East German Marxism: Renaissance and Repression
Horowitz, Irving Louis
In the postwar era, philosophy in West Germany has mainly been considering the relative merits of Heidegger, Husserl and Kant. As in America, outside the polarity of existentialism and...
...They were told by one official, Rudi Kirchner, that "the workers' class in the German Democratic Republic expects of the scientists not any kind of figures and any kind of conclusions but such material and such conclusions as are weapons in the fight against the capitalistic exploitations in West Germany and for the victory of socialism...
...6, 1956, p. 7. 14 ibid., pp...
...This was to be guaranteed through the granting of autonomy to universities and the insurance of security for the individual before the law 2° Repressive tendencies have undoubtedly been stimulated by the confused ideas of Khrushchev on the relation of economy to polity...
...Thus we find as a central core in Harich's heresy the advocacy of a Gomulka type of economy for a united Germany...
...Harich also stood in opposition to the simplistic categorization of materialism and idealism...
...German philosophers, taking their cue from the philosophy department at the University of Leipzig, began calling for an end to that "unrest which was betraying the interests of the workers and farmers who have made our State...
...March 20, 1957) 18 Prittie, op...
...Paris 1956, pp...
...However, a dangerous avenue was opened...
...12 B. A. Nazarov/ O. V. Gridneva, "On The Problem of the Lag in Drama and Theater," Voprosl filosofii, No...
...Harich himself became increasingly critical of the mechanical appraisals offered by Stalinism...
...Lukacs' activities in the revolutionary Potofi Circle of "Young Turks" (which incidentally was the bridge connecting the subversive activities of the German philosophers to the Hungarian revolution) , and his subsequent acceptance of a ministerial position in the defunct Nagy government, reflected the mood of Hungarian intellectuals...
...A letter from Lukacs was cited as evidence because it called for a re-appraisal of basic issues in Marxism...
...13 (April 1, 1957) . A more complete version of the same memorandum appears in The Nation, Vol...
...To facilitate this policy the Zeitschrift encouraged contributions from scholars versed in the latest findings of physics no less than in the dialectical categories...
...This is indeed a quixotic innovation since so much of Lenin's energies were spent in ideological combat with the type of analysis offered by Kautsky and Fritz Sternberg—to name but two figures Harich considers would be a broadening influence upon Marxian thought...
...15 ibid., p. 9. (My thanks to A. L. for translating these pieces from the Russian...
...the speedup system completely done away with...
...11 To philosophers who extolled the virtues of "freedom of creative endeavour" and the "free competition of ideas12 officialdom countered with the parti " san conception of philosophy...
...e At the same time, Hungarian philosophy, led by the venerable dean of European Marxism, George Lukacs, began raising the concept of socialist humanism once more, implying thereby that Marxism needed to recapture its warm-blooded Enlightenment roots...
...forced collectivization ended...
...old-age pensions legally enacted for workers just as for the intelligentsia...
...The temporary demise of philosophic vitality in East Germany is a severe blow to scholarship everywhere...
...February 28, 1957...
...17 In such an atmosphere the continued existence of " the Zeitschriftt became increasingly tenuous...
...5, 1956, pp...
...Within its pages the major tendencies of contemporary Marxism found expression...
...and Ludwig Landgrebe, "The Study of Philosophy in Germany," ibid, Vol...
...The search for the concrete has found few adherents in the Soviet Union...
...III The failure of the post-Stalin regimes in Central Europe to establish in principle the free exchange and exercise of ideas as the only genuine path to knowledge must be considered a prime cause for recent events...
...Arrested along with Harich were three of his associates: Bernhard Steinberger, co-publisher of the Zeitschrift,t, Manfred Hertwig, secretary to the editorial board, and Irene Giersch, personal secretary to Harich...
...18 After being held incommunicado for three months, Harich and his colleagues were tried and convicted in three days...
...3-10...
...Nonetheless, scrutinization of Marxist philosophers indicates that they tend to be of two basic types...
...8 BY FAR the most impressive philosophic development took place in Germany...
...But the price of this economic opening-up seems to be an intellectual 398 closing-down...
...3, Nos...
...He characterized as "absolutely false the view that the theories of Kant, Fichte, Schelling and Hegel were simply aristocratic reactions to the French Revolution...
...According to Die Politische Meinung, Harich's influence was spreading to all parts of Germany...
...His position remained essentially framed by the degree to which realism overcomes naturalism and sentimentalism in the arts, and materialism and rationalism overcome idealism and irrationalism (particularly of the existentialist variety) in philosophy...
...This is so whether or not one accepts the views of Harich on theoretical or practical questions...
...One can be sure that his arrest was greeted with a sigh of relief from the Soviet intellectual bureaucracy...
...In the brief period of existence, the Zeitschriftt was acknowledged to be perhaps the most influential Marxian journal in Europe...
...Those who stress the lofty moral ideals of Marxism will be found espousing a messianic socialism, in which the eternal march of men forward through the dialectical process, and the social control of the human situation, emerge as central considerations...
...The contents of the Zeitschrift afford no conclusive answer, but they do indicate tendencies...
...6, !1956, pp...
...14 That this reversion to " Zhdanovism is related to the Central European crisis is made perfectly clear by the appeal of the editors of Voprosy fclosofci to Russian philosophers "to foil the attempts of the imperialists" who would "seek to take advantage of the mistakes in relationships among individual countries of the socialist camp...
...In a swift succession of events, seemingly calculated to foil scholarship rather than imperialism, Lukacs was arrested and sent into exile...
...workers' councils introduced in the factories on the Yugoslav model...
...With the end of the Zeitschrift, in its old form at any rate, one can expect the repetition of the pattern followed in other Central European nations...
...184, No...
...As a postscript to the Harich affair there has been a steady purge of dissident elements...
...The subsequent arrest and incarceration of Lukacs in Rumania is perhaps indicative of the importance the Russians attached to his thought no less than his activities...
...7 Lukacs' polarity of reason and unreason is reflected in his attitude toward existentialism, which in contrast to most Marxists, he believed would become the major theoretical expression of capitalist culture...
...1950...
...and on the other, by maintaining the need for scientific theory...
...11 "For the Leninist Principle of Adherence to the Party Spirit in Ideological Work," editorial in Voprosy filosofii...
...Abram Deborin did a convincing piece on Jean Meslier, comparing his naturalist theory of religion most favorably with Voltaire's deism...
...For this group the content of Marxism is economic and political science, while the form of Marxist philosophy is scientific methodology and historical fact...
...113-155...
...In the wake of Hungary, an emerging theme was the criticism of those who "use the struggle against the cult of the individual to subvert principles of Party leadership in questions of Marxism...
...The basic fault, from a political vantage point, of scientific Marxism is that it tends to minimize the role and function of ideological emphasis in philosophy...
...Philosophers who had not been heard from for decades began contributing articles to Voprosy filosoli...
...Nonetheless, a sufficient concern over his fate has prompted Janos Radar to indicate that Lukacs might possibly return to Hungary in the near future...
...He urged upon his colleagues similar objective criteria, rather than the capricious and tendentious canons of the politics of the moment...
...And it leaves even less doubt in the minds of its readers that it views Marxism-Leninism as the only sanctified guide to correct living...
...Central European thought displayed more vigor and independence of judgment than Soviet appraisals...
...The events which transformed a fermentation into a repression are of general concern...
...Indeed, the philosophical, being highly attuned to even slight political shifts, reflected the liberalizing tendencies of the new Russian leaders even, before the de-Stalinization policies were formalized...
...1 While Soviet philosophy replaced empty epistles with formal analysis, it proceeded with caution lest a repetition of the thirties take place...
...It is clear that Lukacs never completely reconciled himself to a duality of standards in judging "bourgeois" or "socialist" philosophy end literature...
...The re-evaluation of Hegelianism, for example, assumed ever sharper tones with the passage of time...
...In his view, socialism becomes fused with a new wave of rationalism, while capitalism capitulates in its dotage to irrationalist currents...
...Economic concessions have once more taken the lead position...
...That he became in recent years cautious and tentative in the statement of his outlook is understandable in the light of the severe attacks upon his theories by Hungarian Zhdanovites...
...February 28, 1957) 17 Rudi Kirchner, quoted in The New York Times...
...If reports from Neues Deutschland are to be believed, this poor soul received his confusions from the most revered (formerly) East German philosopher, Ernst Bloch—who we may note was a member of the editorial board of the Zeitschrift...
...He was indicted on the grounds of inciting an "ideological rebellion" and of or ganizing groups of agents who were in contact with "Hungarian counterrevolutionaries" and Western "spies and provocateurs...
...Broadly speaking, the renaissance of German Marxism rested upon a restatement of dialectical materialism in the light of latest developments in modern physical science and logic...
...He continued, even after his return to Hungary from Russia, to espouse a theory of uneven development between the economic base and artistic superstructure...
...It tended to view Marxism technically, i.e., as a tool of scientific analysis itself open to clarification and validation...
...In the postwar era, philosophy in West Germany has mainly been considering the relative merits of Heidegger, Husserl and Kant...
...This conflict dates to antiquity and continues as a propelling force in philosophy...
...agricultural producers' cooperatives dissolved in order to avert economic catastrophe...
...Even in Yugoslavia the era of good feeling was abruptly halted with the imprisonment of Djilas for "bourgeois opinions" on the nature of democracy...
...Mathematicians will alone be responsible for logical and statistical issues...
...In a nation where twenty-three Soviet divisions buttressed the regime, it was inevitable that the type of analysis which found its way into the pages of the Zeitschrift would be greeted nervously...
...Bloch, who only last year received a festschrift in honor of his seventieth birthday from his colleagues, now finds himself condemned for being "ideologically and politically negative," and whose instruction had "dubious effects" on students...
...Both elements are clearly present in the East German intellectual and political scene...
...85-94...
...His close friends were oftentimes associated with the editorial staffs of the leading periodicals in East Germany...
...If only for this reason, it is not amiss to speak of a renaissance of Marxist theory in Germany...
...LII, March 17, 1955...
...As in America, outside the polarity of existentialism and positivism, little has come along to excite either students or scholars.' In East Germany, the major emphasis has been on the place of Hegel in philosophic history, particularly as it relates to the Marxian tradition...
...i Walter Cerf, "Existentialist Mannerism and Education," The Journal of Philosophy, Vol...
...Problems in the philosophy of science and in logic will be introduced through the back door, so to speak...
...But it was left to East Germany, the weakest economic prop of Central Europe, to reveal the total extent of orthodoxy's ambitions...
...9 M. M. Karpov, "On The Philosophical Views of A. Einstein," Voprosy filosofii, No...
...February 21, 1957) 19 The Manchester Guardian Weekly...
...It has served to demonstrate the fact that "sentimental Marxism," just so long as it has official State support, is anything but sentimental in the way it shuts off the free expression of ideas...
...When we recall that the so-called monolithic unity of medieval scholasticism also cleaved itself in similar fashion, the ambiguities present in contemporary Marxian scholarship become more understandable...
...Re-evaluations were made of the history of ideas that were calculated to upset the propositions stated by Andrei Zhdanov in his critique of Alexandrov's History of Western European Philosophy...
...Its influence on the younger philosophers, writers and scientists of Germany was unmistakable...
...The theorists B. A. Nazarov and 0. V. Gridneva were told in no uncertain terms that the Party alone was capable of "ensuring that ideological and artistic development goes in the right direction.13 To physicists who insisted on the obvious: "that sci " ence does not require the philosophy of dialectical materialism to pursue its work," Voprosy ilosofii responded with the claim that "some few scientists" have become "nihilistic" and "under the influence of positivist ideas of contemporary bourgeois philosophy...
...While the Marxian framework remained essentially unchallenged, it was sometimes filled with a highly novel content, by-passed altogether, or even criticized elliptically...
...5. pp...
...But beneath the calm imposed by this neat division of functions, the conflict between those who conceive of Marxism as a central tool of analysis, subject to continuous empirical validation and correction, and those who conceive of it as an ideological instrument of the entrenched Party, will continue with unabated fury...
...Aside from Lukacs' work in esthetics, and occasional pieces in the history of ideas, logic and physics and Hegel held sway...
...2 The Deutsche Zeitschrift fur Philosophie has been conducting discussions on these themes for several years with no sign of a lessening of interest or shift in emphasis...
...Now this contrasts in the sharpest way with Soviet orthodoxy which tends to consider Marxism as a science standing over the sciences in the first place (i.e., as metaphysics) , and as a faith to live by in the second place (i.e...
...It is our aim to evaluate the consequences of even a circumscribed fermentation in East Germany, which most recently has led to a series of suppressions that points to the profanation of serious thought for some time to come...
...The first rumblings of a a resurgent orthodoxy appeared, naturally enough, in the Soviet Union...
...determinations over and above party concerns...
...Psychologists will be responsible for epistemological considerations...
...19 The fate of Zeitschrift is a formal problem, since even if it resumes publication, it promises to become a pallid reflection of Voprosy f losofii...
...It would be ludicrous to imagine that the conflict between democracy and coercion, science and metaphysics, ceases because of a general commitment to a broad world view...
...and the relation of symbolic logic to dialectics...
...6 Adam Schaff, quoted in The New York Times, March 18, 1957...
...XL, No...
...Rather than resolve the distinctions between traditional philosophies, at least in the forms Marxism has taken in the Soviet Union, theorists have sought to dissolve such antinomies by declaring allegiance to a higher level of abstractions...
...16 Social scientists were warned against the vices of " objective scientific analysis...
...Indeed, when Harich insists that "socialism is an objective process and is not tied to the name of a party which identifies itself with socialism22 he is undermining the basis of the "partisan " concept of philosophy" so dear to metaphysical Marxism and to dogmatism in general...
...8 Lukacs never fully accepted the concept of Soviet literature as the "vanguard literature" of the world...
...1, 1951...
...In the post-Stalin period, the radicalism of German Marxism came into sharp conflict with the Ulbricht regime, which had been on an insecure footing since the riots in 1953 at Berlin...
...Lukacs' technical concern with problems of literary form and content, an interest which pre-dates the First World War, tended to establish the belief that he had not been shaken in his concept of the scientific determination of literary and philosophic products...
...To the technical philosopher will be alloted the "science" of the history of philosophy...
...Those who emphasize the actual scientific work of Marx are less likely to advocate metaphysical generalities...
...the philosophic issues generated by modern physics and mathematics...
...profitsharing introduced in socialist factories and socialist trade...
...9 The editors of the Zeitschrift seemed to understand that, if Marxian theory were not to be consumed in the ashes of its original formulations, it would have to become responsive to changes in the physical as well as the social sciences...
...Further, they were convicted of drawing up plans for restoring a capitalist economy in East Germany, and of working toward this goal by organizing underground resistance cells for the purpose of a possible coup-d'etat...
...33-87, 151-194...
...Paris 1948...
...21 " As a consequence of this unexpected economic reaction to Khrushchev's political conception of democracy, procedures have been sharply reversed...
...THE DETAILS of Harich's arrest and conviction as revealed in the Manchester Guardian are blunt as they are sordid...
...4 A. F. Okulow, "Forschungsarbeit des Philosophischen Instituts der Akademie der Wissenschaften der UdSSR auf dem Gebiet der deutschen Philosophie," Deutsche Zeitschrift fur Philosophie, Vol...
...The intellectual battle ground for Lukacs became rationalism versus irrationalism...
...The obvious fact that once political analysis was allowed a relatively free rein it would turn upon the economic problems of socialism with a vengeance, apparently escaped the attention of Soviet political leaders...
...This was clearly no repetition of such absurdities as were to be found in Soviet theory where the metaphysicians of materialism instructed the scientists not to take Einstein's principles of relativity seriously because they were untenable from a dialectical standpoint...
...21 Harich, ibid., p. 4 (Hildebrandt's translation in The New Leader) .22 Harich, ibid., p. 3. • An analytical article on Lukacs will appear in a forthcoming issue of DtssENT.—Ed Eli...
...13 ibid., No...
...THE QUESTION is: how does this dualism reveal itself in the present situation in German Marxism...
...small private business promoted and given equal status with nationalized industry...
...603.04...
...The suspension of publication (whether permanent or temporary is still not known) , and the indictment and conviction of its editor and secretary, verified the view of those who foretold of a resurgence of intellectual vigilantism in the wake of events in Hungary...
...The imprisonment of the East German scholars is not the first time the philosophic enterprise has been under attack for overstepping orthodox grounds— and it doubtless will not be the last time...
...He proved most enterprising in soliciting contributions from Marxian philosophers in other parts of the world on the basic issues of logic and scientific method...
...Literary critics will handle problems in esthetics...
...Our concern, however, is not a comparative evaluation of philosophic tendencies in Germany...
...Polish philosophers began calling for an "offensive" to restore Marxist orthodoxy to its leading place...
...In this way orthodoxy will seek to -avoid a recurrence of the Harich affair by, on the one hand, preserving the platitudes of metaphysical Marxism intact...
...It made the democratization of Marxian theory subject to the caprice of the vast bureaucratic machinery...
...The Jamesian distinction between tough-minded empiricism and tender-minded metaphysics is certainly not inapplicable to the status of Marxism...
...5, 1956, pp...
...To those who claim that the Harich affair was motivated by political rather than philo sophical considerations, the dismissal and disgrace of Zehm and Bloch for their views alone is the best reply...
...Production must be redirected toward raising the standard of living of the masses of people...
...The ambiguous character of modern-day Marxism has certainly contributed to the current crisis in East Germany...
...Whereof one speaks and does not know, we have stupidity...
...Valentin Asmus wrote an essay on Kant, in which Kant was evaluated as one of the great representatives of German democracy and humanism.3 We also know that an enormous interest in Kant developed between 1954-1956...
...bonuses for top functionaries abolished...
...16 Terence Prittie, "East German Ferment," The Manchester Guardian Weekly...
...The current conflict between Polish and Russian literary figures on such matters as abstraction in the fine arts and tendentiousness in literature is the first indication of this...
...They help illuminate the consequences of a too close relation of philosophic inquiry to political platitudes...
...10 The latitude of the discussions, no less than the freedom with which controversial issues were dealt with in the Zeitschrift, t, was convincing proof of the sincerity of avant-garde German philosophical materialism...
...Dissertations on every aspect of his thought were written .4 Very careful studies of thinkers such as Mably, Gassendi and even Proudhon began to appear.b To the alert, it became clear that Stalinism and its philosophic alter-ego, Zhdanovism, was being replaced by more mature appraisals of philosophic history and the problems confronting Marxian theory generally...
...Joseph Revai, "Literature and People's Democracy," Masses dr Mainstream, Vol...
...Accusing fingers were pointed at the intellectuals, the spark of the Hungarian revolt, the brains behind the guns...
...15 With the alacrity befitting their stations, the " political moguls of the Central European satellites responded to the "appeal...
...It set standards of scholarship which were emulated by the intellectuals in every sphere of creativity...
...5 Recherches Sovietiques, Cahier IV...
...Lukacs' "old habit" of conceiving Marxism as part of a larger democratic-realist tradition, his original sin, again emerged as paramount...
...But before exploring some general aspects of this problem, it is important to note that the repression has not been restricted to only a few scholars...
...Sentimental Marxism" (Voprosy) has won out temporarily over "scientific Marxism" (Zeitschrift) because it best represents the immediate needs of Soviet ideology...
...When a new political situation developed in Central Europe in 1956, the marketplace of ideas was first to be closed down...
...The chief editorial impetus came from Harich...
...This ambivalence has become a primary factor in Cen tral Europe and Russia alike...
...559-585...
...As long as basic political interests were best served by the increase in academic responsibility over academic matters, the dissemination of novel views was tolerated if not furtively encouraged...
...Gerhardt Zehm, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Jena has been expelled from his position for "confused conceptions of Marxism...
...In its place came a torrent of official pronunciamentos on the true tasks of socialist theory...
...He denied that because a philosophy was idealist in content it was eo ipso socially reactionary...
...11 The renaissance was short lived...
...Whereof one knows and cannot speak, we have tyranny...
...The charges to which all the philosophers pleaded guilty are part of the classic repertoire of European Communist juridical practice...
...18 (May 4, 1957) . Harich's proclamation appears to be an attempt to rec oncile Leninism to traditional West European social democracy...
...The mounting cases of the miscarriage of elementary rights of expression, make it clear that orthodoxy and officialdom have no intention of halting their campaign against free inquiry...
...March 14, 1957) 20 Harich's action program appeared in the form of a leaflet on the day of his arrest...
...IV, No...
...Since he came to power as an advocate of greater industrial production as the solution of outstanding Soviet economic problems, as opposed to the consumer goods emphasis of Malenkov, political democratization became the only formidable avenue for Khrushchev to express the mass dissatisfaction with the Stalin period...
...For the philosophic expression of his critique of existentialist irrationalism see Existentialisme ou Marxisme...
...as theology) . Voprosy falosofii leaves no doubt that it considers the development of the sciences impossible without the knowledge derived from dialectical materialist philosophy...
...2 This difference in emphasis clearly reflects the ideological conflicts of a divided Germany...
...3 Recherches Sovietiques, Cahier I. Paris 1956, pp...
...It appears in English in The New Leader, Vol...
...Since the growth of Harich's personal influence seemed traceable to events following the Twentieth Soviet Party Congress, he became a natural target for the East German regime—which was being internally shaken by a hazardous raw materials shortage, and externally by the transformations in Polish and Hungarian communism...
...9/10...
...This prompted Harich, in his somewhat schematic plan for the revitalization of European socialism and the democratizaton of the German Communist movement, to make the complete intellectual freedom of scholars a basic cornerstone...
...In addition to being in contact with counter-revolutionary groups in Hungary—specifically the Potofi circle of intellectuals—they were charged with conspiring with the Eastern Bureau of the West German Social Democratic Party...
...Indeed, the Polish philosopher Adam Schaff recently had occasion to say that "we are witnessing a retrogression of the influence of Marxist ideology on a scale considerably exceeding the frontiers of Poland...
...The Zeitschrift sought fairly if not always squarely to come to grips with such twentieth century revolutionary developments as relativity physics, quantum mechanics and logistics...
...Under the guidance of Wolfgang Harich, Manfred Hertwig and Herman Ley (basically the young philosophers) the Deutsche Zeitschrift fur Philosophie became the focus of activity in the in vestigation of fundamental theory...
...a sound small and medium peasantry developed...
...The ferment resulting from the close of the Stalin era, which culminated politically in the Khrushchev revelations before the twentieth congress of the Soviet Communist Party, socially in the liberalization of Polish life, and militarily in the Hungarian uprising, had naturally enough spread to philosophy...
...Thus in its own unique fashion contemporary Marxian philosophy reproduces the age-old conflict between empiricism and rationalism, method and metaphysics...
...10 W. Harich, "Uber das Verhaltnis des Marxismus zur Philosophic Hegels," Deutsche Zeitschrift fur Philosophie, Vol...
...or pleading guilty on all counts, Harich was rewarded with a ten-year prison term, Steinberger to four years and Hertwig to two years...
...The ease with which a renaissance is replaced with repression deserves some attention lest the meaning of the tragic events be obfuscated...
...For if philosophy contains within itself the clarification of intellectual unrest, and urges the translation of that unrest into dynamic social activity, then neither reaction nor repression can possibly arrest its progress...
...At that time philosophers of such merit as Luppol, Axelrod, Hecker and Volfson were denigrated, dismissed and disgraced...
Vol. 4 • September 1957 • No. 4
