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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
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INTRODUCTION TO KORSCH 5
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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.
Announcingthebeginningoftheend toyourproblems:
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