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Marxism Historicized: Korsch's "The Crisis of Marxism"

Author(s): David Bathrick


Source: New German Critique, No. 3 (Autumn, 1974), pp. 3-6
Published by: Duke University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/487733
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MarxismHistoricized:
Korsch's"The CrisisofMarxism"

byDavid Bathrick
"The CrisisofMarxism"waswritten byKarl Korschin 1931 forpurposesof
It remainedunpublisheduntil 1971, ten yearsafterthe
"self-clarification."
author's death, when it appeared in a collectionof essays entitled Die
materialistischeGeschichtsauffassung (The Materialist Conception of
History) published in West Germany. The fact that this essay remainsa
penetrating critique of the atrophy of Marxisttheorytoday,bothunderstate
socialism as well as within certain tendenciesof the Left in advanced
capitalistsocieties,shouldnot let us lose sightof the contextfromwhichit
emerged. In 1929, aftera decade of involvementin the disintegrating
political environmentof Weimar Germany, Korsch began a major
reevaluationof Marxism. The seven theses developed in "The Crisis of
Marxism"representa criticalsummationofseveralmajor themesin his own
political and theoreticaldevelopmentduringthose years. The "Crisis of
Marxism" of 1931 was the expressed crisis of a particular set of
circumstances in whichKorschhimselfwas involved,and it is onlythrough
understanding thosehistoricalparametersthat we can draw analogies and
derive lessons for the present.
The yearsbetween1919 and 1927 meant change and political upheaval
for Korsch and German Communism. A leading theoristof the Berlin
Workers'Councils and the Revolutionary Shop Stewardsand a memberof
theUSPD (the IndependentSocialistParty),Korschjoined the Communist
Partyof Germany(KPD) aftertheUSPD splitin 1920. Here he was to playa
keyrole untilhis expulsionin 1926. Activefirstin the educationalwingof
the new party, Korsch was later elected a delegate to the Thuringian
Landtag in 1924 and, inJulyof thesame year,became a Communistdeputy
in the Reichstag.In 1923 he participatedin the short-lived revolutionary
takeoverin Thuringiaand Saxony,whenhe servedas MinisterofJusticein
the workers'governmentset up by the KPD in Thuringia at that time.
The unsuccessful Octoberrevolutionin Thuringiaand Saxonyled to the
banningof theKPD and a lossof 50 per centof itsmembership.Withinthe
Party it resulted in a shiftto the left: greater emphasis upon strong
centralizedand revolutionary activityand a rejectionof the united front
policy with the SPD. Korsch'srole in this process was complicated and
paradoxical. On the one hand, he joined the left leadershipof Arkadi

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4 NEW GERMAN CRITIQUE

Maslow and Ruth Fischer in their ouster of the previous Brandler


leadership,and in so doing, participatedin the Bolschevizationof the
CommunistInternationalwhich was occuringthroughoutthe European
sectionsduringthisperiod. Yet it was preciselyhis efforts to reestablishthe
dialectical totalityof Lenin's tactics-his emphasis on building a class-
conscious,knowledgeableand "heroic" CommunistPartywhich develops
policyon thebasisofpracticalexperienceand in contactwiththe masses1 -
preciselythe subjective,fightingmoment of Bolshevismwhich brought
him into conflictwith the Comintern.Beginningin 1924, firstas editor
of the KPD's centralorgan Die Internationale,and finallyas a memberof
varioussplintergroupsoutsidethe Partyitself,Korschwaged an unending
battle againstRussian dominationof the GermanCommunistmovement.
A paradox parallel to thatof Korsch'spoliticalactivitylies at the root of
his major theoreticalworkof thisperiod, Marxismand Philosophy(1923).
According to Korsch himself,this essay was to provide a materialist
groundingand trulymediated historicalunderstandingof the realm of
bourgeoisphilosophyand ideas, similarto what Lenin had providedforthe
bourgeoisstatein Stateand Revolution.Yet thisrevitalization of Marxism,
with its emphasis upon historicalmethod, was in fact to create the
theoreticalgroundwork fora critiquefirstof "Leninism"(as a "decay" of
Lenin's thought)2and later of Lenin's thoughtitself.3
Thus both in his theoreticaland politicalactivity,Korschbecame a focal
pointin the struggleagainstthe inculcationof dogma and for the unityof
theoryand practice. And, in both capacities-as a criticalthinkerforced
constantly to testhis ideas in concretestrugglesand as a politicalactivistin
the constantprocess of self-reflection (he wroteover 100 political essays
between1919 and 1926)-Korsch unfoldsthe theoretical-practical premises
of his position.At the core of thispositionis the notionthatMarxism,as a
true theory,is "nothingless than the expressionof the real historical
movement."Korsch'srelentless effort
to applythistheorem,his discovery and
rediscovery of its innermeaningsand practicalimplications,forcehim to
the limits(and some say beyondthe limits)of Marxismitself.Certainlythis
theoremformsthemethodologicalbasis forboth Marxismand Philosophy,
as the theoreticalbeginning,and "Crisis,"as one theoreticalsummationof

1. Karl Korsch, "Kritischesund Positiveszur Frage der Taktik der Kommunistischen


28 (1924).
Partei," Neue Zeitungfitr Grossthitringen,
2. Karl Korsch,Der Weg der Komintern(Berlin, 1926), p. 8.
3. Karl Korsch, The PresentState of the Problemof Marxismand Philosophy(1930) in:
Marxismand Philosophy,trans. Fred Halliday (London, 1970), pp. 89-128.

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INTRODUCTION TO KORSCH 5

theperiodin question. But again thereis a paradox: it also constitutes the


basis of theirdifferences.
In Marxismand Philosophy,Korschopposestheconceptthattherealmof
ideas is simplyan epiphenomenal,secondaryreflection of the real, objective
world. He counters with the notion that ideas are "realities not
pseudo-realities,"that the materialrelationsof production"are only what
they are in combination with the formsin which they are reflected."4
Hence, scientificsocialism"is the theoreticalexpressionof a revolutionary
process, which will end with the total abolition of these bourgeois
philosophiesand sciences, as well as with the abolition of the material
relationsthatfindtheirideologicalexpressionin them."sAny theorywhich
is not a totalexpression,i.e., anytheorywhichseversitsconnectionwiththe
processin whichit evolves,therebybecominga set of absoluteprinciples,is
itselfideology.For Korschthisis what happened to Marxismin the latter
half of the nineteenthcentury,particularlyin the Second International.
Thus, his attemptto "restorethe correctand full sense of Marx's theory"
necessitatedan historicaltreatmentof Marxismitself.
It is thiscentralthoughtto whichKorschreturnsin the essay"The Crisis
of Marxism"in 1931--withone importantshiftin emphasis.Whereasin the
earlierworkKorschfocuseshis critiqueprimarilyon the "epigones"who
"banalize and denature"the inherently revolutionarycontentof Marx's and
Engels'theory, Korsch now sees much more the crisisof Marxism
insistently
as "the crisisof Marx'sand Engels'theoryas well." The distinction between
early (pre-1850) revolutionary Marxism and the later, more scientific
developmentof Marxisteconomictheory-the "political"and "economic"
Marx--is understoodhistoricallyin much the same way in both essays.
Nevertheless,the thrustof Korsch'scritiquein the "Crisis"essay is much
moreclearlyaimed at theevolutionwithinMarx's and Engels'thoughtitself
and less at an attemptto "restorethe correctand full sense of Marx's
theory."He is, in fact, explicitlycriticalof such effortsto "restorepure
theory"(see theend of parttwoin theessay),and it is thisshiftwhichmarks
theultraradical,historicizing momentin "The Crisisof Marxism."It is also
the least developedand most ambiguousaspect of the later essay.
To what extentare Marx and Engels themselvesresponsiblefor such a
development?To what extentdoes the evolutionof a new revolutionary
theoryimplya synthesis withthe old? To whatextentdoes Korschimplyan
almostnecessarilyunmediatedsplitbetweensubjectiverevolutionary theory

4. Karl Korsch,Marxismand Philosophy,p. 78.


5. Ibid., p. 62.

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6 NEW GERMAN CRITIQUE

and the scienceof the laws of capitalism?Does not the declineof political
movementimplya dissolutionof theoryitself?These are just a fewof the
questionswhichemergefromthisdocument.Its urgentmessageis to think
as Marxists,to understandone's theoryas an integralpart and
historically
expressionof concretepolitical class struggle.
Yet theoriginalityand importanceof the "Crisis"essaylies preciselyin its
unresolvedantinomies.Where other Marxistsassume the unityof theory
and praxis,Korschmakes it a focusof exploration.His refusalto dissolve
questionsintofalsetheoreticalsyntheses or a mysticallypostulatedpraxisis
grounded in therecognitionthat the crisis
of Marxism is also thecrisisof the
proletarian movement Furthermore, recognizesthat a renewalof
itself. he
theory only possible generatedand circumscribedby a renewal of
is as
struggle.That Korsch does not postulate such a renewal makes this
documenta real expressionof crisis.

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