Shammas, V. L. (2019) Rethinking Axel Honneth’s 'The Idea of Socialism.' Continental Thought & Theory 2(3): 329-341. (original) (raw)

The Renewal of the Socialist Ideal

Monthly Review, 2020

Any serious treatment of the renewal of socialism today must begin with capitalism's creative destruction of the bases of all social existence. Since the late 1980s, the world has been engulfed in an epoch of catastrophe capitalism, manifested today in the convergence of (1) the planetary ecological crisis, (2) the global epidemiological crisis, and (3) the unending world economic crisis. Added to this are the main features of today's "empire of chaos," including the extreme system of imperialist exploitation unleashed by global commodity chains; the demise of the relatively stable liberal-democratic state with the rise of neoliberalism and neofascism; and the emergence of a new age of global hegemonic instability accompanied by increased dangers of unlimited war.

The Idea of Socialism by Axel Honneth

2018

The interaction between American pragmatism and German critical theory has a long history. While Horkheimer and Adorno, the founding fathers of critical theory, were quite critical of the native American philosophy they encountered when they fled from Nazi Germany, American pragmatism has had a considerable influence on both Jürgen Habermas and Axel Honneth-the two most prominent thinkers within critical theory's 2nd and 3rd generations. As is well known, however, their prime inspiration has been George Herbert Mead's symbolic interactionist sociology as well as Peirce's theory of signs, while James' and Dewey's thinking has played a minor role for them. However, in Axel Honneth's most recent book, The idea of Socialism: Towards a Renewal, this situation has changed: here, it is Dewey's thinking on politics, and especially his The Public and its Problems, which serves as the main inspiration. As the title indicates, the main purpose of Honneth's short (145 pages) book is to renew the socialist idea, stressing its relevance for the contemporary world. As Honneth presents it, this project is motivated by the fact that even though we have witnessed the worst financial crisis since the 1930s and many people are outraged by the rising levels of inequality, socialist ideas seem to have lost their "utopian energy" and ability to inspire people to believe in a world beyond capitalism. The main question that Honneth wants to answer in his book is why this is so. Why have socialist ideas lost their "utopian energy" or "virulence"? And how can they be reconstructed in such a way that they, once again, will be able to make people "imagine a society beyond capitalism"? In the book's first part, the short 'Introduction', Honneth lays the groundwork for his own analysis by reviewing and dismissing three 'popular' explanations of why the socialist idea has lost its power

Socialism as a Secular Creed: A Modern Global History (Lexington Books, 2021) 494 pp. PDF

2021

Andrei Znamenski argues that socialism arose out of activities of secularized apocalyptic sects, the Enlightenment tradition, and dislocations produced by the Industrial Revolution. He examines how, by the 1850s, Marx and Engels made the socialist creed “scientific” by linking it to “history laws” and inventing the proletariat—the “chosen people” that were to redeem the world from oppression. Focusing on the fractions between social democracy and communism, Znamenski explores why, historically, socialism became associated with social engineering and centralized planning. He explains the rise of the New Left in the 1960s and its role in fostering the cultural left that came to privilege race and identity over class. Exploring the global retreat of the left in the 1980s–1990s and the “great neoliberalism scare,” Znamenski also analyzes the subsequent renaissance of socialism in wake of the 2007–2008 crisis

Marxism: Humanity Mesmerized by an Idea Resurgent

Marx and his social engineering ideas seductively calls to many of our youth today (and some that are not so young as well). They seem to have forgotten, or perhaps never heard of the words of Winston Churchill, “Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery” (in Perth, Scotland, 28 May 1948). The question that begs to be asked is: “Why are so many youths attracted by the extreme left?” Socialism seems to be à la mode. It was not long ago, at least in American politics, that being called a leftist or a socialist was the highest pejorative as well as a political albatross. However, millennials largely fueled the presidential aspirations of Bernie Sanders, a self-described socialist, during the 2016 elections in the United States. “The Iowa caucus entrance poll found Sanders garnered an overwhelming 84 percent of the 30 and under vote. Exit polls from New Hampshire found 85 percent support for Sanders among voters ages 30 and younger” (Ekins & Pullmann, 2016). “Immunized” through the educational system against Nazi ideology, and familiar with the horrors perpetrated by that regime, the young simply have not received a like immunization against socialism. For them, the Cold War is a distant historical occurrence with little current relevance. The Soviet Union and its bloc is no more, and the Chinese communists are now über Kapitalisten. They are unaware of either the writings or the deeply moving life stories of Armando Valladares, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, SreyRam Kuy, Jan Petranek, Liao Yiwu, Jerzy Popiełuszko, Thích Huyền Quang, Lech Wałęsa, las Damas de Blanco, Cong Thanh Do, Vera Lengsfeld, or Luis Manuel Diaz. For the young and naïve, socialism is cool. “They’ve never witnessed the spirit-crushing methods of autocratic regimes or the grinding failure of centrally planned economies....Indeed, for many millennials, ‘socialism’ is simply shorthand for ‘vaguely Scandinavian in the best way’” (Emba, 2016).

SOCIALISM IN THE 21ST CENTURY

NOVA SCIENCE, 2018

This easy to read book explores the fundamental ideas of socialism as a prelude to its critical reappraisal of their implementation in the Soviet revolutionary experiment. The book then turns to the seismic economic changes of the neoliberal era which it claims now preclude both national social democratic and Soviet-style paths to socialism. Rather, it is argued, if socialism is to become a force for change in the 21st century, wholly new economic and environmental considerations compel it to adopt a fresh orientation around current designs of democratic ecosocialism. Yet, the herculean challenges this poses tend not to be fully apprehended even among socialist proponents. Table of Contents: Preface Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. From Socialism as Idea to Twentieth Century Experiment Chapter 3. Socialist Failure and Rethinking Chapter 4. Socialists Confront a Changed World Chapter 5. Ecosocialism and New Democratic Designs Chapter 6. We are All Socialists Now Chapter 7. Conclusion

Rekindling Socialist Imagination: Utopian Vision and Working-Class Capacities

Monthly Review, 2000

A continental welfare state, modeled on the comparatively successful social democracy of the United States. That's the ticket. Do it the American way." This recipe for what path Europe should follow isn't the Economist calling for a new realism, or the voice of American imperialism talking through the Wall StreetJoumal, or even a stolen quote from a member of Tony Blair's cabinet caught in private conversation. It's the concluding lines of an article on an alternative for Europe published in the New Left Review, once the home and hope for a rejuvenation of creative Marxism. 1 This degeneration of the socialist imagination reflects a pervasive pessimism within the left. It is both affected by, and carries some responsibility for, the more general political Sam Gindin has been the chief economist and assistant to the president of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) for the past twenty-five years.