Sei sulla pagina 1di 13

Social Scientist

Lukcs and Fascism


Author(s): Margit Kves
Source: Social Scientist, Vol. 25, No. 7/8 (Jul. - Aug., 1997), pp. 27-38
Published by: Social Scientist
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3517602
Accessed: 30-05-2017 02:57 UTC

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted
digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about
JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://about.jstor.org/terms

Social Scientist is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Social Scientist

This content downloaded from 67.66.218.73 on Tue, 30 May 2017 02:57:24 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
MARGIT KOVES*

Lukacs and Fascism

It has not occurred to any one of these philosophers to inquire into the
connection of German philosophy with German reality, the connection
of their criticism with their own material world.
German Ideology

The most important challenge of the 1920s and 1930s was the adequate
response to the historical developments connected with the emergence of
Italian, German and other Fascist movements in several countries of Europe.
Georg Lukaics whose work spanned seven decades and ranged over aesthet-
ics, literary criticism, politics and philosophy wrote extensively about Fas-
cism. Lukacs's analysis of the social base and ideological aspects of Fascism
had pointed to dimensions of Fascism, which can occur, in any country at a
particular phase of capitalism.

Fascist parties and their military organizations emerged in the course of ag-
ricultural, industrial and financial crises after the workers revolutions fol-
lowing the First World War. The Communist International and the emigres
of the socialist revolutions in Moscow, Vienna and in their locations of exile,
observed the radicalization of working class politics and expected another
round of revolutions and the world revolution in tlie 1920s. Contrary to
their expectations the slump reduced most of the international Communist
movements to isolated Europe outside Russia. While the slump strengthened
the anti-imperialist movements in the colonies, it transformed the fascist
movements in a number of countries of Europe, in Japan and in South-America
into international movements. The growth of fascist movements was con-
nected with the crisis of existence and unemployment, they were tolerated
and later maintained for their ability to counter and neutralize the political
influence of social-democratic and communist movements in countries where
the left had made important achievements in the area of workers rights and
welfare benefits. Fascist movements adapted many of the symbols and the
rhetoric of left revolutionaries in the 1920s, and had an appeal for those
strata in society who were marginalised as a result of the economic depres-
sion. They also used this appeal to mobilize large masses, engineer street vio-
lence and dispense with democratically elected governments and parliaments.

*University of Delhi, Delhi.


Social Scientist, Vol. 25, Nos. 7-8, July-August 1997

This content downloaded from 67.66.218.73 on Tue, 30 May 2017 02:57:24 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
28 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

The idea of fascism as an international, 'universal' movement with its


centre in Germany goes back to 1933 when Hitler became Chancellor of
Germany. This event sustained fascists financially and ideologically in sev-
eral countries of the world. Hitler's Government gave the illusion of stabili
to those who were affected by the slump. It first eliminated the left labou
movement, then on the basis of the Fascist theory of race it set up concent
tion camps and systematically killed those who were declared to be member
of alien races: Gypsies, Jews, blacks, political enemies, those who were de
fined as a burden on society, the disabled and the handicapped. Fascism ha
a different shape in various countries, in Italy, in Portugal, in Spain, in Au
tria and in Hungary. But all of them could be characterized by an element
old-style reactionary conservatism combined with enthusiasm for tools of
technological modernity, complete disdain for formal or informal democratic
institutions, like Parliaments, elected bodies and leaders, and the vigilance of
police, prisons and armed forces on permanent alert for internal and exter-
nal enemies.
Fascism was a friilure of freedom and democracy because it could secure
the support of large sections of the bourgeois middle class who were consid-
ered to be the chief bearers of these values and the main support of liberal-
democratic institutions in the 19th century.' It evolved a mechanism to win
over sections of society appealing to their ideal of national community and
the Past, using tradition, history and literature and promising future great-
ness through territorial expansion, through military conquest. Part of the
mechanism of appropriation is the abuse of biological and technical
achievements,specially of Darwinian theory and the Indo-European linguis-
tic theory of Max Mueller. Using some elements of these theories a Fascist
hierarchy of races was constructed, declaring the German as the ruling race
and claiming a right to decide about the survival of others.

II

Fascism today employs similar mechanisms of appropriation of history, of


national and religious community and genetic theory. This is why Lukacs'
work on the Fascist appropriation of the German intellectual tradition is
specially relevant for us now.Lukacs responded to Fascism with an urgency,
as an ideological problem which has to be fought at all levels of polemics. He
also kept in mind the analysis of Fascism in the perspective of his philosophi-
cal project. The task of philosophy, as he identified it, is

"in the fact that it expresses concretely and dynamically the possibilities
of the given concrete developmental stage ot humankind (showing up fu-
ture perspectives)."2

In the 1920s and 30s the international communist movement adopted


different strategies of dealing with Fascism and Lukaics' analysis of concrete
situations and strategy sometimes differed from or came into collusion with
the line which the Communist International adopted. This paper deals with
the three phases of Lukacs' work on Fascism, which also coincide with three

This content downloaded from 67.66.218.73 on Tue, 30 May 2017 02:57:24 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
Lukacs and Fascism 29

phases in the history of Fascism. In the first phase, after wh


"the March to Rome", the usurpation of power by the Italian F
Luk'acs dealt with Fascism and the question of strategy in The
political and economic situation in Hungary and the Tasks of
Communist Party. The second phase of Lukaics' work on Fascis
with the early 1930s before the Communist International ado
egy of the Popular Front against Fascism. Lukacs lived at this t
cow and Berlin and wrote articles and papers which discuss problems of
proletarian literature, questions of realism, the role of German ideology and
the middle class in the context of bourgeois consciousness and the possibility
of an alliance against German Fascism. The third phase of Lukaics' work,
after the Seventh Comintern adopted the policy of Popular Front against
Fascism in 1935, include writings about German culture, history and phi-
losophy in the context of Fascism and intellectual tradition.
In 1920 the Hungarian Party was preparing for its Third Congress and
Lukaics was given the task to formulate the Theses about the political and
economic situation in Hungary and the tasks of the Hungarian Communist
Party.3 This is also called The Blum Theses after Lukacs underground name
Blum. Lukaics was deputy minister of culture in the 1919 People's Republic
and had been living in emigration in Vienna for a decade. By 1929 he had
written four major works: History of Development of Modern Drama (1909),
Soul and Forms (1912), a volume of essays and Theory of the Novel (1914-
15) and History and Class Consciousness. The last of these works belonged
in Lukaics' words "to the years of my apprenticeship in Marxism".4 The
articles in this collection, especially "Class Consciousness" and "Reification
and the Consciousness of the Proletariat", elaborate the possibility of over-
coming individual identity through history and merging in class identity.
History and Class Consciousness is considered part of the 'warm current' of
Marxism, together with Ernst Bloch's work of this period. Lukacs' work as
the editor of the journal Communism and his book History and Class Con-
sciousness were described as 'ultra-left' by Lenin. Lukaics himself accepted
the criticism and subscribed to it till the end of his life with some modifica-
tions.
In the 1920s among the emigrants in Vienna, the Hungarian group was
the most numerous and there were political tensions in this group. Lukaics
joined the group of Landler who represented an alternative to Bela Kun, the
former Comissar of the 1919 Hungarian Workers Republic.' The opposition
to the line Kun represented was reflected in The Blum Theses.
The Third Communist International ascribed a great role to the differ-
ences between Italy and Germany and expressed its confidence that the Fas-
cists would not come to power in Germany. The Comintern also described
social democrats as social-fascists and the possibility of an alliance with them
against Fascism was not even thought of.
Trying to evolve an anti-fascist strategy on an international level Lukacs
incorporated in The Blum Theses the conclusions of the Sixth Comintern
and the information available about Italian fascism. His theoretical insights
into an anti-fascist strategy in Hungary relied on the approach of the faction

This content downloaded from 67.66.218.73 on Tue, 30 May 2017 02:57:24 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
30 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

of Landler and the practical knowledge of the Hungar


gathered on his occasional underground trips to Hungary. In contrast to
Bela Kun Lukacs emphasized the possibility of a strategic alliance with the
social democrats in trade unions. He was of the opinion that they could fight
together for a republic as a transitory stage to the workers republic. Lukaics
highlighted the role of imperialism as a possible ground for the development
of Fascism, described the rule of Fascism as the "direct terroristic dictator-
ship of capital" and explained Fascist counter-revolution as a means to block
the proletarian revolution at the time of the radicalization of the class-struggle.
In this context the exposure of the so called "democratic" nature of Fascism
was considered very important.
In The Blum Theses Lukaics describes two possible alternatives for Fas-
cism in Europe, one represented by Italy and one as a future possibility in
Germany and England. Italian Fascism is brought about as the counter-revo-
lution of the petty-bourgeoisie and the prosperous peasantry. Lukacs also
defines 'the drift towards Fascism' in Germany and England emphasizing the
ongoing process. He describes the possibility of Fascism in Germany and
England as different from Italian Fascism. Since Italy is economically a more
backward country, Fascism there relied on the cooperation of the upper bour-
geoisie and the working class bureaucracy. In England and Germany capital
made the economy and politics run smoothly. Lukacs suggests that in the
case of Fascist counter-revolution in Germany and England the upper-class
bourgeoisie and the working class bureaucracy would come into confronta-
tion with the classes which would have participated in the counter-revolu-
tion. The equation between England and Germany proved to be wrong.6
Fascism in Nazi Germany also turned out to be very different from the way
Luka6cs conceptualized it in The Blum Theses.
Lukacs analyses the political situation in Hungary as different from Italy,
Germany and England. The counter-revolution after the Workers Republic
in 1919 in Hungary brought to power some strata of the peasantry and the
petit-bourgeoisie, but the trade unions could not be smashed. Hungary, a
predominantly agricultural country had gone through various phases of mod-
ernization. The state machinery in Hungary was also modernized in the 1920s,
(after the counter-revolution) and there was also foreign investment coming
in from France and England. Lukaics describes the various possibilities that
could be the result of this modernization. One of these is a form of Facism
which would work for the consolidation and the globalization of capital.
Lukaics suggests that this could be countered in Hungary by a common front
of workers and peasants to establish bourgeois democracy. He elaborates
the strategy of the transitional phase of the dictatorship of workers and peas-
ants, which would guaranty democratic, liberal rights and ideological tools
for the workers, and peasants to continue with their struggle and transform
the ownership of the means of production. Lukacs' concept of dictatorship
of workers and peasants and socialist transformation incorporated in the
perspective of anti-fascist alliance in Hungary can be linked to Dimitrov's
proposal of Popular Front at the Seventh Comintern in 1935.
Without going into details of Lukaics' relationship to Social democrats it

This content downloaded from 67.66.218.73 on Tue, 30 May 2017 02:57:24 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
Lukacs and Fascism 31

can be mentioned that he was their main critic from the beginn
First World War when they supported the war, and he was consi
their opponent within the Hungarian Workers Council. Yet in t
Hungary he suggested in The Blum Theses a front of workers an
against Fascism for a transitional democracy and he also recogni
tive role trade unions played in the concrete political situation i
These trade unions were led by Social democrats. This showed his sense of
realism in the Hungarian context.
The Hungarian Communist Party did not adopt the programme of a joint
front of workers and peasants against Fascism. In his later reminiscences
Lukacs said that his isolation in the Hungarian Communist Party in the ques-
tion of The Blum Theses, its rejection and the possibility that he may be
expelled from the party (as Karl Korsch was from the German Communist
Party in 1926) made him publish his self-criticism and decide to concentrate
on his work on an international level.7 His work however proceeded along
the theoretical content of The Blum Theses.

III

Lukacs was officially transferred to Moscow, as a research associate of the


Marx-Engels Institute in 1930. The Institute gave Lukaics the opportunity to
read the Economic-Political Manuscripts in manuscript form. He could also
work on the correspondence of Marx and Engels dealing with aesthetics.
Lukaics joined the work of the institute in the publication and interpretation
of the Sickingen debate8, the debate between Marx, Engels and Lasalle, about
Lasalle's play entitled Franz von Sickingen9. The connection of aesthetics
and worldview which Lukacs underlined in the debate, gave the basis for the
possible development of Marxist aesthetics. As Lukacs said in his autobio-
graphical interview, in 1971 referring to his partisan position in Soviet schol-
arship:

In contrast to our other ideas this one has, interestingly enough, a very
wide currency in the Soviet Union. And the reason of its popularity is that
no one really knows that it was Lifshitz and I who introduced it.10

Lasalle's play was discussed by Marx and Engels in the context of aesthet-
ics and politics, the failure of the 1849 revolution and the author's tragic
view of revolution. At this historical juncture, the question of bourgeois revo-
lution, the specificity of German development and their aesthetic reflection
were at the centre of Lukacs' interest.
Lasalle selected a participant of the 1522-23 rebellion of the German
knights as the protagonist of his play Franz von Sickingen.11 Marx and Engels
criticized Lasalle for the choice of his hero, Sickingen and they drew a paral-
lel between him, a knight and the member of a declining class and Thomas
Miinzer, a theologian and reformer who joined the rebellion with other mem-
bers of his peasant commune and was executed in 1525. Marx and Engels
felt that Miinzer as a representative of the plebeian wing of the Peasant War
would have been a better choice, than Sickingen."2
The tragedy of revolution, which Lasalle professed he wanted to express,

This content downloaded from 67.66.218.73 on Tue, 30 May 2017 02:57:24 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
32 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

became a conflict above time and above history in the p


tions were criticized by Marx and Engels as the inabilit
problem to a concrete social class within a given histori
of alliance was also presented as compromise from the p
stract morality and not depicted as historical necessity.
ity of the play is the reason that the masses of the peo
represented as amorphous. Lukaics underlines the differen
edy of Schiller and Shakespeare and emphasizes that the
speare's tragedies provide different possibilities for the d
In the Sickingen-debate Lukaics described the road of
geoisie after the 1848 Revolution. He considered 1848 a
a democratic struggle with an international point of vie
with a limited, nationalist ideology.'4 This point was
detail in Destruction of Reason.'5 The 1848 revolution in
Peasant War in 1522-25 did not have a wide enough socia
by sections of the German nobility who at various poin
gressive bourgeois potential of these revolutions. In Ger
strata of both revolutions was defeated almost immediate
of the struggle. The question of German unity was alwa
overshadowing the specific demands of the plebeian str
German unity was achieved from above through Prussi
and the lack of participation created a sense of servility
states. Lukaics mentions in Destruction of Reason tha
characteristically in standard German literature as "the
reactionary periods of German history are glorified. Th
and ethical depiction of these revolutions forms elemen
and also paves the way to an understanding of histor
political action.
The complex relationship of bourgeoisie to social re
which it can take in a critical ideological situation is the
article, Grand Hotel 'Abyss', written in 1933.16 The a
position of the intelligentsia to other sections of the peti
ing between revolution and counter-revolution, partly p
ogy of their class (bourgeois democracy), which in the c
situation had lost its significance, partly deceiving them
cism, and indulging in the illusion that as producers
above classes. This also explains the fact that some int
close to socialism suddenly declared that they were 'imp
and Mussolini's "socialism".' Grand Hotel "Abyss" is
"intellectual comforts" imperialism can provide. It is bu
as the illusion of standing above classes, of heroism, of
geois culture.

Grand Hotel "Abyss" is furnished to satisfy all tastes,


Spiritual intoxication and self-restrain, self-mortificati
lowed, but beautiful bars and perfectly constructed to
the disposal of their users. Solitude as well as all form

This content downloaded from 67.66.218.73 on Tue, 30 May 2017 02:57:24 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
Lukacs and Fascism 33

provided. Everybody, invisibly can witness everybody else's activ


everybody can be satisfied that in this mad tower of Babel he is
sensible man. The death-dance of ideologies which is put on st
evening is accompanied by a jazz-ensemble and it is refreshing af
whole day's medical treatment. . . Grand Hotel "Abyss" does
any certificate, only intellectual level.

Lukacs connects the position of these intellectuals with the positi


young Hegelians. Lukacs quotes Marx's reference to the Young Heg
German Ideology the ethical demand of overcoming the contrad
consciousness, to turn to reality critically and to contribute to the
mation of consciousness in others. The economic crisis contribu
anticapitalism of the petty bourgeoisie which can lead into var
tions depending on the role the intelligentsia plays at this crucial m
this historical moment the bourgeoisie attempts to isolate forces w
not support openly its system in Grand Hotel "Abyss", a typical cr
imperialism. The relativistic skepticism of the intellectual elite is tr
into "religious mysticism in a revolutionary disguise". Fascism syn
this ideology in its theory and practice. The ideological role of the i
tsia is of crucial importance in this period of counter-revolutio
Socialism pretends to be pure ideology. Lukacs emphasizes that in th
against Fascism the need is the exposure of its material basis, the
between words and practice, and that this is the responsibility of th
tuals.
In 1931-33 Lukacs was deputed to go to Berlin to participat
cultural work of the Association of Proletarian Writers and held le
the Marxist Workers Academy. He also participated in debates
proletarian works, and contributed to efforts of creating journals
one planned by Brecht, Walter Benjamin and others to describe th
science and arts and to explicate questions of dialectical materialism
a member of the editorial board of Linkskurve, the journal of the
tion of Proletarian Writers. He participated actively in the debates
the literature of "neue Sachlichkeit" new objectivity, Piscator's doc
theatre, the literature of fact, the use of a number of documents, c
ing them in a montage or in the form of a collage. Many of th
Proletarian Writers, similar to the Soviet movement of LEF and th
S. Tretyakov, used the method of fact in their literature, arguing
public participates in reality in the course of reception and such li
provokes agency unlike other literature which encourages emotion
fication. Lukacs did not consider the documentary method appr
expose human relations concealed behind the material forms of cap
His articles about Willi Bredel's and Ernst Ottwalt's novels, abou
tives in literature like reportage or portrayal, narration or descrip
voked much criticism. As he said to Anna Seghers in 1938 "...I incur
approaches.. .and I was accused of overestimating bourgeois literatu
detriment of that of proletarian."'18
Lukacs interpreted these experiments of proletarian writing as n

This content downloaded from 67.66.218.73 on Tue, 30 May 2017 02:57:24 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
34 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

ism, as phenomena based on "photographic" reflectio


also felt that the dismissal of the classical heritage of th
was inherently wrong. Mikhail Lifshitz connected simila
the 1920s with Lenin's articles "Left-wing communism,
der" and "Fewer, but better" and described them in his
Sziklai:

The petty bourgeoisie almost went mad with the horr


often expressed more leftist demands than the revolu
was an expression of the greatest danger to our revol
geois spontaneity.20

Lukaics also considered it necessary for the writers to


of spontaneity as an expression of a conscious literary m
work History and Class Consciousness (1922) was also ascribed to 'messi-
anic sectarianism' spoke about his own, similar ultra-left tendency in the 20s
as striving for "a total break with every institution and mode of life stem-
ming from the bourgeois world".
He also admitted that it took him long "till I got over the views of my
abstract, neophyte Marxism," and that his work on Thomas Mann after the
beginning of the policy of the Popular Front against Fascism helped him in
this process.
Lukaics had analyzed the problem of aesthetic reflection and the preserva-
tion of the 19th century classical heritage in the correspondence of Marx-
Engels and Lasalle. The publication of the Marx-Engels-Lasalle correspon-
dence gave Lukacs the opportunity to draw up the aesthetic heritage of Marx
and Engels. Lukacs entered into areas of Marxian aesthetics using the theory
of 'uneven development' (in the German Ideology) to avoid determinism in
Marxist aesthetics. Lukacs' articles in Studies in European Realism set up
the 'great tradition' of European realism in the novel of Balzac, Tolstoy, Zola
and Gorki. The questions of reflection elaborated by Lukacs in the second
half of the 30s when he returned to the Marx-Engels Institute in Moscow as
part of his work on Marxist aesthetics highlight two central concepts of
realism: the "type" which connects the general and particular both in char-
acter and situations, and the "triumph of realism", the objectivity of artistic
consciousness which may be in complete contrast with the novelist's most
cherished "personal ideology".21 Lukacs' work on realism ran parallel to his
work on the classical heritage, as "the true highroad of development" as true
humanist tradition, in contrast to fascism. In his articles Lukacs exposed the
mechanism through which Fascist Germany attempted to appropriate the
German classical heritage of the work of Goethe, Kant and Hegel.22

IV

Lukacs' book about The Emergence of Fascist Philosophy in Germany, writ-


ten after the Fascist takeover and the burning of the Reichstag and the begin-
ning of the persecution of Communists in 1933, analysed the intellectual
development in Germany between 1848 and 1933.23 This was a first attempt
to analyze intellectual movements in their relationship to the prehistory of

This content downloaded from 67.66.218.73 on Tue, 30 May 2017 02:57:24 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
Lukacs and Fascism 35

Fascism. Lukacs points out in this book that "there is no such th


academic or innocent philosophy" and the responsibility of ph
to watch over the existence and development of reason. Lukacs
Fascism or Communism, was in consistence with the Comintern's view on
Fascism which was not appropriate to discuss the entire German tradition.
The paradigm of discussion became more refined later in The Destruction of
Reason and in Goethe and his Age.
In these books Lukacs deals with two questions looking at Fascist rule in
Germany. One is the distortion of German history, philosophy and literature
by the Fascists. Only "independent, impartial" investigation can uncover the
original works. In Goethe and his Age, and in particular in his article about
various versions of Goethe's Faust Lukacs gave the example of such scholar-
ship.24 The other question is what Lukacs formulates in the Ontology, as:

What was called the worldview of Fascism was the product of centuries
long philosophical development. It became a political force, a tool in the
struggle of the social-economic crisis of this formation (Imperialism) which
could lend the appearance of revolution to reactionary thought forms.25

Lukacs examined the contribution of German classical philosophy to the


philosophy of feudal reaction against bourgeois development which created
the canon of German irrationalist philosophy in the Destruction of Reason.
He came to the conclusion that this canon rejects progress, undermines so-
cial action, creates myths, syntesizes the theory of race and social-darwinism
and thereby actively contributes to Fascism. Adorno and Horkheimer in The
Dialectic of Enlightenment also tried to establish the intellectual tradition
leading to Fascism. There is a great amount of hidden polemic in these works.
While The Dialectic of Enlightenment points to the hidden dimensions of
Enlightenment logic, Lukacs underlines that formal logic and irrationalism
are "polarly coordinated methods in the relationship to the world" and it is
dialectics which determines the relationship to reality.26
Lukacs refers to Hegel's definition of reason as 'dialectics' in the Logic
which can make a given problem the beginning and the trace of inquiry.
Irrationalism eliminates 'dialectics' and declares a problem absolute and pre-
sents reason as a limitation of getting to know something. The second phase
of Schelling's philosophy, Schopenhauer and Kierkegaard established the
current of irrational philosophy in Germany. It rests on a rejection of history,
considers humankind a vacant abstraction and denies any possibility of in-
tervention in the surrounding world. This philosophy rejects the idea of equal-
ity, democracy and revolution and replaces the concept of class with the
people as amorphous masses. Nietzsche in the age of imperialism represents
the features of irrationalist philosophy in the most prominent way. This is
the beginning of the organized class struggle and politics is present in
Nietzsche's work only as a mythical, dim horizon. Art and individual ethics
are in the forefront of Nietzsche's interest and he calls for the will to power
for a false revolution. Lukacs claims that Nietzsche cannot be considered an
"innocent critic of culture" and his expression, his aphorisms also help to
rework and prolong his influence.

This content downloaded from 67.66.218.73 on Tue, 30 May 2017 02:57:24 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
36 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, like Dilthey and Simmel be


an objective process bringing about the philosophical current of
Lebensphilosophie 'philosophy of life'. Denying the possibility of cognition
through reason and the validity of the natural sciences, they establish intu-
ition as the key to cognition. In their works Lebensphilosophie is a reaction
to the fragmented view of the world provided by positivism, but it provides
a false totality of the world. Understanding has a hermeneutic dimension
and as Dilthey formulates it "it never provides demonstrative certainty" and
as "artistic rehearsal" it always needs an element of genius. Intuition as the
basis of cognition, creation and understanding plays a central role. As an
autonomous organ it is able to synthesize connections and undo contradic-
tions. This concept of intuition, the share of chosen people, gives ground to
aristocratism. Lukaics considers intuition as one of the psychological ele-
ments of all methods, part of all conscious work processes.
Dilthey's work transforms the real contradictions of existence and con-
sciousness into the antinomies of intuition and reason. Objective, rich, con-
crete life changes into subjective experience. Lukaics adds that Dilthey estab-
lished irrational philosophy without the awareness of the consequences of
his philosophy. In the beginning of the century both Dilthey and Simmel
taught in Berlin. In this period Lukacs spent longer intervals in Berlin. He
knew their work intimately and his two books The History of Development
of Modern Drama and Soul and Form, carried their influence. In his Drama-
book Lukaics picked up Simmel's idea of the social character of art and went
much beyond Simmel's work. In the orbituary Lukacs wrote in 1918 about
Simmel, he describes the latter as "the philosopher of impressionism".27
In the Destruction of Reason Lukaics claims that the limits of mechanical
reflection and the rule of formal logic led to the subjectivism of
Lebensphilosophie. He quotes Simmel's statement about the relative charac-
ter of knowledge and truth. Lukacs points out the difference between the
scepticism of Montaigne and modern relativist scepticism. The latter in con-
trast to the earlier obstructs objective cognition and opens the way to mysti-
cism and occultism, often against the original intention of the philosopher.28
The era before World War I, the era of Simmel, Nietzsche and Dostoevski,
is characterized by Lukacs with the notion of 'religious atheism'. Religious
atheism means the alienation of the intelligentsia from the Church and reli-
gions as a consequence of scientific discoveries. The lack of perspectives in
private and public life leads the intelligentsia to the rejection of positivism.29
Lebensphilosophie helps the growth of agnosticism into myth and occultism
by presenting a psychological condition as a philosophical, historical neces-
sity. The way of life, moral and worldview are linked in the need that man
should or could become God "in this god-forsaken world". Simmel's theory
of the "tragedy of culture" prepares the ground for mysticism. Spengler's
Decline of the West, after World War I represents the final turn from aca-
demic-scientific knowledge to dilettantism, as a forerunner to Fascism. For-
mal logic and irrationalism, the reference point of Adorno's and Horkheimer's
book Dialectic of Enlightenment, structure the work of Scheler and other

This content downloaded from 67.66.218.73 on Tue, 30 May 2017 02:57:24 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
Lukacs and Fascism 37

writers of the irrationalist current. It culminates in the work


and Jaspers.
Sociology as a social science is problematic because it describe
without taking into consideration historical dimensions. In the
of Reason Lukacs describes the development of philosophy fro
Karl Mannheim through Max Weber. Tonnies, at the turn of t
describes the split between culture and civilization ascribing to
technical development and to culture the development of the h
This is a contradiction according to Lukaics who in consonance
ist anthropology considers all activities part of culture. Tonnie
criticism against modern urban society and develops the ideolog
reforms, improvements suggested by the workers movement.
defines the development of capitalism as induced by protestan
descriptions of sociological phenomena are supplemented with
gies instead of the explanation of causes. Weber's theory of val
and his thesis that there can be no rational choice in society le
ism. His thesis of 'disenchantment' of life through the process o
tion promotes the perception of life without alternatives, a retr
capitalist present into the past. This view of a fragmented life
ploited by Fascists with their false myth of unity. Luk acs est
Max Weber's and Karl Mannheim's work lacked democratic pote
the illusion of the intelligentsia to being above the social contr
their society and thereby rejected the responsibility for Fascism
Lukacs in his political, philosophical and aesthetic work analys
lem of Fascism and drew a number of conclusions, which are v
day. He established that Fascism is promoted under capitalism i
the rising tide of the working class movement, which is also evid
fact that the first attacks after their coming to power go agains
and the earlier achievements of the labour movement. Lukaics
the direct connection of Fascism with finance-capital and its ex
imperialist, military character.
Capitalism promotes the view of the position of the intellige
above class. The responsibility of the intelligentsia, artists and
is to expose the so-called "democratic", "socialist" nature of Fas
to the Fascist method of falsification of history, philosophy an
Lukacs calls for a kind of art and literature that counters the Fas
national unity and shows up future perspectives. The process o
ing identities which Lukaics groped for in different forms in hi
works could be achieved through the dialectical tradition introdu
into German philosophy and the subsequent analysis of class co
made by Marx.

NOTES

1. Otto Bauer, Fascism, in: Austro-Marxism, transl. and ed. By Tom Bottomore & Patric
Goode, Oxford pp. 167-168.

This content downloaded from 67.66.218.73 on Tue, 30 May 2017 02:57:24 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
38 SOCIAL SCIENTIST

2. Gyorgy Lukacs, A tdrsadalmi let ontol6gidjdr6l (The Ontology


Budapest 1985, p. 47.
3. Gyorgy Lukacs, Vita a Blum-Tezisekrol (Debate about the Blum-Theses) in: Curriculum
Vitae, Budapest 1981, pp. 171-226; Laszl6 Sziklai, After the Proletarian Revolution,
Georg Lukdcs' Marxist Development, 1930-1945, Budapest, 1992, pp. 49-87.
4. Georg Lukacs, Record of a Life, ed. by Istvan Eorsi, London, 1983, p. 159.
5. Georg Lukacs, History and Class Consciousness, London, 1971, pp. ix-xxxix.
6. Though one has to consider it in the light of the fact that the anti-fascist credentials,
which England won by joining in the alliance with the Soviet Union and the United
States of America in the Second World War, were established later and even in the later
1930s, there was admiration for the German Fascists.
7. Georg Lukacs, Record of a Life, p. 163.
8. Gyorgy Lukacs, Marx is Engels irodalomelmelete (Marx's and Engels' Theory of Lit-
erature) Budapest, 1949.
9. The author of the play in verse Franz von Sickingen is Ferdinand Lasalle (1825-1864)
who organized an armed rebellion in Dusseldorf. He studied philosophy, his pay was
written after his book was published on the Greek philosopher Heraclitus.
10. Record of a Life p. 87.
11. In the play Franz von Sickingen, Sickingen stands between the two sides, the knights
and the peasants. He wants to persuade Emperor. Karl V of Swabian to improve the
position of the peasants. After the Emperor refuses to do that Sickingen makes up his
mind to join the peasants. Before he could do that the other knights kill him.
12. Gyorgy Lukacs, Marx is Engels ... pp. 39-45.
13. Lukacs refers to the tradition of German drama represented by Hebbel's and Schiller's
tragedies and Vischer's aesthetics. They all have a formalistic, abstract concept of revo-
lution. Ibid, pp. 19-27.
14. According to Lukacs this shift is also valid for the Second International and Franz
Mehring, the main theoretician of the International. His historical and philosophical
outlook limited the scope of the International. Lukacs also considered Mehring's inter-
pretation of the Kantian tradition 'provincial'.
15. Georg Lukacs, The Destruction of Reason, London 1980, pp. 37-92.
16. Gyorgy Lukacs, "Szakadek" Nagyszallo, (Grand Hotel Abyss), in: Esztetikai irdsok
1930-1945 (Writings on Aesthetics 1930-1945) Budapest, 1982 pp. 81-92.
17. Lukacs refers to Bernard Shaw and Upton Sinclair. Gyorgy Lukacs, "Szakadek"
Nagysz6llo, (Grand Hotel Abyss), in: Esztetikai irdsok 1930-1945 (Writings on Aes-
thetics 1930-1945) Budapest, 1982, p. 83.
18. Laszlo Illes, Vita az expresszionismusr6l, (Debate about Expressionism) Budapest, 1994,
pp. 234-245.
19. Lukacs. considered these phenomena deviations into the style of proletcult, the organi-
zation for the creative self-education of workers (1917-1932). Lukacs was not impressed
by the standard of their writings. Esztetikai irdsok pp. 603-609.
20. Mihail Lifsic-Sziklai Laszl6, Moszkvai evek Lukdcs Gy6rggyel (Moscow years with
Georg Lukacs), Budapest, 1989, p. 39.
21. Georg Lukacs, Studies in European Realism, London, 1978, pp. 1-19.
22. Gyorgy Lukacs, Esztetikai irdsok 1930-1945, ed. by Liszl6 Sziklai, Budapest 1982.
23. Georg Lukacs, Wie ist die faschistische Philosophie in Deutschland entstanden? ed. by
Laszl6 Sziklai, Budapest, 1982.
24. Georg Lukacs, Faust Studies, in: Goethe and his Age, London, 1968, pp. 157-253.
25. Gyorgy Lukacs, A tdrsadalmi lit ontol6giajdr6l ... vol. 2, p. 781.
26. Georg Lukacs, The Destruction of Reason, pp. 95-103.
27. Gyorgy Lukacs, Georg Simmel, in: Ifjuikori muvek 1902-1918 (The Works of the Young
Lukics 1902-1918), Budapest, 1977, pp. 746-751.
28. Georg Lukics, The Destruction of Reason, pp. 445-446.
29. Georg Lukacs, The Destruction of Reason, pp. 361-362.
30. Georg Lukacs, The Destruction of Reason, pp. 591-632.

This content downloaded from 67.66.218.73 on Tue, 30 May 2017 02:57:24 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms

Potrebbero piacerti anche