M A R X I S M , R E V O L U T I O N A N D U T O P I A COLLECTED PAPERS OF HERBERT MARCUSE EDITED BY DOUGLAS KELLNER AND CLAYTON PIERCE Volume One TECHNOLOGY, WAR AND FASCISM Volume Two TOWARDS A CRITICAL THEORY OF SOCIETY Volume Three THE NEW LEFT AND THE 1960S Volume Four ART AND LIBERATION Volume Five PHILOSOPHY, PSYCHOANALYSIS AND EMANCIPATION Volume Six MARXISM, REVOLUTION AND UTOPIA HERBERT MARCUSE (1898–1979) is an internationally renowned philosopher, social activist and theorist, and member of the Frankfurt School. He has been remembered as one of the most influential social critical theorists inspiring the radical political movements in the 1960s and 1970s. Author of numerous books including One-Dimensional Man, Eros and Civilisation and Reason and Revolution, Marcuse taught at Columbia, Harvard, Brandeis University and the University of California before his death in 1979. DOUGLAS KELLNER is George F. Kneller Chair in the Philosophy of Education at UCLA. He is author of many books on social theory, politics, history and culture, including Herbert Marcuse and the Crisis of Marxism, Media Culture and Critical Theory, Marxism and Modernity. His Critical Theory and Society: A Reader, co-edited with Stephen Eric Bronner, and book Media Spectacle is also published by Routledge. CLAYTON PIERCE is an assistant professor in the department of Education, Culture, and Society at the University of Utah. His books include On Marcuse: Critique, Liberation, and Reschooling in the Radical Pedagogy of Herbert Marcuse (with Douglas Kellner and Tyson Lewis) and Marcuse’s Challenge to Education (with Douglas Kellner, Tyson Lewis and Daniel Cho). His latest book Education in the Age of Biocapitalism was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2013. M A R X I S M , R E V O L U T I O N A N D U T O P I A H E R B E R T M A R C U S E C O L L E C T E D PA P E R S O F H E R B E RT M A R C U S E Volume Six E d i t e d b y D o u g l a s K e l l n e r a n d C l a y t o n Pi e r c e First published 2014 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Ave., New York City, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Selection and editorial matter © 2014 Douglas Kellner & Clayton Pierce “Introduction: Marcuse’s Adventures in Marxism” © 2014 Douglas Kellner & Clayton Pierce Afterword © 2014 Peter Marcuse The right of the author to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Control Number: 97154404 ISBN13: 978-0-415-13785-0 (hbk) ISBN13: 978-1-315-81479-7 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by HWA Text and Data Management, London C O N T E N T S Introduction Marcuse’s Adventures in Marxism DOUGLAS KELLNER AND CLAYTON PIERCE 1 I Studies in Marxism 69 Review of Karl Vorländer’s Karl Marx: Sein Leben und Sein Werk 69 Value and Exchange Value 72 Recent Literature on Communism 74 Dialectic and Logic Since the War 82 Supplementary Epilogue Written in 1954 to Reason and Revolution 94 Preface to Raya Dunayevskaya’s Marxism And Freedom (1958) 98 Review of George Lichtheim’s Marxism: An Historical and Critical Study 104 Humanism and Humanity 106 Epilogue to Marx’s 18th Brumaire of Louis Napoleon 117 Afterword to Walter Benjamin’s Critique of Violence 123 The Concept of Negation in the Dialectic 128 The History of Dialectics 132 II Marxian Interventions 153 Marcuse on Cuba 153 The Emancipation of Women in a Repressive Society: A Conversation with Herbert Marcuse and Peter Furth 161 Socialism in the Developed Countries 169 Socialist Humanism? 180 vi Contents The Obsolescence of Marxism 188 Revolutionary Subject and Self-Government 196 Re-examination of the Concept of Revolution 199 Rat Marcuse 207 Letter from Inge Marcuse to Chancellor William J. McGill with Comments by Harbert Marcuse 208 FBI Report on An Essay on Liberation 210 Angela Davis and Herbert Marcuse 212 Conclusions on Science and Society 217 The True Nature of Tolerance 218 III Lectures and Interviews on Marxism, Revolution and the Contemporary Moment 222 Marxism Confronts Advanced Industrial Society 222 Obsolescence of Socialism 235 The End of Utopia 249 Discussion Between Herbert Marcuse and Peter Merseburger 264 Herbert Marcuse: Philosopher of the New Left 270 Varieties of Humanism: Herbert Marcuse talks with Harvey Wheeler 277 Revolution 1969: Discussion with Henrich von Nussbaum 283 ACLU Conference: May 21 1969 289 Interview with Pierre Viansson-Ponte 297 IV Letters, Testimonies, and Responses to Critics 300 Letter to Max Horkheimer 300 Correspondence with Raya Dunayevskaya, 1957 301 Correspondence with Raya Dunayevskaya, 1961 313 Preface to Franz Neumann, The Democratic and Authoritarian State 315 Soviet Theory and Practice 319 Letter to Karel Kosik 322 A Tribute to Paul Baran 323 On Changing the World: A Reply to Karl Miller 324 The Guardian, Reply to Critics 329 The Dialectics of Liberation and Radical Activism 330 Commentary on Henry Kissinger 332 Correspondence with Rudi Dutschke, 334 Jürgen Habermas, Letter to Herbert Marcuse 338 V Marxism and Revolution in an Era of Counterrevolution 340 Marxism and the New Humanity: An Unfinished Revolution 340 Interview with Street Journal & San Diego Free Press 346 Marx and Para-Marx on Capitalist Contradictions 355 Le Monde Diplomatique 358 Contents vii An Interview with Herbert Marcuse by Gianguido Piani 362 Herbert Marcuse in 1978: An Interview by Myriam Miedzian Malinovich 368 The Reification of the Proletariat 392 Protosocialism and Late Capitalism: Toward a Theoretical Synthesis Based on Bahro’s Analysis 395 A Conversation with Herbert Marcuse: On Pluralism, Future, and Philosophy 416 Herbert Marcuse Lead by Bill Ritter 422 Afterword PETER MARCUSE 432 Index 435 This page intentionally left blank I N T R O D U C T I O N M a r c u s e ’ s A d v e n t u re s i n M a r x i s m D o u g l a s K e l l n e r a n d C l a y t o n Pi e r c e Throughout his life, Herbert Marcuse synthesized Hegelian, Marxian, and other currents of modern philosophy and modern philosophy in an attempt to reconstruct the Marxian theory in accordance with changes in the trajectory of modern culture, politics, and society. Marcuse maintained a critical and non-dogmatic approach to Marxism, seeing Marxian theories of history and society as indispensable tools for developing a critical theory of the contemporary moment. Interpreting Marxian categories as social and historical, he saw the Marxian theory as in need of constant revision and updating in the light of new historical and theoretical developments—just as Marcuse himself constantly updated and developed his own work in reference to existing social conditions, political struggles, and historical possibilities for a freer, happier, and more egalitarian society that could offer alternatives to the various systems of domination he mapped throughout his career. As argued in previous volumes, Marcuse’s theory and politics were marked by idiosyncratic and novel syntheses of philosophy, psychoanalysis, aesthetics, and critical social theory. The combination of these traditions directed Marcuse in his work toward human emancipation and social transformation that was constantly situated within a Marxian theory of