Western Marxism

A trend of thought in contemporary Western countries that claims to be Marxist but contradicts the basic principles of Marxism. It was initially a “Left” trend of thought within the Comintern in the 1920s. After the Comintern had criticized it, its development continued outside the Communist parties. At the beginning, it did not call itself or was not called as Western Marxism. In 1930, it was K. Korsch who first used the term "Western Marxism". In 1955, M. Merleau-Ponty claimed in his book Adventures of the Dialectics that Western Marxism is opposed to Leninism, and traces the tradition of the early collection of essays and History and Class Consciousness published by G. Lukács in 1923 (Lukács’ this book was severely criticized at the Fifth Congress of the Communist International held in 1924). Since then, the concept of "Western Marxism" has been widely used to refer to this trend of thought. In the late 1960s, the New Left movements in the West, and especially during the French May ’68, it was used as an intellectual weapon by radical young students and workers to oppose the hierarchical system of developed capitalist societies, namely the capitalist phenomena of alienation. Western Marxism attempts to combine Marxism with some schools of modern Western philosophy, such as Neo-Hegelianism and existentialism, and in its analysis of modern capitalist society, in its vision of socialism, and strategy and tactics of revolution, it offers views opposite to Marxism, especially to Leninism.

There are many tendencies within the Western Marxism, so that there is no single system of thought as Western Marxism. According to the content of this trend of thought, there are two major tendencies and schools: Firstly, Hegelian Marxism, Freudian Marxism and Existentialist Marxism. This is the appellation for the representatives of Western Marxism to interpret and develop Marxism in accordance with the spirit of Hegelianism, Freudism and Existentialism; secondly it includes Neo-positivist Marxism and Structuralist Marxism. This is the appellation for them to interpret and develop Marxism in accordance with the spirit of Neo-positivism and Structuralism thought that emerged in Europe.

Western Marxism argues that Marxism has gradually failed to adapt to historical developments and has rejected the achievements created by non-Marxists, consequently it is often prone to fail in grasping the changing and developing experience of the working class and other classes in the capitalist society. In order to prevent and overcome this danger, Western Marxism categorically rejects what they call dogmatism and advocates the rediscovery and recreation of Marxism by each generation. In this process of "rediscovery" and "recreation", Western Marxists of different tendencies and schools hold different opinions, each emphasizing one aspect of Marxism while accusing and denying another, at the same time pitting Marx against Engels and as well as Marx against Lenin, and misinterpretes the original intention of several principles of Marx according to their own needs, criticizes some of the principles expounded by Engels and Lenin.

Many different tendencies and schools of Western Marxism have been unanimous in their emphasis on borrowing the achievements of bourgeois thought trends, either by borrowing some of their concepts, terms and categories from some schools of modern Western philosophy, or by “supplementing” and “renewing” Marxism with some ideas from Western bourgeois philosophy, thus forming a mixture of Marxism and various schools of bourgeois philosophy, which at the same time vulgarizes Marxist theory while academizing its combative and practical character, i.e., the Marxist view of practice.

All these different tendencies and schools of Western Marxism, on the basis of analyzing and studying the new situations and phenomena emerging in developed capitalist societies, contribute to the exposition of the chronic diseases and problems of capitalist system to some extent, explore the ways of revolution in Western countries, and criticize the shortcomings and defects of the Soviet socialist model, some of which are worth learning. In recent times, with the ongoing financial crisis of capitalism and the prosperous development of socialism with Chinese characteristics, some scholars in Western Marxist tendencies and schools have begun to pay attention to the study of Marxist classics, such as Capital, and also socialism with Chinese characteristics. However, since they are detached from the scientific world view and methodology of Marxism-Leninism, they have not been able to point out a path for modern Western societies to escape from capitalism and move towards socialism, nor can they correctly understand the theory and practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics.