File spoon-archives/marxism.archive/marxism_1994/marxism.Jul12-Aug17.94, message 75


Date: Thu, 21 Jul 1994 10:32:42 +0000
From: dassbach-AT-mtu.edu (Carl Dassbach)
Subject: Re: Labor Theory & Lukacs


Enaging in debate about Luakcs's Marxism would take us afield of the 
point so let me focus on the claim made by Chris that Lukacs defines Marxism 
as dialectics.  This is incorrect - he does not, nor do I think would he 
ever, DEFINE Marxism as DIALECTICS  - instead he says that  Marxism is the 
"scientific conviction that DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM is the road to truth and 
it method can be developed .... along the lines laid donw by its founders 
(Marx and Engels)."  There are several important differences between this 
statement and defining Marxism as dialectics which are obvious and which I 
will not elbaorate on.

Even more importantly, this statement must be put into context, Lukacs is 
explicitly reacting to the revisionist (Bernstein et.al) - and we might 
also extend this to the current crop of revisionists - who point out that 
Marx's prdictions were wrong - e.g., the immiseration of the masses or the 
"final" revolution, the failure of socialism  - hence all of Marx's thought 
is wrong.  This is the fallacy towards which this statement is addressed and 
it is in the context of the dicussion of whether the labor theory of value 
is "right" or "wrong" which I raised this point.

Carl Dassbach



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