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

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

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>  

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.