Wang Yuchen: On the Three Perspectives of the Intellectual History of Western Marxism and Their Contemporary Value
Unlike research on the history of Western Marxist thought, which focuses on the historical progression of Western Marxism, research on the scholarly history of Western Marxism builds upon that foundation while placing greater emphasis on Western Marxism’s internal theoretical logic, theoretical effects, and practical effects. These constitute the three dimensions of research into the scholarly history of Western Marxism. This article seeks to reveal these three dimensions and their contemporary value.
01. The Starting Point and Theoretical Logic of Western Marxist Theory
The emergence of Western Marxism was the result of reflections on the failure of revolution in the West. Following the consecutive failures of Western Communist Parties to launch socialist revolutions according to the model of the Russian October Revolution—as required by the Comintern—theorists within these parties engaged in debates over strategies and tactics for Western revolution. This debate further expanded into a controversy over the question: "What is the essence of Marxist philosophy?" The result of this debate was the appearance of a Western Marxist school of thought distinct from both the Second International and the Soviet Russian models. Its fundamental theoretical characteristic is that it is grounded in Western socio-historical conditions and cultural traditions. It opposes interpreting Marxist philosophy as a modern-era [1] epistemological philosophy, emphasizing instead that Marxist philosophy is a contemporary-era [2] philosophy. It focuses on exerting the critical-evaluative and realistic dimensions of Marxist philosophy, applying its understanding of Marxist philosophy to launch critiques of cultural values, technology, and ecology in contemporary capitalist society. It reveals that contemporary Western society is a society of total alienation, emphasizing that the prerequisite for Western revolution is either the formation of a mature proletarian class consciousness or the formation of individual self-determination and independent personality. On this basis, economic and political revolutions can be carried out to establish a socialist society suited to Western socio-historical conditions and cultural traditions. The logical starting point of this theory is the interrogation and exploration of the essence of Marxist philosophy, which in turn formed the theoretical logic of Western Marxism.
Although the humanist and scientist currents within Western Marxism differ in specific theoretical viewpoints, their commonality lies in exploring the essence of the philosophical revolution achieved by Marx, as well as the related questions of the essence, function, mission, and theoretical form of Marxist philosophy. Through this, they formed their own outlook on Marxist philosophy. Their shared point is the opposition to interpreting Marxist philosophy from the standpoint of modern-era philosophy as an epistemological system aimed at exploring the absolute essence and universal laws of the world. They emphasize that Marx achieved a philosophical revolution precisely because he broke with modern-era philosophy. They argue that Marxist philosophy is a contemporary materialist philosophy concerning the relations between humans and between humanity and nature. The function and mission of Marxist philosophy is not to discover some metaphysical law, but rather to explore how the "totality" formed by subjective and objective factors in the historical process influences the development of human history, thereby seeking the path to human freedom and liberation. Their opposition to interpreting Marxist philosophy as a modern-era epistemological philosophy was the result of the dual influence of the socio-historical conditions and the cultural traditions they faced. From the perspective of their socio-historical conditions, Western modernization had already been completed; during the transition from modern to postmodern society, the modernity value system based on rationalism had already manifested a series of phenomena in practice that ran counter to the free and comprehensive development of the human being. This determined that their understanding and interpretation of Marxist philosophy could not be grounded in the standpoint of modern rationalist philosophy. From the perspective of the philosophical and cultural traditions they inhabited, a philosophical and cultural trend of reflecting on rationality and opposing capitalism emerged in Western countries in response to the negative phenomena of Western modernization. Western Marxist theorists were influenced not only by their own national cultural traditions but also by this trend of reflective anti-rationalism and anti-capitalism. Specifically, Georg Lukács's theoretical construction was deeply influenced by Max Weber, Georg Simmel, and the romantic anti-capitalist cultural trends of the time; Antonio Gramsci’s theoretical construction was deeply influenced by the Western historicist tradition in cultural philosophy and by Benedetto Croce; the Frankfurt School’s theoretical construction was deeply influenced by Freudian psychoanalysis; Jean-Paul Sartre’s theoretical construction was deeply influenced by existentialist philosophy; and Louis Althusser’s theoretical construction was deeply influenced by French scientific epistemology (represented by Gaston Bachelard), Western positivist trends—particularly structuralism—and Freudian psychoanalysis. These influences not only gave Western Marxist theorists their theoretical uniqueness, but also led them to draw upon and absorb the dialectics within Western philosophical traditions and the idea emphasizing the role of subjective human spiritual factors in the historical process. This allowed them to both oppose the defects of economic determinism and technological reductionism in Soviet Russian Marxist theory and emphasize the critical-evaluative dimension of Marxist philosophy, forming a Western Marxist scholarly tradition that values the criticality and realism of Marxist philosophy. At the same time, using their understanding of Marxist philosophy, they focused on analyzing real-world problems in the development of contemporary Western society from the ontological perspective of human freedom and liberation. They proposed a series of new theoretical themes, unfolding their theoretical logic and generating a series of theoretical innovations.
First, by exploring the lived conditions of the proletariat and Western individuals in real life, Western Marxist theorists proposed innovative themes and theories regarding alienation. Influenced by Weber’s sociology, Simmel’s cultural philosophy, and Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, Lukács identified the existence of a pervasive phenomenon of reification in capitalist society based on Marx’s discussion of "commodity fetishism" in Capital. Lukács defined reification as "a person's own activity, his own labor, becoming something objective and independent of him, something that controls him by virtue of an autonomy alien to man." [1] (P150) The appearance of the phenomenon of reification meant that Western modern development and human development had diverged; the relationship between humans and things had been inverted. Humans were no longer the masters of the production process and their own products of labor, but had instead been reduced to spectators of the production process and slaves to things. The phenomenon of reification not only inverted the relationship between humans and things but also led to the prevalence of uncritical positivist and instrumental thinking, making it impossible for people to truly grasp the totality and trends of social development. Although Lukács’s theme of alienation suffered from conflating "alienation" (yìhuà) with "objectification" (duìxiànghuà), and spoke of the formation of alienation only from the perspective of the prevalence of technical rationality, his theme of alienation was proposed before the publication of Marx’s Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844. This demonstrated his extraordinary theoretical insight and enabled subsequent Western Marxist theorists to use the "alienation theme" as an important theoretical tool for critiquing capitalist society. They subsequently proposed theories such as "total alienation," "the alienation of everyday life," and "the alienation of consumption." Their commonality lies in the identification of contemporary Western society as one where the value of things rises while the value of humans falls, and where Westerners find themselves in an alienated condition increasingly controlled and dominated, both physically and mentally, by the totality of Western society. The prerequisite for Westerners to obtain freedom and liberation is to escape this alienated existence of total control and form self-determined consciousness and an independent personality. In effect, they regarded the degree of subjective spiritual development of the proletariat and Western individuals as the foundation and prerequisite for achieving freedom and liberation. Although their theories contained defects—such as subjectivizing alienation by divorcing it from capitalist private property and the division of labor, or even eternalizing alienation by confusing it with "objectification," and interpreting Marxist philosophy as an abstract philosophical anthropology—their theoretical explorations help us more profoundly grasp the new changes in the basic contradictions of Western society. They deepen our understanding of contemporary Western capitalist society and assist us in more deeply handling the relationship between subjective and objective factors in the historical process. They allow us to grasp the objective and subjective dimensions of Marxist philosophy and their dialectical relationship, leading to a more profound comprehension of the essence and function of Marxist philosophy.
Second, the emphasis on cultural and ideological critique formed the Western Marxist theory of culture and ideology. Early Western Marxist theorists believed that the structure of Western society differed from the simple political-violent rule of Russia; it was a total rule comprising both political violence and cultural-ideological control. This required that importance be placed on cultural and ideological struggle, focusing on cultivating the mature class consciousness of the proletariat and implementing a "total revolution model" that included cultural-psychological, economic, and political revolutions. The cultural-psychological revolution was the foundation and prerequisite for launching this total revolution. Based on this understanding, early Western Marxist theorists emphasized the importance of cultural and ideological struggle in cultivating mature proletarian class consciousness, leading to the formation of Lukács’s "theory of class consciousness," Karl Korsch’s "theory of total revolution," and Gramsci’s theory of "cultural-ideological hegemony." Subsequent Western Marxist theorists inherited and developed the cultural-ideological critique of early Western Marxism. The Frankfurt School proposed "the critique of consumerist culture" and the "theory of the culture industry," the core of which was the belief that while scientific and technological progress improved productive forces and increased social wealth, it also functioned as an ideology to control people’s inner worlds. Althusser divided Marxist theory into two components: the science of historical materialism and the philosophy of dialectical materialism. Historical materialism provides scientific knowledge and is unrelated to ideology; dialectical materialism assumes the ideological function and is unrelated to scientific knowledge. Based on this understanding, Althusser not only proposed that dialectical materialist philosophy is a "theory of theoretical practice" and "class struggle in the field of theory," but also creatively proposed the "theory of ideological state apparatuses." This revealed how contemporary capitalist states carry out the reproduction of the relations of production to guarantee the political conditions of capitalist rule, while also highlighting the importance of cultural-ideological struggle for Western revolution. Ecosocialist Marxism critiques consumerist values and lifestyles as bourgeois ideology, advocating for the cultivation of human self-determination and independent personality, the correct handling of the relationships between commodities, needs, satisfaction, and happiness, and the establishment of a worldview and concept of happiness centered on the value of labor and creation as the prerequisite for solving the ecological crisis and establishing an ecosocialist society. Overall, the purpose of the culture and ideology theories proposed by Western Marxist theorists was to enable the proletariat as a whole and Western individuals to escape the shackles of bourgeois culture and ideology, form a mature class consciousness or individual self-determination and independent personality, and lay the foundation and prerequisite for the realization of Western freedom and liberation.
Third, the exploration of the social effects of science and technology formed Western Marxism's critique of technological rationality. While affirming the positive role of scientific and technological progress and application, Western Marxism also explored the causes of its negative effects from two dimensions: the philosophical and the social foundations of science and technology. The philosophical foundation of scientific and technological progress and application is Enlightenment rationality. Enlightenment rationality distorted "reason"—which originally encompassed both value rationality and instrumental rationality—into purely instrumental rationality. This further led to "utility" being used as the standard for judging whether knowledge is scientific, categorizing knowledge concerning value and meaning as metaphysics to be negated and discarded. This severed the organic connection between science and philosophy, and between science and values, leading to the prevalence of positivist philosophy and positivist thinking. Consequently, science not only lost the necessary guidance of philosophy and values but also resulted in the prevalence of scientism [4] and the irrational application of science and technology. The social foundation of scientific and technological progress and application is the capitalist mode of production aimed at chasing profit. This dictates that the purpose of progress and innovation is not to realize human freedom and liberation, but to satisfy capital's pursuit of profit and the interests of specific capital-based interest groups. This determines that capital will not only fail to make the social material wealth created by science and technology serve free and comprehensive human development, but will also further intensify "surplus repression" [5] of the individual. To resolve the negative effects of scientific and technological progress, it is necessary to reconstruct the relationship between science and philosophy, and between human beings. To reconstruct the relationship between science and philosophy means establishing a technical ethic aimed at restraining irrational human desires, making progress and application subordinate to free and comprehensive human development and the harmonious co-development of man and nature. To reconstruct the relationship between human beings means transforming the unjust capitalist system and mode of production, and establishing a society where innovation and application serve free and comprehensive human development and the harmonious co-development of man and nature.
Fourth, by revealing the root causes of the contemporary ecological crisis and seeking paths to resolve it, Western Marxism formed its theories of ecological critique. Western Marxist theorists adhere to the idea of an ecological community rooted in the unity of the historical materialist view of nature and the view of history. They emphasize that in capitalist society, there exists both the "first contradiction"—between the productive forces and relations of production, and the economic base and the superstructure, as revealed by Marx—and a "second contradiction" between capitalist production and its conditions of production [6]. The former brings about economic crises due to insufficient demand; the latter brings about ecological crises because the destruction of production conditions makes production impossible. They emphasize that economic crises in contemporary capitalist society primarily manifest as ecological crises, leading them to explicitly propose the thesis that "the capitalist system is anti-ecological by nature." After revealing the internal link between the capitalist system and the ecological crisis, Western Marxism further emphasizes that capital-based values of material desire and a consumerist lifestyle further intensify the ecological crisis. Western Marxism stresses that the capitalist system not only causes domestic ecological crises but also creates a trend toward the globalization of ecological crises through the global movement of capital. This requires that resolving the ecological crisis must organically combine "global thinking" with "local action," and the ecological movement with the socialist movement. It demands the dismantling of the unjust capitalist system aimed at producing exchange value, the breaking of capital-based materialist values and narrow anthropocentrism, the establishment of a labor-value theory and a concept of labor-happiness based on creative labor, and the creation of an eco-socialist society aimed at ecological rationality and meeting the basic needs of the people.
Fifth, the pursuit of equality, justice, and human freedom and liberation formed Western Marxist political philosophy. Western Marxism's theories of ideology, legitimacy crises and the public sphere, and recognition theory—especially Analytical Marxism's critique of Nozick’s libertarianism and Rawls’s left-liberal political philosophy, its analysis of capitalist exploitation, and its search for justice—are in fact analyses conducted according to changes in the historical conditions of Western society. These not only opened a normative dimension for defending historical materialism and socialism but also excavated and organized the political philosophy inherent in historical materialism, providing intellectual resources for the construction of a historical materialist political philosophy.
02. The Theoretical Effects and Theoretical Value of Western Marxism
Western Marxism’s theoretical explorations and problematics have had a significant impact on both the development of Marxist theory abroad and the study of Marxist philosophy in China, possessing profound theoretical value.
First, the theoretical problems of Western Marxism provided intellectual resources for the construction of new trends in foreign Marxism. Post-Marxism, represented by Laclau and Mouffe, uses the pretext of changes in contemporary Western historical conditions to emphasize that the proletariat as a whole no longer exists and that Western society is already a society of multiple subjects. They believe the Marxist concept of class can no longer reflect the new changes in contemporary Western society, implying that class politics is no longer realistic. Based on postmodern philosophical and cultural trends, they emphasize that historical materialism’s historical laws regarding economic necessity should be negated and discarded as "essentialism." They believe they can borrow and revise Gramsci’s concept of "hegemony" and Althusser’s historical view of "overdetermination" [7] to construct a "new hegemony theory" suited to contemporary Western society, emphasizing contingency, radical democracy, and "articulation theory." However, their borrowing and revision are based on distorting the original meanings of Gramsci's hegemony theory and Althusser’s "overdetermination." As is well known, Gramsci’s hegemony theory is established on the basic principle of historical materialism that the economic base determines the superstructure. The characteristic of his interpretation of Marxist philosophy is, on the one hand, to oppose those interpretations based on economic determinism and vulgar materialism, and on the other hand, to oppose idealistic interpretations. He interpreted Marxist philosophy as a practice-based materialist philosophy regarding relations between humans and between humans and nature, emphasizing the critical value function of Marxist philosophy and its important role in the struggle for cultural and ideological hegemony. Post-Marxism, however, believes Gramsci’s theory of hegemony can "articulate" the multiple subjects of contemporary Western society, providing a theoretical basis for a new hegemony theory; yet it detaches this from Gramsci’s premise of the economic base determining the superstructure, even demanding that this basic principle of historical materialism be treated as a residue of essentialism to be negated. A similar situation occurs in the understanding of Althusser’s theory. Althusser proposed the thesis of a "overdetermined" view of history to oppose those understandings of Marxist philosophy rooted in economic determinism and technological reductionism. When proposing this thesis, he repeatedly emphasized that the determining role of economic factors "in the last instance" is embodied in the fact that it is the foundation for the superstructure's reaction. Post-Marxism, while recognizing that Althusser’s view of history breaks through the concept of economic necessity and highlights the differences, plurality, and multidimensionality of social historical development—becoming precisely suited to the reality of multiple subjects and increasing difference in contemporary Western society—nonetheless believes that because Althusser’s "overdetermination" is grounded in the determining role of economic factors, this is precisely the content of Althusser’s theory that should be negated and discarded. As they argue: "If the concept of overdetermination fails to produce its deconstructive effects on the 'totality' within Marxist discourse, it is because from the start there was an attempt to make it compatible with another central element of Althusser's discourse—strictly speaking, the determination in the last instance by the economy." [5] It is evident that although Post-Marxism distorts and extends the thoughts of Gramsci and Althusser to construct its own theoretical system, it nonetheless highlights the theoretical effects of Western Marxism.
Second, the theoretical constructions of Late Marxism, represented by Jameson and Eagleton, as well as the trend of British Cultural Studies, have drawn upon the theoretical resources of Western Marxism from the dual dimensions of philosophical methodology and specific theoretical problems. From the dimension of philosophical methodology, the Late Marxist theorist Jameson criticized economic-determinist interpretations of Marx’s theory of the mode of production by borrowing Althusser's historical view of "overdetermination" [8] and his emphasis on synchronic research methods. Jameson affirmed that Althusser’s overdeterminist history and synchronic methods could overcome the defect wherein Marx’s theory of the mode of production—while excelling at the historical analysis of human social development—lacked a meticulous analysis of social structure. He emphasized that to truly understand and grasp Marx’s theory of the mode of production, one must organically combine synchronic and diachronic research methods. At the same time, Jameson repeatedly stressed that affirming Althusser's overdetermination and synchronic methods must always take Marx’s theory of the mode of production as a prerequisite and foundation: "this description must be completed by one crucial proviso, namely, that there is only one structuralism... namely the mode of production itself, or the synchronic system of social relations as a whole." 10 Only thus can one prevent Althusser's theories and methods from sliding toward the tendencies of Post-Marxism and Lacanian idealism. Similarly, British Cultural Studies was deeply influenced in its methodology by Gramsci’s cultural hegemony and Althusser’s overdetermination, forming a "culturalist research paradigm" and a "structuralist research paradigm." The former emphasizes the internal connection between culture and the empirical experience of human practice, highlighting culture’s link to human lifeways; the latter emphasizes the intervening role of ideology in the formation of culture. Although these strands of British Cultural Studies share a common opposition to economic-determinist and vulgar-materialist interpretations of historical materialism, these two different paradigms determined whether specific theorists viewed culture as a product of human practice or a result of social structure and ideological construction, and whether they emphasized cultural identity or cultural difference. Consequently, this also determined their theoretical themes and interests.
From the dimension of specific theoretical problems, Late Marxism was deeply influenced by the Western Marxist theories of totality, culture, and space. Emphasizing "totality" as the key to understanding the essence of Marxist philosophy and achieving the freedom and liberation of Westerners is a common point across Western Marxist theories. Late Marxism opposes the practice of Post-modernism and Post-Marxism, which use the pretext that "totality equals totalitarian ideology" to dissolve the Marxist theory of totality and indulge in purely abstract cultural criticism. Instead, Late Marxism emphasizes that, while consistently adhering to Marx’s theory of the mode of production, one should launch a totalizing critique of capitalist society—including economic, cultural, and political critique. In practice, one should seek effective ways to elevate local, micro-struggles against capitalism into a total struggle against capitalism. In this process of theoretical exploration, Late Marxism was deeply influenced by the Western Marxist theory of totality, a point particularly prominent in the work of figures like Jameson. While Jameson emphasized the importance of totality for Western socialist revolution, he believed the Western Marxist method of totality should be refined and concretized. He thus combined Althusser's structural totality with the concept of "cognitive mapping" proposed by Kevin Lynch in The Image of the City to propose his own method of "cognitive mapping." Its core requirement is to grasp the laws of the totalizing movement of capitalism and, by combining this with individual existential conditions and experience, to find a political program for Western socialist revolution and a realistic path for human freedom and liberation.
A prominent feature of Western Marxism is its emphasis on the degree of development of the human subjective spirit for the success of Western revolution. Consequently, the cultural critique theories formed through their intensive study of cultural issues have had a major impact on Late Marxist theoretical construction. Revealing the cultural logic of late capitalist society and critiquing consumerist culture are among the theoretical focuses of Late Marxism. Jameson repeatedly emphasized the importance of Lukács’s theory of reification and the Frankfurt School’s critique of consumer culture. Jameson not only affirmed the value of Lukács's reification theory for understanding the global expansion of capitalist culture and the essence of commodification but also explicitly stated that the theories of the culture industry and mass culture proposed by Adorno, Horkheimer, and Marcuse were positive results of applying reification theory to analyze the consequences and essence of commodification in capitalist society. He thus affirmed that "the power of Adorno and Horkheimer’s analysis of the culture industry lies in its demonstration of how the commodity structure unexpectedly and imperceptibly enters the work of art itself... as the steady conquest and colonization of the non-practical ultimate sphere—or of pure play and the anti-utilitarian—by the logic of the world of means and ends." 11 He further drew upon Marcuse’s emphasis on the significance of artistic aesthetics in restoring autonomous consciousness and political critical consciousness as a means to escape capitalist alienation and totalizing rule to realize human freedom and liberation.
The impact of Western Marxist spatial theory on Late Marxism is mainly reflected in the analysis of the global expansion of capital and its consequences. Lefebvre explicitly proposed a historical dialectic based on the production of space. He discussed the "spatial practice" based on material and labor production, the "representations of space" conceived by the ruling class, and the "representational space" based on real lived experience—his "triadic dialectic of space." He revealed the internal links between the production of space, capital accumulation, and the reproduction of capitalist relations of production under the capitalist mode of production. He further critiqued the alienation and fragmentation of human existence caused by capitalist space, proposing that socialist space—conducive to the free and comprehensive development of human beings—should replace the contradiction-ridden and alienated capitalist space. This achieved the "spatial turn" in social theory and became an important theoretical tool for foreign Marxism, especially Late Marxism, in critiquing contemporary capitalism. Influenced by Lefebvre’s spatial theory, Jameson argued in "Cognitive Mapping" that "each of the three historical stages of capital produces its own specific type of space, although this particular stage of capitalist space is clearly more profoundly linked than the space of other modes of production." 12 He clearly pointed out that in late capitalist society, the "logic of space" has replaced the "logic of time." Whether the method of "cognitive mapping" can be used to grasp the logic of spatial production in late capitalism is related not only to whether we can correctly understand the new changes in contemporary capitalist society but also to whether we can achieve the victory of a socialist revolution based on total transformation.
Third, the turn toward cultural studies in Western Marxism gave the development of foreign Marxist theory as a whole the characteristic of "two turns." In Considerations on Western Marxism, the British scholar Perry Anderson argued that, in contrast to Marx's move from philosophical research toward political and economic research, the theoretical themes of Western Marxism turned increasingly toward philosophical research—specifically toward cultural studies within the superstructure. This cultural turn led Western Marxists to emphasize the role of subjective factors in the historical process and to focus their theoretical research on Marxist dialectics and the functions of culture and ideology. This constituted the first turn in foreign Marxist research: the cultural turn. The positive effect of this turn was that it overcame interpretations of Marxist philosophy based on economic determinism and technological reductionism, and it revealed the primary contradictions faced in Western revolution. However, with the exception of Gramsci, Western Marxist theorists failed to correctly solve the dialectical relationship between subjective and objective factors when emphasizing the role of the former. This theoretical defect was exploited by Post-Marxist trends, leading Post-Marxism to completely break away from the decisive role of economic factors and to deny the laws of historical necessity revealed by historical materialism. By one-dimensionally emphasizing abstract critiques of culture and ideology, they displayed the negative influence of the Western Marxist cultural turn. Late Marxism critiqued the defects of Post-Marxism (namely its denial of Marx’s theory of the mode of production and its one-dimensional focus on culture), consistently adhering instead to the theory of the mode of production and the pursuit of totality. At the same time, it inherited and developed Western Marxist cultural critique, establishing it on the foundation of the critique of political economy and making the study of political economy the focus of their theory. This formed the second turn in foreign Marxist research: the return to the study of political economy.
Fourth, Western Marxist theory has similarly exerted an important influence on the theoretical research of contemporary Chinese Marxist philosophy. This influence is mainly reflected in the following: First, it promoted the Chinese academic community's understanding of the essence of Marxist philosophy, providing intellectual resources for the reform and theoretical construction of Chinese Marxist philosophy. Since the exploration of the essence of Marxist philosophy was their logical starting point, Western Marxists systematically explored fundamental issues such as the essence, function, mission, and theoretical system of Marxist philosophy. Their explorations allowed us to more completely grasp the overall image of the 20th-century processes of the globalization and nationalization [9] of Marxist philosophy, providing a brand-new theoretical horizon for the theoretical construction of Chinese Marxist philosophy. Since the reform and opening up, Western Marxist influence can be seen in Chinese Marxist philosophical discussions regarding practice, human subjectivity, philosophical anthropology [10], philosophical forms, and the reflection on and reform of the "textbook system." [11] This has gradually formed a relationship of two-way interaction between Chinese and Western Marxist research, such that the history of interpretation and reception of Western Marxism in Chinese academia and the history of the understanding of the essence of Marxist philosophy in China appear as the same historical process. Second, it promoted the Chinese academic community's understanding of the theoretical nature of Marxist philosophy. Western Marxist theorists opposed understanding the essence of Marxist philosophy as a set of specific research conclusions, instead highlighting its theoretical nature as critical and realistic. This influence is reflected both in promoting research on the "forms" of Marxist philosophy and in discussions on the relationship between the academic and realistic nature of Marxist philosophy. Third, it promoted the opening of new research domains in Chinese Marxist philosophy, facilitating the establishment of organic links between Marxist philosophy and the practice of Chinese modernization and the real lifeworld of human beings. From the ontological perspective of human freedom and liberation, Western Marxism proposed many new themes such as alienation, which played a positive role in opening new domains in Chinese Marxist philosophy like cultural philosophy, the philosophy of life, the critique of technology, and ecological philosophy. This has led Chinese Marxist philosophy truly toward the real lifeworld of human beings and is conducive to solving negative phenomena appearing in the process of Chinese modernization.
03 The Practical Effects and Realistic Value of Western Marxism
Western Marxism can be divided into two types of theory: those aimed at seeking the freedom and liberation of the proletariat as a whole, and those aimed at seeking the freedom and liberation of the individual in the West. The former is represented mainly by early Western Marxist theorists, Althusser, Ecological Marxism, and Analytical Marxist theorists; the latter is represented mainly by the Frankfurt School, Sartre, and others. Not only do they have different theoretical focuses, but their practical effects and realistic value are reflected, respectively, in promoting the development of the Western socialist movement and Western New Social Movements.
Western Marxist theorists, adhering to the goal of exploring the freedom and liberation of the proletariat as a whole, identified the key to socialist revolution in the West as the cultivation of mature proletarian class consciousness. Consequently, they placed great emphasis on elucidating the ideological functions of Marxist philosophy. They focused on handling the deterministic role played by the "totality" of subjective and objective factors within the historical process, and explored the relationship between the scientific and normative (value-based) nature of Marxist theory. They emphasized that transforming capitalist society and establishing a socialist society can only be achieved through class politics. Furthermore, they stressed that a socialist society should be built not only on the basis of highly developed productive forces but also on the basis of highly developed human subjective spirit, thereby proposing various models of socialism.
Early Western Marxist theorists such as Lukács, Korsch, and Gramsci emphasized that the West should establish a socialist society suited to Western democratic traditions. While highly praising Lenin’s important contributions to socialism, Lukács revealed the despotic essence of bourgeois political rule. He criticized Stalin and others for distorting Marxism into a form of economic determinism, thereby understanding socialism merely as an instrument for promoting economic development while completely ignoring issues of people's livelihoods and democracy. Based on his revelation that the essence of capitalist democracy is the manipulation of freedom and a "false democracy," Lukács emphasized that socialist democracy means both the genuine participation of the masses in the process of state and social management and a process of continuous democratization of everyday life. Gramsci and Korsch, meanwhile, emphasized that socialism should be built on the foundation of "factory councils" characterized by worker self-management and autonomy.
Ecological Marxism advocates combining the ecological movement with the organized labor movement to drive the ecological movement toward radical political action, transforming the capitalist system and mode of production. It aims to establish an ecosocialist society based on "productive justice," the democratization of production and management processes, and the subordination of scientific and technological achievements to the harmonious development of humanity and nature. Analytical Marxism criticized capitalist society as one rife with exploitation and inequality; it not only argued that socialist society is morally justified and just, but also constructed models of "coupon" market socialism and "economic democracy" market socialism. In their view, because the contradiction between capital and labor exists in capitalist society, the market inevitably brings about massive waste of resources, inequality, and injustice. Since socialist society lacks this contradiction, socialism can improve production efficiency through increased competition while simultaneously overcoming the exploitation and unfairness of capitalist society, resulting in a society that balances efficiency and equity. Taken as a whole, they emphasized that socialist society should be one with highly developed productive forces and subjective spirit—a society of freedom and equality without exploitation.
Western Marxist theorists aiming at the exploration of individual freedom and liberation in the West viewed contemporary capitalist society as a society of total domination and total alienation. At the same time, they viewed Soviet-style socialist society as a bureaucratic society, arguing that both were detrimental to the free development of the individual. They thus proposed a "Third Way" [12] that would both transform capitalist society and establish a form of socialism different from existing socialist states to realize the free and comprehensive development of man. Following the spirit of "alienation" and "humanism" found in the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, they interpreted Marxist philosophy as a doctrine for resisting alienation and achieving human freedom and liberation. They placed their hopes for the revolutionary subject of this "Third Way" on youth students and intellectual groups possessing a critical spirit. They sought to exert the critical spirit of Marxist philosophy to resist the total alienation and total control of capitalist society, cultivating individual autonomy and independent personality through cultural critique and artistic aesthetics. They proposed the ideal of realizing "humanistic socialism" through this "Third Way," defining a humanistic socialist society as one that has overcome alienation—a society where body and mind are in harmony, relations between man and nature and man and society are harmonious, and where interpersonal relations are filled with love and mutual respect.
The influence of Western Marxism on New Social Movements in the West is mainly reflected in its promotion of the "youth student rebellion" against mainstream Western culture and the ecological movement. The "youth student rebellion" originated with the "May Storm" [13] in France in 1968 and quickly spread throughout the Western world. The reason lay in student dissatisfaction with the consumerist values and lifestyles then preached by Western society. Man’s internal spiritual world was dominated by consumerist values, and society exhibited a trend toward "one-dimensionality," causing university education to degenerate into mere vocational training. Consequently, they took the rebellion against capitalist culture as a means of resisting capitalist society. It can be said that the student rebellion of that time was precisely a "questioning of the very idea of the university and the entire bourgeois way of life behind it." Western Marxist theorists and the student rebellion formed a two-way interactive relationship. On one hand, Western Marxist theorists and their viewpoints became objects of student veneration; Sartre’s theory of alienation and Marcuse’s revolutionary strategies of the "Great Refusal" and "aesthetic salvationism" proposed in works like One-Dimensional Man were highly esteemed by youth students. On the other hand, theorists such as Marcuse and Sartre took to the streets to support and voice solidarity with the student rebellion, allowing Western Marxist theory to be put into practice during the "May Storm," highlighting the significant influence of their theories.
Accompanying the trend of ecological crises becoming increasingly globalized, ecological trends and movements such as ecocentrism and modern anthropocentrism emerged in Western society. The prevalence of ecocentrism triggered radical environmental movements that emphasized ecological interests at the expense of human survival rights, leading to eco-autonomist political trends and movements. Modern anthropocentrism triggered green development environmental movements in the Western world based on the capitalist pursuit of profit. Ecological Marxism, on the one hand, criticizes the "nature-value theory" and "natural rights theory" advocated by ecocentrism as facing numerous theoretical and practical difficulties. On the other hand, it criticizes ecocentrism for placing ecological interests above human interests, examining the roots of ecological crises abstractly and in isolation from the mode of production, failing to see the internal connection between ecological crises and capitalist modernization and the globalization of capital. It argues that ecocentrism ignores the globalization of capital and overemphasizes the importance of local ecological autonomy and personal lifestyle changes in solving ecological crises. Ecological Marxism also criticizes the essence of anthropocentric ecological trends as being the maintenance of the natural conditions for capitalist reproduction and sustainable development. The value position of such theories is by no means the maintenance of the collective and long-term interests of humanity as they claim, but rather the maintenance of the interests of capital; it is a "Western-centric" ecological trend.
Ecological Marxism thus points out that the root of the ecological crisis lies in capitalist modernization and the globalization of capital. Only by abolishing the capitalist system and mode of production, dismantling the "false human" and anthropocentric values of capital and classical economics, and establishing genuine anthropocentric values based on the true collective and long-term interests of humanity and the satisfaction of people's basic needs, can we avoid both radical ecological movements that ignore human survival rights and the reduction of ecological movements into environmental movements that serve the capitalist need for profit. This allows the ecological movement to truly promote the harmonious and common development of the relationships between man and nature, and man and society.
(The author is a Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at the School of Philosophy, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law) Web Editor: Tongxin Source: Studies on Marxism-related Disciplines, 2021, Issue 8