Karl Marx: A Political Philosopher of "Commune"

• In Event: Brushing History against the Grain

Abstract

The 19th-century project of socialism suggests an alternative to capitalism. After decades of evaporation, the idea again entered popular political vocabulary. Critical thinkers more and more embrace the revived socialism’s name in their anticapitalist manifestos. As a present-day political aspiration, socialism circulates in press, activist, and academic literature (Honneth 2015, Piketty 2021, Sunkara 2019, Aronoff et al. 2019). Yet nothing is quite as puzzling today as the new idea of socialism. No one no longer knows what this name should stand for. If socialism figures in recent critical writings it is usually as a negative critique of liberalism, individualism, private property, or modern centralized state, not as a proposal for a different social and political future. Despite a comeback, socialism does not gain a positive understanding.

In retrospect, 19th-century socialism stands out as the high point of political utopianism from which we have descended. First socialist authors did not shy away from a theoretical question about the socialist future. Instead, they elaborated plans, designs, maps, and norms to outline new possible ways of life. Socialist theory arose in a practical and confident endeavor to make people’s history. Against the assumption that modern socialist theory has never developed a distinct positive project, I argue that the 19th-century socialism left a recognizable positive political philosophy. A conscious examination of this theory can provide a historical and conceptual ground for renewal of the socialist project.

This paper explores the 19-century positive theory of socialism through the writings of Marx. Compared with other socialist writers, such as Fourier or Proudhon, Marx is the least known as a positive socialist thinker. A recovery of his constructive philosophy demands analytical determination. Marx did not leave a systematic account of the socialist society. Researchers have often pointed out that he put the goal of formulating the critique of capitalism before the task of speculating about a better system (Engels 1978, Althusser 2006, Harvey 2018, Balibar 2014). But this does not mean that he did not offer a socialist political ideal.

As well as the critique of liberal ideals, Marx’ famous text on The Civil War in France also contains his vision of socialism. This detailed historical study of the Paris Commune puts forward a constructive socialist philosophy of commune which has dominated anti-capitalist imagination since the second half of the 19th century. The event analysis advanced a novel positive socialist concept, i.e., "commune;" Marx inaugurated the latin term "commune" as the fundamental socialist and communist motto in this celebratory text. Although he initially pursued a goal of praising one particular Commune proclaimed in Paris during the 1871 year, the historical review had a much broader impact. Besides applauding The Commune, it gave way to the novel socialist philosophy of commune.

Commentaries to this pamphlet tend to focus on either its historical accuracy (Lefebvre 1965, Eichner 2004, Harvey 2018), or stance on the state (Wolin 2004, Badiou 2012, Abensour 2011, Balibar 2014). These are undoubtedly important and long-standing discussions in Marxist scholarship. However, my paper calls attention to Marx’ conceptualization of commune that remains underemphasized in the existing literature. The pamphlet’s contribution to political theory moves beyond a historical study of the Paris Commune and critical theory of the state. The work established the socialist political principle.

In The Civil War in France, Marx interprets "commune" as a uniquely appealing, symbolic name for the anti-capitalist utopia. He seeks to articulate an ambitious political theory of commune that encompasses three socialist demands of the time: collective freedom, federalist democracy, and communal love.

First, abstractly, "commune" in Marx operates as “a glorious harbinger of a new society.” (Marx, The Civil War in France, 1978, p. 652). The concept gets synonymous with collective creativity and freedom to change the conditions of human life. Second, politically, "commune" stands for democracy, against capitalist systems of imperialism, state, and class inequality, hinting at a new “thoroughly expansive political form, while all the previous forms of government had been emphatically repressive.” (p. 634) Finally, in the third socio-psychological sense, "commune" delineates the emotional state of mass excitement, solidarity, and mutual care. Opposed to the emotional regime of fear and indifference, the term gets to symbolize the affective multitude of individuals who are “radiant in the enthusiasm of its historic initiative” (p. 641). Marx’ novel formulation of the commune’s political ideal, advances the 19th century utopian socialist thought. It culminates socialist discussions in the period from roughly the 1830s to 1880s.

Author

• Anastasia Kalk, The New School for Social Research