While many Parisian leftists staunchly upheld Marxism in the 1950s and 1960s, Lucien Goldmann insisted that Marxism was by then in severe crisis and had to reinvent itself radically in order to survive. He rejected the traditional Marxist view of the proletariat and contested the and antihumanist theorizing that infected French left-wing circles in the 1960s. Highly regarded by thinkers as diverse as Jean Piaget and Alasdair MacIntyre, Goldmann is shown here as a socialist who, unlike many others of his time, refused to portray his aspirations for humanity's future as an inexorable unfolding of history's laws. This work summarizes Goldmann's achievements - his genetic structuralist method, his sociology of literature, and his libertarian socialist politics.

Socialist humanism and the problem of crime

Crime is understood as a problem of human existence. Assumed is the intersubjectivity of social reality, and the need for an interdisciplinary and integrative approach to criminology. Along the way, a consideration of (1) the relativity of things human, (2) the modes of having and being in contemporary society, (3) the interdependence of all things, and (4) the way of peace. The ideas of Erich Fromm are germane to our thinking in the development of a peacemaking criminology.

The Rule of Law and Muggletonian Marxism: The Perplexities of Edward Thompson

Like William Blake, Edward Thompson succeeded to think the coexistent 'contrary states' of law: as idealism and materialism, freedom and domination, community and alienation. He presented us with an enigma: how to reconcile both his idealization of the rule of law and his championing of antinomianism. Thompson himself did not deny their contrariness; he simply embraced it as a unity of opposites. The real dilemma which his writings expressed with such wit and passion was the relation between two ideals of political community: the community of law and the community of love.' It is this which lent his socialist humanism such qualities of richness and tension. In both its juridic and antinomian aspects, Thompson's approach to law was critical, subversive, brimming with bloody-minded distrust of power, and utterly dismissive of an authoritarian legalism which equates the rule of law with the will of government. The politics of socialist humanism, with its emphasis on the revolutionary and creative character of the struggles of the exploited and oppressed, provided the language to unite these two sides of Thompson's critique: its 'method' was to privilege the unity of experience over its logical segmentation. Thompson's quest to marry the 'contrary states' of law stands in stark contrast to the torn halves of contemporary political thought, divided between its Enlightenment, juridic wing, emphasizing rights and citizenship, and its Anti-Enlightenment, antinomian wing, emphasizing justice,

E.P. Thompson, Socialist Humanism and Politics from below

E.P. Thompson, Socialist Humanism and Politics from below

E. P. Thompson: Critical Perspectives.

Editorsa Preface. Introduction by Keith McClelland. 1. Edward Thompson, Social History and Political Culture: Geoff Eley. 2. How Classes are Made: William H. Sewell, Jr. 3. The Tale of Samuel and Jemima: Catherine Hall. 4. Celebrating Thompsona s Heroes: Renato Rosaldo. 5. Falling Through the Cracks: Ellen Meiksins Wood. 6. History, Marxism and Theory: Robbie Gray. 7. E. P. Thompson and the Significance of Literature: John Goode. 8. Socialist Humanism: Kate Soper. 9. From Total War to Democratic Peace: Martin Shaw. 10. E. P. Thompson, The British Marxist Historical Tradition: Harvey J. Kaye.

Towards a Socialist History

Towards a Socialist History: Socialist Humanism and the Critique of Economism Simon Clarke Simon Clarke Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar History Workshop Journal, Volume 8, Issue 1, AUTUMN 1979, Pages 137–156, https://doi.org/10.1093/hwj/8.1.137 Published: 01 October 1979

Stan i perspektywy etyki w Rumunii

The author describes briefly the activities of different ethical centres and gives a survey of the principle directions of ethical research in Romania. These include primarily normative problems (such as moral progress, the structure of moral consciousness, marital and family morals, the ethics of labour, socialist humanism), the theoretical problems (the relation of ethics to science, the sociology of morals, the history of morals, and a critique of contemporary ethical systems) and translations of classical ethical works. The recent publication of a project for a code of socialist morality gives evidence of the advance and significance of ethical research in Romania.

Political Theology and Social Ethics: The Socialist Humanism of Karl Barth

Thirteen years ago Will Herberg described the work and influence of Karl Barth in the following way:Karl Barth is, beyond all doubt, the master theologian of our age. Wherever, in the past generation, men have reflected deeply on the ultimate problems of life and faith, they have done so in a way that bears the unmistakable mark of the intellectual revolution let loose by this Swiss thinker in the years immediately following the first world war…. If any man has ever put his sign on the thinking of his time, it is Karl Barth, the father of the ‘dialectical theology’.

Le problème de la nation dans le marxisme français

The problem of the nation in French Marxism gives rise to many difficulties. Most of the Marxist scholars, in spite of all their efforts, have not been able to explain the nation coherently in Marxist terms. Most frequently the attempt is made to integrate the nation into Marxist ideology by equating it to a social class. But this identification is impossible: (1) The nation and the social class are not treated on the same level in Marxist sociology. For Marxism, social class and nation have an unyielding content that prevents the reduction of one to the other. (2) The classes in a society play a dysfunctional role whereas the nation is an integrative factor that overcomes the divisions. (3) Finally, the class struggle, according to Marx, leads to social revolution, while a national struggle can only produce a political revolution. This analysis shows that it is impossible to integrate the nation in Marxist theory, if one grants to the nation an absolute value in the social order.Marxism treats the nation as a secondary reality of the social order. It is the category of “partial-totality” which provides the key to this integration. Society is the totality, but not an empty one. It is a totality which gathers together other totalities linked in an essentially dynamic relationship. Marxism defends the concept of nation as a partial totality, that is as an “historic entity,” but in so doing deprives it of any absolute and definitive character and of formal autonomy. It is as a partial totality simultaneously determined by “the” totality (as goal) and by concrete behaviour or praxis (which constructs totality) that Marxism retains and defends the nation not only as a strategic and momentary element but also as a support for specific values which are integrated into the universalism of the civilization of free men.Thus the French Marxists, faithful to their principles, have not only accepted the nations, but have even defended them as “partial totalities” and as the medium of praxis. It is by a distortion that some French Marxists such as Aragon, Casanova, Cogniot, Leduc, etc., have been able to surround the nation by a halo as if it had an eternal value in itself. More coherent are those who like Henri Lefebvre or Maxime Rodinson have seen in the nation a reality attached to historical development, setting loose in the development of humanity those values which are durable acquisitions in themselves, but whose forms are subject to time and to the renewal of praxis.It is thus that neither the identification, nor even equality, but the simultaneity of national culture and socialist humanism can be explained. The specific can take the form of the universal.

LA MANIPULACIÓN POLÍTICA DE LA INTERNACIONAL COMUNISTA

En este artículo, desarrollado a partir de la tesis doctoral titulada El humanismo socialista de Erich Fromm. Cuius regio eius religio, que defenderé próximamente en la Universidad de Extremadura, mostraremos cómo Willi Münzenberg, principal organizador de la propaganda de la Komintern, orientó sutilmente a los intelectuales –hasta un nivel desconocido hasta entonces– hacia la esfera comunista. El deseo de una utopía que superase los viejos valores fue el arma que le daría su control. La solidaridad, los deseos de paz y la oposición franca a la guerra y al fascismo fueron utilizados para que seguidores y colaboradores trabajasen en aras de los intereses de la Unión Soviética.

Lenin on the Independent Initiative and Creativity of the Personality in the Moral Sphere

V. I. Lenin's formulation of the problem of the moral individual has very great importance for the theory and practice of communist education. Vladimir Il'ich considered activity in the struggle for communist ideals as the most striking feature of such an individual. In seeing communist morality as a powerful transforming force, he taught that the education of the masses in a spirit of devotion to communism, in collectivism, socialist humanism, patriotism, and internationalism, was the major task of ideological work. He demanded that consciousness of the absolute binding nature of communist moral standards be instilled in all members of our society. Lenin considered the Soviet people's moral unity, formed on this basis, as a clear manifestation of the superiority of socialism over capitalism.

Socialist Humanism

Less than ten years ago the ‘exhaustion of political ideas’ was widely proclaimed. At least in the Western World the differences dividing parties of the left and right seemed to be getting less and changes of government only made for a little more or a little less emphasis on economic planning and welfare. One of the most renowned of American political scientists wrote at the end of the 1950s:. . . the fundamental political problems of the industrial revolution have been solved: the workers have achieved industrial and political citizenship, the Conservatives have accepted the Welfare State, and the democratic Left has recognized that an increase in overall state power carries with it more dangers to freedom than solutions for economic problems. This very triumph of the democratic social revolution in the West ends domestic politics for those intellectuals who must have ideologies or utopias to motivate them to political action.In the space of a few years, however, the atmosphere has changed. The collection of essays edited by Erich Fromm under the title Socialist Humanism well summarizes the change in outlook; here are thirty-six articles, most of them written specially for the book, affirming unequivocally that men can and should create their own world, that elitism is not inevitable and that work can be a creative activity. Of course, a book written by so many hands and claiming, at least on the dustjacket, to cover Marxism, Gandhi, Renaissance humanism, existentialism, Utopia, history, science, dialectic, psychoanalysis, freedom, alienation, justice, labour, welfare, ethics, law, Christianity, technology, and revolution, must at times be exasperating.

Humanism

Humanism (from the Latin humanus - human, humane; educated) narrowly construed, is the secular thought of the Renaissance, involving the study of ancient philosophy, ethics, art and languages; broadly understood it is a progressive trend in social thought, which upholds the dignity, freedom and many-sided development of the individual and the betterment of man's relationships in society. The new and higher form of humanism - Marxist humanism (socialist humanism, proletarian humanism) is an aspect of the consistently scientific world view and practical activities of the working class, the object of which is the liberation of working people of all races and nations from class and national oppression and inequality, and the institution of true human freedom and happiness by the establishment of a communist society in which the individual will enjoy all-round development and in which the most just of principles: "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs," will be carried into practice. Socialism is the first and lower phase of communism.

Humanism

Humanism (from the Latin humanus — human, humane; educated) narrowly construed, is the secular thought of the Renaissance, involving the study of ancient philosophy, ethics, art and languages; broadly understood it is a progressive trend in social thought, which upholds the dignity, freedom and many-sided development of the individual and the betterment of man's relationships in society. The new and higher form of humanism — Marxist humanism (socialist humanism, proletarian humanism) is an aspect of the consistently scientific world view and practical activities of the working class, the object of which is the liberation of working people of all races and nations from class and national oppression and inequality, and the institution of true human freedom and happiness by the establishment of a communist society in which the individual will enjoy all-round development and in which the most just of principles: "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs," will be carried into practice. Socialism is the first and lower phase of communism.

The Dual Character of Marxian Social Science

For the purpose of understanding recent developments in Soviet historiography, it is necessary to consider its philosophical basis in the classic works of Marx and Engels. Especially pertinent are the normative orientations and epistemic foundations of Marxian social science, and the relevance of scientific socialism and historical materialism to the leading principles of not only Marxian historiography, but also political economy. Of basic importance is the dual commitment of socialist humanism to both the common good and the partisan interests of a particular class, and the dual character of materialist dialectics in its effort to be scientifically impartial and intellectually partisan at the same time. Also revealing is the high degree of correlation between “vulgar Marxist” partisanship in the social sciences and ultra-leftist heterodoxy and between “formalism” or “academicism” in social science and revisionist political persuasions.

Abstract Humanism and Socialist Humanism

This article, taken from a leading Soviet literary journal, elaborates the concept of social humanism as applied to literature. It is also concerned with a frequently discussed question in Soviet literary criticism — the nature of the hero in Soviet and other modern literature. The authors are researchers at the Gorky Institute of World Literature. Voprosy Literatury (Problems of Literature), 1960, No. 12 — slightly abridged.

Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy and Socialism of the West: an Attempt to lay the Foundations of a New Socialist Humanism

Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy and Socialism of the West: an Attempt to lay the Foundations of a New Socialist Humanism