Guan Wei: Henri Lefebvre Lays the Foundations for Western Marxist Urban Philosophy

How the reflections and research on the city existing within the thought systems of Marx and Engels can be transformed into theoretical resources for a Marxist urban philosophy; how to open up a theoretical horizon of urban philosophy based on the thought and theory of Marx and Engels and examine the concrete existential states and contradictions of human society within this horizon; and how to creatively depict the alienation and counter-alienation of urban life under the capitalist system to outline a path for urban liberation grounded in Marxist urban philosophy—these constitute a vital, creative, and illuminating part of Henri Lefebvre’s system of thought. Based on systematic research into the urban thought of Marx and Engels, Lefebvre’s reflections and schemes regarding the path of human liberation established him as the founder of Western Marxist urban philosophy.

Marx and Engels provided abundant theoretical resources for the founding of Marxist urban philosophy. The relationship between the thought and theory of Marx and Engels and urban philosophy is the primary question Lefebvre sought to answer, and it is also the key issue concerning the legitimacy of Marxist urban philosophy. Lefebvre argued that the era in which Marx and Engels lived was precisely the period of the gradual rise of capitalist industrial cities. During this period, the relationship between city and countryside underwent a transformation; the city became the primary site for the production of social wealth, and a series of profound changes occurring within cities heralded the birth of new modes of production and lifestyles. Living in the midst of this, Marx and Engels were witnesses to the birth of the modern city. Lefebvre pointed out: "In the works of Marx and Engels, explorations of the urban question exist from beginning to end, but the founders of scientific socialism did not provide a systematic exposition of it." Through in-depth study of the works of Marx and Engels, and through the analysis and integration of relevant "fragments," Lefebvre extracted an approach to urban philosophy based on historical materialism and the critique of political economy.

Lefebvre began with Engels, arguing that Engels described the urban deployment of the capitalist mode of production and the living conditions of the working class beneath it within a more concrete and microscopic horizon. Lefebvre believed that Engels keenly captured how various elements of a new society (capitalist society) were congregating in cities, and that their interaction shaped new urban characteristics and spatial properties, representing a new way of life. At the same time, the concentration of production and population brought about by capitalist industrialization changed the workers' mode of existence, destroyed the countryside and its family structures, altered people’s mental worlds, and reduced workers to machines and tools. Furthermore, Engels discovered various social problems within urban reality that made the civilization and barbarism, progress and decay, and cleanliness and filth contained in the city like two sides of a coin: one side shining in the sun as a signifier of social civilization and progress, and the other hidden in the dark, a different kind of space shaped by the capitalist mode of production. They could proceed in their own ways without interfering with each other, yet both were inseparable components of the new spectacle that was the capitalist city. Lefebvre noted that Engels described the capitalist city in thought-provoking detail as a "masterpiece successfully created by the bourgeoisie to conceal the scenes of poverty that it itself finds repulsive," as well as to "conceal oppressive exploitation and its consequences." Lefebvre argued that Engels revealed the chaos and disorder of the capitalist city. While this chaos and disorder manifested in Engels' work as the resistant actions of the proletariat, for Lefebvre, they signified a brand-new form of revolution—the urban revolution.

Lefebvre contended that in the dialectical relationship between theory and reality, economic thought and economic practice, and in the depiction and understanding of the new phenomenon of the capitalist industrial city, Engels integrated an experience of life, whereas Marx primarily expressed his views from abstract principles. That is to say, Marx did not speak as frequently or as concretely and explicitly about urban issues in reality as Engels did, yet many of Marx's reflections can only be understood within the reality and context of the city. After Marx and Engels began their historic collaboration, the situation changed, and the urban thought of the two fused. Consequently, Lefebvre believed that the emergence of urban phenomena—the city acting as a holistic background—constituted a foundational part of understanding Marxist theory; namely, the totality presented by the city formed a solid grounding for historical materialism. In the process of capitalism replacing feudalism, "the city was the site and tool for historical transformation." The city was also the carrier of various changes and adjustments during this transition; it witnessed the changes in class relations and property relations during the alternation of the old and new systems, and it witnessed how the working class was degraded into "abstract activity and a stomach." Lefebvre emphasized the research by Marx and Engels on the division of labor and social intercourse ^[1] within the urban context, treating it as the realistic basis upon which historical materialism was discovered. In Lefebvre’s eyes, Marx and Engels depicted the laws and processes of human social development through the dialectical tension between macro and micro, concrete and abstract, and amidst the enormous adjustments and transformations of production and life. Through the dimension of the city, they displayed the history, reality, and future direction of human existence, thereby demonstrating the power of human praxis.

Lefebvre’s investigation and comparison of Marx and Engels revealed his own true theoretical intent: to conduct urban analysis based on changes in life, realistic differences, and concrete situations. Lefebvre argued that the relationship between town and country and its changes are both the realistic basis for understanding historical materialism and the key to understanding the process of urban development and its role in the evolution of human society. Based on Marxist political economy, Lefebvre proposed his own claim: "I have attempted to prove that for Marx, the disintegration of the feudal mode of production and the transition to capitalism were closely related to one theme: the city." The existence of the city is not only foundational but also subjective. It gathers various elements, allowing them to ferment within itself; it is simultaneously an oeuvre ^[2]. Lefebvre pointed out: "The city is a subject; it is a force of coherence." In this sense, the urban subject contains a power that allows it to manifest, maintain, and transform itself, enabling it to leap toward a new form. Regarding the transition from feudalism to capitalism, this process can only be concretely grasped and understood if it is viewed as the contradictory movement of the town-country relationship. In the feudal city, which served as the center of political and economic power, the increasing rise and growth of commerce, the dissolution of guilds, the separation of laborers from the land and other means of production, and the prosperity of the money economy—this series of concrete transformations caused the contradiction between town and country to give way to the contradictions of capitalist relations of production and the contradiction between capitalists and workers. Lefebvre believed that the capitalist city remains a subjective city, the true masters of which are participatory, collectively creating the urban oeuvre. Those who participate in constructing the urban oeuvre possess the "Right to the City" ^[3]. Although this right may be marginalized or stripped away in the process of urban development, as a right, it signifies the possibility of transformation. Only by understanding the city as a subject can one realize that in the course of its development, the expansion of human social intercourse and the progress of globalization will bring about a brand-new urban form: the urban (l’urbain). Lefebvre called this the "complete urbanization of society," a creative imagination of the future society and the final result of industrialization in the Marxian sense.

In Lefebvre's theoretical vision, the city is a historical category. This was the theoretical attitude held by Marx and Engels when discussing urban issues, and it was also an important method in their theoretical construction. Therefore, the excavation of the urban theory of Marx and Engels must also uphold a concrete and historical attitude. Through an analysis of the works of Marx and Engels, Lefebvre argued that in the process of discussing the contradictory movement between productive forces and relations of production—especially when researching the relations of production—the question of reproduction ^[4] holds significant theoretical and practical importance for understanding the establishment of capitalism, the capitalist city, the alienation of everyday life, the question of space, and the enormous changes in the rhythm of people's lives—particularly for understanding the survival of capitalism. Lefebvre regarded the evolution of the city and the town-country relationship as a key to understanding these issues. It is precisely through the city—through the concrete relationship between the city and the productive forces and relations of production, political power, and population—that one can understand why "in past societies, the most important social relations were not economic relations," whereas "under the capitalist system, the economic base plays a dominant role. The economy is predominant." Marx's critical contribution was the discovery of the "victory of the economy over history." Lefebvre pointed out that conducting research on contemporary capitalism from the perspective of the reproduction of the relations of production clearly reveals a dual historical process: "the reproduction of the relations of production implies the expansion and enlargement of the mode of production and its material base. Just as Marx anticipated, capitalism spread throughout the world, absorbing earlier productive forces and transforming them for itself. But capitalism also created new sectors of production, and thus new sectors of exploitation and domination, including leisure, everyday life, knowledge and art, and finally, urbanization." This process opened up the world market, continuously carrying out the spatialization of capital and the capitalization of space.

Lefebvre maintained a very prudent attitude toward the intellectual resources of Marx and Engels, conducting a holistic and systematic study of their urban thought. This research was not a simple cataloging or a piecing together of "fragments," but an attempt to make the urban question prominent within the horizon of historical materialism. It laid the cognitive and methodological foundation for urban studies, highlighted the importance of urban issues in our era within the process and context of historical development, and concretely reflected upon and revealed—within an orderly framework—the series of contradictions and even alienation brought to people by the problems of the capitalist city. Based on the expansion and shift of the Marxist theoretical perspective, Lefebvre placed his hopes in a new type of urban philosophy. This urban philosophy contains the possibility of human liberation and holds within it a new urban form, order, and set of relations.