Date: Sun, 7 Aug 1994 10:33:16 -0400 (EDT) From: Philip Goldstein <pgold-AT-strauss.udel.edu> Subject: Re: marxism-leninism/stalinism Many thanks to everyone for their interesting and insightful comments on the Marx/Stalin issue and for the chance to discuss this issue with knowledgeable people. I want to clarify my position, which is that to establish a close connection between Marx and Stalinism is a right-wing view. By right-wing I mean that this view, which identifies Marx with the Enlightenment tradition, means to argue that Stalinism discredits not only Marx and communism but also all forms of liberal politics as well. The error of this view is that it ignores the Tzarist roots of Stalinism, which shared the Tzar's faith in revolution from above, censorship, bureaucratic governance, etc. Several respondents assume that the Frankfurt School escapes the errors of Soviet Marxism and preserves a genuine Marxist tradition; however, the Frankfurt School does not simply disavow reductive views of material determination of cultural or intellectual processes; the Frankfurt School adopts the right-wing view of Marx and Stalinism. THe Frankfurt School, which blames totalitarian practices on the instrumental domination deriving from Enlightenment, condemns scientific Marxism and ignores the Tzarist roots of Stalism, just like the right-wingers. In The Dialectic of Enlightenment, Adorno and Horkheimer condemn the Enlightenment tradition and the culture industry in order to preserve the autonomy of artistic forms. In COmmunicative Action Habermas complains that a scientific Marxism lacks the normative grounds necessary to resist totalitarian thought. Radicals who grew up during the Cold War find the Frankfurt School attractive. Indeed the School is the most successful American version of Marxist thought, yet the School clearly echoes the right-wing view. Anyone who thinks that scientific Marxism alone does not explain Stalinism or that Soviet communism was not simply an evil empire is at odds with the Frankfurt School. Philip Goldstein
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