Response to Richard Hudelson
Article Abstract:
Richard Hudelson does not fully deal with the assertion that classical Marxism perceived communism as having a totalitarian structure. Hudelson focuses on the work of Georg Hegel and his influence on Karl Marx, but it is in Marx's ideas that we can find totalitarian notions, whatever Hegel's influence may have been. The conception of communism found in the works of Friedrich Engels and Marx is not democratic. Hudelson does not focus directly on the works of Engels and Marx. Their view of a transparent social structure and the representative institutions needed under communism are not democratic notions.
Publication Name: Philosophy of the Social Sciences
Subject: Social sciences
ISSN: 0048-3931
Year: 1997
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Is Marxism totalitarian?
Article Abstract:
Marxism has been blamed for Communist totalitarianism, but this view can be challenged in a number of ways. It is not clear that Soviet leaders fully understood Marxism, and other factors could have contributed to the development of totalitarianism in Russia. Stephen Louw claims that Stalinism arose because Soviet leaders were influenced by Marxist ideas, and he specifically points to the influence of Georg Hegel on Karl Marx's work, which he argues provided the roots of totalitarianism. An examination of the views of Hegel on universal dialectics shows that Louw is mistaken.
Publication Name: Philosophy of the Social Sciences
Subject: Social sciences
ISSN: 0048-3931
Year: 1997
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Unity and development: social homogeneity, the totalitarian imaginary, and the classical Marxist tradition
Article Abstract:
Socialists may argue that classical Marxism is basically democratic, and that Soviet style governments have been an aberration, but this view can be challenged. Some commentators argue that it is Friedrich Engels, rather than Karl Marx, who shows evidence of totalitarian politics, but Marx's work cannot be so clearly differentiated from that of Engels. Marx developed ideas on historical processes from Georg Hegel, and it is here that we can see how concepts relating to totalitarianism can arise, and the way that they can be linked to Stalinism.
Publication Name: Philosophy of the Social Sciences
Subject: Social sciences
ISSN: 0048-3931
Year: 1997
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
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