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Western Marxism is a current of Marxist theory that arose from Western and Central Europe in the aftermath of the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the ascent of Leninism. The term denotes a loose collection of theorists who advanced an interpretation of Marxism distinct from classical and Orthodox Marxism and the Marxism-Leninism of the Soviet Union.[1]
Less concerned with economic analysis than earlier schools of Marxist thought, Western Marxism placed greater emphasis on the study of the cultural trends of capitalist society, deploying the more philosophical and subjective aspects of Marxism, and incorporating non-Marxist approaches to investigating culture and historical development.[2] An important theme was the origins of Karl Marx's thought in the philosophy of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel[a] and the recovery of what they called the "Young Marx" (the more humanistic early works of Marx).
While some early Western Marxists were prominent political activists,[3] Western Marxism became predominantly the reserve of university-based philosophers.[4] Since the 1960s, the concept has been closely associated with the New Left. Many Western Marxists were adherents of Marxist humanism, but the term also encompasses figures and schools of thought that were strongly critical of humanism and the dialectics of Hegel.[5]
- ^ Jacoby 1991, p. 581.
- ^ Chambre, Henry; McLellan, David T. "Western Philosophy". Britannica Online. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
Western Marxists were concerned less with the actual political or economic practice of Marxism than with its philosophical interpretation, especially in relation to cultural and historical studies. In order to explain the inarguable success of capitalist society, they felt it necessary to explore and understand non-Marxist approaches and all aspects of bourgeois culture.
- ^ Anderson 1976, p. 30.
- ^ Jacoby 1981, p. 109; Anderson 1976, pp. 49–50.
- ^ Jay 1984, pp. 3–4.
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