None so Fit to Break the Chains: Marx’s Ethics of Self-Emancipation

232 Pages·2019·0.776 MB·English

by  Swain, Dan

NonesoFittoBreaktheChains
Historical Materialism
Book Series
EditorialBoard
SébastienBudgen(Paris)
DavidBroder(Rome)
SteveEdwards(London)
JuanGrigera(London)
MarcelvanderLinden(Amsterdam)
PeterThomas(London)
volume 194
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/hm
None so Fit to Break
the Chains
Marx’sEthicsof Self-Emancipation
By
DanSwain
LEIDEN | BOSTON
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Swain,Dan,author.
Title:Nonesofittobreakthechains:Marx’sethicsofself-emancipation/byDan
Swain.
Description:Boston:Brill,2019.|Series:Historicalmaterialismbookseries,
1570-1522;Volume194|Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2019025227(print)|LCCN2019025228(ebook)|
ISBN9789004315778(hardback)|ISBN9789004410091(ebook)
Subjects:LCSH:Marx,Karl,1818–1883.|Ethics.
Classification:LCCB3305.M74S932019(print)|LCCB3305.M74(ebook)|
DDC171/.7–dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2019025227
TypefacefortheLatin,Greek,andCyrillicscripts:“Brill”.Seeanddownload:brill.com/brill‑typeface.
ISSN1570-1522
ISBN978-90-04-31577-8(hardback)
ISBN978-90-04-41009-1(e-book)
Copyright2019byKoninklijkeBrillNV,Leiden,TheNetherlands.
KoninklijkeBrillNVincorporatestheimprintsBrill,BrillHes&DeGraaf,BrillNijhoff,BrillRodopi,
BrillSense,HoteiPublishing,mentisVerlag,VerlagFerdinandSchöninghandWilhelmFinkVerlag.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,translated,storedinaretrievalsystem,
ortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recordingorotherwise,
withoutpriorwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher.
AuthorizationtophotocopyitemsforinternalorpersonaluseisgrantedbyKoninklijkeBrillNVprovided
thattheappropriatefeesarepaiddirectlytoTheCopyrightClearanceCenter,222RosewoodDrive,
Suite910,Danvers,MA01923,USA.Feesaresubjecttochange.
Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaperandproducedinasustainablemanner.
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
NoteonReferences viii
Introduction 1
1 ‘OurNotionfromtheVeryBeginning’ 1
2 EthicsandPolitics 5
3 OverviewofChapters 8
1 PrometheusPlusSpartacus 11
1 Introduction 11
2 TheActionofFreedom 13
3 LabourandObjectification 19
4 Democracy 27
2 FromFreedomtoSelf-Emancipation 36
1 Introduction 36
2 Reckonings 38
3 LinkingthePresenttotheFuture 46
4 EducatingtheEducator 55
3 HistoricalMaterialismandSelf-Emancipation 64
1 HistoryandProphecy 64
2 FalseStarts 69
3 HistoryasConstraint 73
4 It’sBeenComing!–DeterminationandInevitability 77
5 HistoryandStrategy 83
4 Communism,UtopiaandVision 89
1 Introduction 89
2 CommunismasVision 92
3 WhoseIdeals,WhoseSociety? 95
4 UtopiaNegativa 107
5 Exploitation,JusticeandFreedom 118
1 Introduction 118
2 ExploitationandJustice 122
3 MutatoNominedeteFabulaNarratur 126
4 TheWedgesofHephaestus 134
vi contents
6 Alienation,HumanNature,HumanGood 143
1 Introduction 143
2 MarxandHumanNature 148
3 RevolutionaryAristotelianismandItsLimits 155
4 TheHumanBad 160
7 DenouncingtheAbyss 166
1 PoliticsandthePolitical 166
2 PoliticisingandDepoliticising 169
3 Demanding,Smashing,Seizing 175
4 PoliticsandSelf-Emancipation 182
8 Self-EmancipationandRevolutionaryPractice 188
1 Introduction 188
2 LeonTrotskyandtheInterdependenceofMeansandEnds 189
3 StephenD’ArcyandtheDemocraticStandardforMilitancy 194
4 GeorgLukácsandtheActualityofRevolution 198
5 JaneMcAleveyandWholeWorkerOrganising 205
6 Conclusion(OnceMoreonTheoryandPractice) 209
Bibliography 213
Index 221
Acknowledgements
Manyfriends,comradesandcolleagueshavehelpedmecompletethisbook.
It began life as a PhD thesis at the University of Essex, and owes an enorm-
ousdebttoitssupervisorFabianFreyenhagen.Itsexaminers,PeterDewsand
SeanSayers,alsodeservethanks,aswellasothersintheSchoolofPhilosophy
andArtHistoryatEssex,JörgSchaub,TimoJuetten,WayneMartin,DanWatts,
FionaHughesandparticipantsintheCriticalTheoryColloquium.Ialsobene-
fittedfromparticipationinaseriesofseminarsincriticalpoliticalphilosophy
attheUniversityof Cambridge,andparticularthanksareowedtoRaymond
Guess, Paul Raekstad and (especially) Lorna Finlayson.The book is the out-
comeoftheproject‘TowardsaNewOntologyofSocialCohesion’,grantnumber
GA19–20031Sof theCzechScienceAgency(GAČR),realisedattheInstituteof
PhilosophyoftheCzechAcademyofSciences,andIamgratefultocolleagues
thereandthewideracademiccommunityinPragueforprovidingtheintellec-
tualandpracticalenvironmentinwhichtocompleteit.NeilDavidson,Colin
Barker and Andrew Feenberg have all offered critical comments on various
ideasinthisbook.Inthecourseof writing,manypeople,includingseveralof
the above, helped me better understand the meaning of the word comrade,
butinparticularMarkBergfeldandRobOwenstandout.Finally,Iwouldliketo
thankmypartner,JulitaSkotarska,andmyparents,NigelSwainandEveRosen-
haft,towhomthisbookisdedicated.
Note on References
ReferencestoworksbyMarxandEngelsaretothefollowingEnglish-language
editionsandcollections,unlessotherwisestated:
CapitalVol.1 CapitalVol.1,1990,BenFowkestrans.,London:Penguin.
CapitalVol.3 CapitalVol.3,1991,DavidFernbachtrans.,London:Pen-
guin.
CommunistManifesto TheCommunistManifesto,1985,London:Penguin.
EarlyWritings EarlyWritings,1974,GregorBentonandRodneyLiving-
stontrans.,London:Penguin.
FirstInternationalandAfter TheFirstInternationalandAfter:PoliticalWritingsVol-
ume3,1974,DavidFernbached.,London:Penguin.
GermanIdeology The German Ideology, 1998, New York: Prometheus
Books.
Grundrisse Grundrisse,1993,MartinNicolaustrans.,London:Pen-
guin.
MECW Marx and Engels CollectedWorksVol. 1–50, 1975–2004,
London:LawrenceandWishart.
SurveysfromExile Surveys from Exile: Political Writings Volume 2, 2010,
DavidFernbached.,London:Verso.
TheRevolutionsof1848 TheRevolutionsof1848:PoliticalWritingsVolume1,2010,
DavidFernbached.,London:Verso.
OnasmallnumberofoccasionsIhavemadeuseoftheoriginalGerman,indic-
atingthepageandvolumeoftheMarx-EngelsWerke.
Introduction
Nonesofittedtobreakthechainsastheywhowearthem,nonesowell
equippedtodecidewhatisafetter.
James Connolly,1915
∵
1 ‘OurNotionfromtheVeryBeginning’
Inhisprefacetothe1888Englisheditionof theCommunistManifesto,Engels
assertsthat‘ournotion,fromtheverybeginning,wasthat“theemancipation
of the working class must be the act of the working class itself”’. This book
beginswiththenotionthatthiscommitmentoughttobeconsideredofcentral
importancetoanyattemptstointerpretMarx’sethics.Itinfluenceshisconcep-
tionofwhatiswrongwithcapitalism,hisnotionsoffreedomanddomination.
Itinfluenceshisconceptionofboththeformandcontentofanyalternativeto
capitalism,andhowmuchitispossibletosayaboutit.Moreover,itinfluences
hissenseofhimselfasanactivistandpoliticallyengagedcriticaltheorist,and
oftheroleofotheractivistsandtheorists.
The point of this book, then, is to foreground the principle of self-eman-
cipation,andtouseitasaguidingthreadtointerpretanumberof different
aspectsofMarx’sethicalthought.Thisprincipleisoftenoverlookedinexplicit
treatmentsofMarx’sethics.1ItisimportanttobeclearwhatImeaninsaying
this.There is no shortage of interpretations and analyses of the relationship
betweenMarxismandethics.Marx’sapparentdisavowalofatleastsomekinds
ofmoraljudgements,combinedwithtrenchantanduncompromisingdenun-
ciationofcapitalistsocialrelations,inevitablydrawspeopletowardsinterrog-
atingwhetherMarxhasanethics,andwhathemeansbyit(andtheorigins
of thisbookarenoexception).Thustherehasbeenagreatdealwrittencon-
sideringmetaethicalandmethodologicalquestionsofthestatusofmoralityin
1 Throughoutthebook,Itreattheterms‘moral’and‘ethical’(and‘ethics’and‘morality’)assyn-
onymous.However,Ileadwiththeterm‘ethics’,sinceitgenerallyhasabroaderconnotation
thanmorality(whichis,often,understoodasbeingaboutjusticeandjusticeonly)anditis
partofmypointtosuggestthevaluesandguidanceIascribetoMarxarebroad.
© koninklijkebrillnv,leiden,2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004410091_002
2 introduction
Marx.2Therehasalsobeenagreatdealdedicatedtotheinterpretivequestion
of‘what(forMarx)iswrongwithcapitalism?’,andthecorollaryofwhatagood
societymightinvolve.3Finally,therearetreatmentsthatconsidertheethicsof
revolutionandsocialchange,whatispermissibleandimpermissible.4
Among these there are plenty of interpretations that stress the import-
anceoffreedomandemancipation,thatemphasisehowMarxseescapitalism
asthwartingthedevelopmentof distinctivelyhumanpowers,andthatinsist
thatatrulyhumansocietywouldpermitthem.5If thiswereallthisbookwas
arguing,therewouldbelittlenewtosay.However,veryfewofthesediscussions
considerexplicitlytheadditionalquestionofself-emancipation.Marxdidnot
justbelievethatthegoodsocietywasoneinwhichpeoplewereemancipated,
andthuscapableofrealisingtheirhumanpowersfreely.Healsobelievedthat
thissocietyitself mustbetheproductof self-directedemancipatoryactivity.
Discussionofthispoint,andaconsiderationofhowitshapedMarx’sproject,
isstrikinglyabsent.6
Thisabsenceisallthemorepeculiarsinceinactivistcircles,manyofwhich
identifythemselvesassocialistorMarxist,thisprincipleiswidelydiscussed,
oftentothepointof dogma.Norisitabsentfromabroaderliteratureabout
Marx. In particular, it is given a central place in several explicit treatments
of Marx’stheoryof revolution,mostobviouslyHalDraper’s,whoalsohelped
topopularisetheideawithhisfamouspamphletTheTwoSoulsof Socialism.7
Draper’scommitmenttosocialismfrombelowwaswidelysharedbyvarious
traditionsof‘unorthodox’Marxisminthesecondhalfofthetwentiethcentury.
Yet these two sets of discussions rarely seem to meet. As someone whose
Marxism developed as part of one such tradition, I found myself frequently
baffledatthefailuretoengagewithandtakeseriouslytheideaofself-emanci-
pationinacademicdiscussionsofMarx’sethics.Itseemedclearthatseveralof
thepuzzlesandproblemsdiscussedaboutMarxhadtheiranswerinthiscom-
mitment,mostobviously(asIwilldiscussinChapter4)hishostilitytowardsthe
2 Forexample,Kain1988;Ash1964;Kautsky1918;Nielsen1989;Kamenka1962;Blackledge2012.
3 Forexample,Callinicos2006;Geras1985;Wood2004;Cohen2001.
4 Forexample,Lukes1987;Lebowitz2003;Merleau-Ponty1969.
5 Brenkert1983;Elster1985;Wood2004;Blackledge2012;Lukes1987.
6 TwonotableexceptionsareBlackledge2012andLebowitz2003,whobothdevelopinter-
pretationsthatemphasisethestandpointoftheproletariat’semancipationforunderstand-
ingMarx’scriticism(Lebowitzlessexplicitlyinthelanguageofethics).Nonetheless,their
emphases and focuses are quite different from mine, and I raise some disagreements in
Chapter2.SeealsoGeras2017,Chapter6,foranexplicitdiscussionofself-emancipationin
similartermstohowIdiscussitinChapter2ofthisbook.
7 Draper1977.SeealsoLöwy2005,Kouvelakis2003.