A longstanding criticism of Lenin is that his epistemological contributions to the theory of scientific socialism prompted the decline of Marxism in dogmatism and despotism in the twentieth century. According to this narrative, Lenin claimed to possess the objective truth, and he therefore refused to tolerate alternative perspectives. This article subjects these claims to a textual analysis, and it argues that they are erroneous. Lenin defends a fallibilist account of science that affirms the uncertainty of knowledge in the natural, philosophical (...) and social sciences. This fallibilism pervades the text that supposedly showcases his intolerance, Materialism and Empirio-Criticism. Lenin’s scientific socialism opposes rigid conceptions of socialism, and it encourages an atmosphere of democratic debate. Whilst Lenin’s writings have their flaws, they are not the founding documents of Marxist dogmatism that they are often portrayed as being. Lenin is not the narrow-minded vulgariser of Marxism that he is routinely taken to be. (shrink)

Straipsnyje plėtojama apšvietos idealų kritika, pabrėžiamas sąžiningo proto ir objektyvios saviapgaulės ribotumas ir aiškinamos egzistencijos ir nepamatiškumo sąsajos. Objektyvacija, principingumas, nuoseklus sąžiningumas yra apšvietos paskatinti krypsmai, kurie ir šiandien veikia politinius ir institucinius sprendimus ir visuomenės reguliavimą. Straipsnyje polemiškai analizuojami: a) Hegelio samprotavimai apie apšviestą sąžiningą ir nelaimingą protą, objektyvacijos ribotumą, tarnystę abstraktiems principams, kurie išdėstyti „Dvasios fenomenologijoje“; b) Sartre’o diskusija apie sąžiningą, nuoseklią, principingą saviapgaulę ir žmogaus būties kartu su kitais fenomenas, aiškinami kūriniai „Būtis ir Niekis“ ir „Egzistencializmas – (...) tai humanizmas“; c) aptariamas nepamatiškumas kaip egzistencinio apsisprendimo prielaida ir jo sąsajos su politiškumu ir alternatyvų svarstymu. Straipsnyje aptariamas veiklus, integruotas į visuomenę ir įgalinantis žmogus, kuris kartu su kitais nuolatos peržengia objektyvizmo ir principingumo suvaržymus, atveria kelią alternatyviam dialogui, diplomatijai ir politiškumui. Straipsnio tikslas yra aktualizuoti sąžiningo proto ir apšviestosios saviapgaulės kritiką, kuri taikoma dabarties objektyvistinėms nuostatoms ir tariamai pakankamai pagrįstiems socialinio konstruktyvizmo sprendimams. (shrink)

The last several decades have produced a slew of important studies by Marxists of the logic of capital, as well as numerous explorations by postcolonial theorists of the narratives that structure racial and ethnic discrimination. Far too often, however, these two currents have assumed different or even opposed trajectories, making it all the harder to transcend one-sided class-reductionist analyses and equally one-sided affirmations of identity that bypass or ignore class. In light of the new reality produced by the deepening crisis (...) of neoliberalism and the looming disintegration of the political order that has defined global capitalism since the end of the Cold War, the time has come to revisit theoretical approaches that can help delineate the integrality of race, class and capitalism. (shrink)

The ongoing project to issue the Complete Works of Rosa Luxemburg, which will make all of her writings available in English translation, provides a critical lens to re-evaluate aspects of Luxemburg’s theoretical contribution that has often been passed over in much of the secondary literature on her. Of foremost importance in this regard is the distinctive contribution that she made to the understanding of how to achieve a transition to socialism in a developing society that remains surrounded by the capitalist (...) world market and imperialist powers. This paper aims to show that her reflections during and after the 1905 Revolution, especially as reflected in a series of rarely studied articles and essays in the Polish revolutionary press, provides an important corrective to how the transition to socialism was understood by other Marxist currents. (shrink)