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===Marx, Engels and Lenin on culture===

===Marx, Engels and Lenin on culture===

The views of [[Karl Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels]] were, in general, different than those of the 20th century Cultural Marxists. Marx and Engels were proponents of [[Realism]] in the arts and culture. They maintained that any honest artist who longs for truth and is guided by sincere ethics, would end up portraying the grueling realities of [[capitalism]] realistically without having to be a [[socialism|socialist]]. They give the example of their contemporary French writer [[Honoré de Balzac]], who, despite being a staunch [[monarchy|monarchist]], his realist literary works laid bare the immorality of 19th century capitalist relations of production and thus Balzac's work is of great value to progressives even though his personal ideology was conservative. Engels called this the "Triumph of Realism" (Sieg des Realismus), explaining that Balzac's sincere ethics and the fact that his heart longed for truth and objectivity inevitably made him a realist critic of capitalist exploitation in his literature, although his personal political alignment always remained [[conservatism|conservative]]. According to Engels: <blockquote>Balzac boldly exposed the contradiction of nascent capitalist society and hence his observation of reality constantly clashed with his political prejudices. But as an honest artist he always depicted only what he himself saw, learned and underwent, concerning himself not at all whether his-true-to-life description of the things he saw contradicted his pet ideas.<ref>https://www.academia.edu/28848230/Two_Balzacs_Two_Gogols_Two_Tolstoys</ref></blockquote>  

The cultural views of [[Karl Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels]] were, in general, different from those of the 20th century Cultural Marxists. Marx and Engels were proponents of [[Realism]] in the arts and culture. They maintained that any honest artist who longs for truth and is guided by sincere ethics, would end up portraying the grueling realities of [[capitalism]] realistically without having to be a [[socialism|socialist]]. They give the example of their contemporary French writer [[Honoré de Balzac]], who, despite being a staunch [[monarchy|monarchist]], his realist literary works laid bare the immorality of 19th century capitalist relations of production and thus Balzac's work is of great value to progressives even though his personal ideology was conservative. Engels called this the "Triumph of Realism" (Sieg des Realismus), explaining that Balzac's sincere ethics and the fact that his heart longed for truth and objectivity inevitably made him a realist critic of capitalist exploitation in his literature, although his personal political alignment always remained [[conservatism|conservative]]. According to Engels: <blockquote>Balzac boldly exposed the contradiction of nascent capitalist society and hence his observation of reality constantly clashed with his political prejudices. But as an honest artist he always depicted only what he himself saw, learned and underwent, concerning himself not at all whether his-true-to-life description of the things he saw contradicted his pet ideas.<ref>https://www.academia.edu/28848230/Two_Balzacs_Two_Gogols_Two_Tolstoys</ref></blockquote>  

Engels declared that Balzac was his favorite writer. Marx's Das Kapital also makes some references to the works of Balzac.

Engels declared that Balzac was his favorite writer. Marx's Das Kapital also makes some references to the works of Balzac.

[[Vladimir Lenin]] was also a proponent of Realism and stressed its superiority over [[Modernism]]. He considered [[Leo Tolstoy]] to be the most effective depictor of the everyday life of Russian peasants, even though Tolstoy was a nobleman. Lenin once wrote to [[Maxim Gorky]]: "Until this Count, we had no real peasant in our literature."<ref>https://www.marxists.org/archive/gorky-maxim/1924/lenin-the_man.html</ref> Here too, the personal merit of Tolstoy as an author, to Lenin, is not the superlative genius of Tolstoy that enabled him to represent both the Russian [[Kulak|Kulaks]] as well as the Russian Muzhiks so effectively. Ultimately it was the compulsion fortruthful representation that made Tolstoy do so.<ref>https://www.academia.edu/28848230/Two_Balzacs_Two_Gogols_Two_Tolstoys</ref>

[[Vladimir Lenin]] was also a proponent of Realism and stressed its superiority over [[Modernism]]. He considered [[Leo Tolstoy]] to be the most effective depicter of the everyday life of Russian peasants, even though Tolstoy was a nobleman. Lenin once wrote to [[Maxim Gorky]]: "Until this Count, we had no real peasant in our literature."<ref>https://www.marxists.org/archive/gorky-maxim/1924/lenin-the_man.html</ref> Here too, the personal merit of Tolstoy as an author, to Lenin, is not the superlative genius of Tolstoy that enabled him to represent both the Russian [[Kulak|Kulaks]] as well as the Russian Muzhiks so effectively. Ultimately it was the compulsion for truthful representation that made Tolstoy do so.<ref>https://www.academia.edu/28848230/Two_Balzacs_Two_Gogols_Two_Tolstoys</ref>

In short, all three of Marx, Engels and Lenin considered culture to be part of the "superstructure" rather than the "base", and thus maintained that it is the change in the [[economy]] that leads to the change in a society's culture, and rejected the thesis of the Cultural Marxists that a [[Cultural Revolution|cultural revolution]] can be possible before the socio-politico-economic [[proletariat|proletarian]] revolution.

 

In short, all three of Marx, Engels and Lenin considered culture to be part of the "superstructure" rather than the "base", and thus maintained that it is the change in the [[economy]] that leads to the change in a society's culture, and ran contrary to the thesis of the Cultural Marxists that a [[Cultural Revolution|cultural revolution]] can be possible before the socio-politico-economic [[proletariat|proletarian]] revolution.

===Soviet Marxism against Cultural Marxism: Lukacs against the Frankfurt School===

===Soviet Marxism against Cultural Marxism: Lukacs against the Frankfurt School===

In a 1924 [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Soviet Communist Party]] congress, many Cultural Marxist and Modernist authors were harshly criticized by Soviet officials as "heretics". In his speech entitled The Struggle Against the Ultra-Lefts and Theoretical Revisionism, Zinoviev fiercely attacked [[Georg Lukacs]]' book History and Class Consciousness, declaring: ‘If we get more of these professors spinning out their Marxist theories, we shall be lost. We cannot tolerate theoretical revisionism of this kind in our Communist International.’ Nikolai Bukharin, soon to replace Zinoviev as [[Joseph Stalin]]’s chief ally in the [[Comintern]], told Karl Korsch, author of one of the most influential Cultural Marxist texts: ‘We can’t put every piece of garbage up for discussion.’<ref>https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/revhist/backiss/vol8/no1/smith.html</ref> Karl Radek also formulated the superiority of classical [[European]] Realism over Modernism, saying "If I were to write novels, I would learn how to write them from Tolstoy and Balzac, not from [[James Joyce]]."<ref>https://www.marxists.org/archive/radek/1934/sovietwritercongress.htm</ref> This year, which coincides with Stalin's takeover of the Party, marks the moment in which the [[Soviet Union]] closed its door to Cultural Marxism. Soon, the USSR made illegal such evils as [[homosexuality]] and [[abortion]].<ref>https://www.marxist.com/from-emancipation-to-criminalisation-stalinist-persecution-of-homosexuals-from-1934.htm</ref><ref>http://soviethistory.msu.edu/1936-2/abolition-of-legal-abortion/</ref>. From now on, Cultural Marxists considered the USSR as the "betrayer of the revolution". The advent of the [[Hitler]] dictatorship in [[Germany]] also meant the Frankfurt School was closed, and from 1933 Cultural Marxists started emigrating to America.

In a 1924 [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Soviet Communist Party]] congress, many Cultural Marxist and Modernist authors were harshly criticized by Soviet officials as "heretics". In his speech entitled The Struggle Against the Ultra-Lefts and Theoretical Revisionism, Zinoviev fiercely attacked [[Georg Lukacs]]' book History and Class Consciousness, declaring: ‘If we get more of these professors spinning out their Marxist theories, we shall be lost. We cannot tolerate theoretical revisionism of this kind in our Communist International.’ Nikolai Bukharin, soon to replace Zinoviev as [[Joseph Stalin]]’s chief ally in the [[Comintern]], told Karl Korsch, author of one of the most influential Cultural Marxist texts: ‘We can’t put every piece of garbage up for discussion.’<ref>https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/revhist/backiss/vol8/no1/smith.html</ref> Karl Radek also formulated the superiority of classical [[European]] Realism over Modernism, saying "If I were to write novels, I would learn how to write them from Tolstoy and Balzac, not from [[James Joyce]]."<ref>https://www.marxists.org/archive/radek/1934/sovietwritercongress.htm</ref> This year, which coincides with Stalin's takeover of the Party, marks the moment in which the [[Soviet Union]] closed its door to Cultural Marxism. Soon, the USSR made illegal such evils as [[homosexuality]] and [[abortion]].<ref>https://www.marxist.com/from-emancipation-to-criminalisation-stalinist-persecution-of-homosexuals-from-1934.htm</ref><ref>http://soviethistory.msu.edu/1936-2/abolition-of-legal-abortion/</ref>. From now on, Cultural Marxists considered the USSR as the "betrayer of the revolution". The advent of the [[Hitler]] dictatorship in [[Germany]] also meant the Frankfurt School was closed, and from 1933 Cultural Marxists started emigrating to America.

Karl Korsch, [[Georg Lukacs]] (only in his early philosophical period) and [[Antonio Gramsci]] (see below) were the original founders of Cultural Marxism. Their thought influenced that of the thinkers of the [[Frankfurt School]] of [[Critical Theory]] ([[Theodor Adorno]], [[Max Horkheimer]], Walter Benjamin, [[Herbert Marcuse]], [[Erich Fromm]] etc.) who mingled Marxism with the theories of [[Sigmund Freud]], [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]] and [[Immanuel Kant]], something unacceptable for Soviet Marxists. For them, the world of ideas is equally important to the material one, and they maintained that it is possible for a revolution in the world of ideas to lead to a revolution in the material world. They also abandoned the defense of realism and instead championed [[modernism]] and [[abstract art]], labelled as "degenerate" by both Nazis and Soviets. In response, they equated [[Nazism]] and [[Stalinism]], being some of the first proponents of the theory of [[totalitarianism]]. The Frankfurt School's theories, akin to neo-Hegelian dialectical idealism and "Freudo-Marxism" focusing on "[[sexual revolution|sexual liberation]]", are what forms the crux of Cultural Marxism.

Karl Korsch, [[Georg Lukacs]] (only in his early philosophical period) and [[Antonio Gramsci]] (see below) were the original founders of Cultural Marxism. Their thought influenced that of the members of the [[Frankfurt School]] of [[Critical Theory]] ([[Theodor Adorno]], [[Max Horkheimer]], Walter Benjamin, [[Herbert Marcuse]], [[Erich Fromm]] etc.) who mingled Marxism with the theories of [[Sigmund Freud]], [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]] and [[Immanuel Kant]], something unacceptable for Soviet Marxists. For the Cultural Marxists, the world of ideas is equally important to the material one, and they maintained that it is possible for a revolution in the world of ideas to lead to a revolution in the material world. They also abandoned the defense of realism and instead championed [[modernism]] and [[abstract art]], labelled as "degenerate" by both Nazis and Soviets. In response, they equated [[Nazism]] and [[Stalinism]], being some of the first proponents of the theory of [[totalitarianism]]. The Frankfurt School's theories, akin to neo-Hegelian dialectical idealism and "Freudo-Marxism" focusing on "[[sexual revolution|sexual liberation]]", are what forms the crux of Cultural Marxism.

Lukacs, however, soon repudiated these theories and returned to a much more orthodox Marxist stance, coming at odds with his former Frankfurt comrades, whose theories he now labelled "Café Marxism". He chose to live in the Soviet Union and his native [[Hungary]] and became the Culture Minister of the 1956 [[Hungarian Revolution]] under [[Imre Nagy]]. He fiercely criticized those Frankfurt School intellectuals who instead went to live in the comforts of the [[United States]] and [[West Germany]]. In 1962 Lukacs wrote: <blockquote>A considerable part of the leading German intelligentsia, including [[Theodor Adorno|Adorno]], have taken up residence in the "Grand Hotel Abyss" which I described […] as "a beautiful hotel, equipped with every comfort, on the edge of an abyss, of nothingness, of absurdity. And the daily contemplation of the abyss between excellent meals or artistic entertainments, can only heighten the enjoyment of the subtle comforts offered.<ref>https://www.marxists.org/archive/lukacs/works/theory-novel/preface.htm</ref>.</blockquote>

Lukacs, however, soon repudiated these theories and returned to a much more orthodox Marxist stance, coming at odds with his former Frankfurt comrades, whose theories he now labelled "Café Marxism". He chose to live in the Soviet Union and his native [[Hungary]] and became the Culture Minister of the 1956 [[Hungarian Revolution]] under [[Imre Nagy]]. He fiercely criticized those Frankfurt School intellectuals who instead went to live in the comforts of the [[United States]] and [[West Germany]]. In 1962 Lukacs wrote: <blockquote>A considerable part of the leading German intelligentsia, including [[Theodor Adorno|Adorno]], have taken up residence in the "Grand Hotel Abyss" which I described […] as "a beautiful hotel, equipped with every comfort, on the edge of an abyss, of nothingness, of absurdity. And the daily contemplation of the abyss between excellent meals or artistic entertainments, can only heighten the enjoyment of the subtle comforts offered.<ref>https://www.marxists.org/archive/lukacs/works/theory-novel/preface.htm</ref>.</blockquote>