Articles tagged “Dunayevskaya; Raya”

An appreciation of the Czech Marxist Humanist Karel Kosik’s Dialectics of the Concrete, 40 years later — Editors

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An assessment of Rosa Luxemburg’s life and work on the occasion of the publication of the Rosa Luxemburg Reader.  Among Luxemburg’s concepts discussed are socialist democracy, her critique of Lenin, and her analysis of imperialism. Recently Eduardo Galeano has referred to her concept of democracy in a critique of Cuba, while Slavoj Zizek has distorted her critique of Lenin in order to attack her — Editors

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The new form of imperialism eschews direct territorial control and is driven by the tendential decline in the rate of profit.  More than oil, current US imperialism’s militarization creates an image of power that attracts needed foreign capital, but this is a shaky foundation — Editors

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A discussion of Hegel’s concept of absolute negativity as ground for Marxist dialectics, in light of the work of Gillian Rose and especially Raya Dunayevskaya, as well as the differing forms of the dialectic found in the writings of Georg Lukacs and Theodor Adorno– Editors

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The traditional perception of the American working class as apolitical or even backward, since it has never built a labour party of its own or embraced Marxist parties in any signicant way, has been Challenged in recent decades by numerous writers Who have highlighted the militancy and social Consciousness that have been integral to the myriad Experiences of the US labour movement.

Originally appeared in Historical Materialism 11:4 (2003)

A tribute to the Chinese philosopher and journalist Wang Ruoshui (1926-2002), who was persecuted from the 1960s onwards for defending socialist humanism.  He came under particular attack in the 1980s for arguing that alienation existed under “socialism” in China. Later coming into contact with US Marxist-Humanists, Wang wrote the preface to the 1999 Chinese translation of Dunayevskaya’s Marxism and Freedom — Editors

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Book Review – English:

Shannon Brincat, Socialism and Democracy, Vol. 25, No. 2 (July 2011)

Stacey Whittle, “Philosophy on the Barricades,” International Socialism No. 127 (Summer  2010)

Angelica Nuzzo, Hegel-Studien (Germany), Bd. 42 (2007)

Dialogue with Chris Arthur, News & Letters, Feb-Mar & Apr-May 2006 (also appeared in Studies in Marxism, No. 9, 2002-03 & No. 11, 2007)

Patricia Johnson, The Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 57, No. 1, September 2003

Eli Messinger, Science & Society, Vol. 68, No. 1, Spring 2004

Eric Piper, Historical Materialism, Vol. 13, No. 3, 2005

Anne Pomeroy, “Why Marx, Why Now?: A Recollection of Dunayevskaya’s Power of Negativity,” Cultural Logic, 2004

Russell Rockwell, Critical Sociology, Vol. 29, No. 2, 2003

Ben Watson’s Review in Radical Philosophy and David Black’s Response (2002-04)

A Chinese Student, “Reflections on Hegel, Marx and Mao,” News & Letters, Aug.-Sept. 2002

Book Review – Other Languages:

(German) Interview by Simon Birnbaum with Peter Hudis and Kevin B. Anderson on US Left, Jungle World, 18:2, May 2007

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“Brilliant theorist, committed activist, and passionate scholar, Raya Dunayevskaya was a role-model for my generation We are fortunate to have her back in this wonderfully edited work that conveys the excitement of a time when, for Raya and her interlocutors (C. L. R. James and Herbert Marcuse among others), philosophy and the struggle against social injustice were two sides of the same urgent endeavor. Her understanding of dialectics as a method whereby each generation has to discover its own revolutionary task, her insistence that Marxism means humanism in the most inclusive sense and that socialism means the social actualization of individual freedom — these are ideas that appear young and fresh against the weary and sophistic pessimism that dominates much theory in the academy today. And more: in contrast to the boring pap of commodified culture and political sound bites, Raya’s interpretation makes the logic of Hegel’s absolute idea a fascinating and compelling read.”

—Susan Buck-Morss, Cornell University, author of The Dialectics of Seeing: Walter Benjamin and the Arcades Project

“As we enter a new millennium, critical and dialectical thinking is more important than ever in charting the vicissitudes of capital and political struggle. Raya Dunayevskaya’s writings on Hegelian and Marxian dialectics are highly insightful and relevant to the theory and politics of the contemporary moment. Thus Peter Hudis and Kevin B. Anderson’s collection of some of her most important writings provide access to a valuable theoretical and political legacy.”

—Douglas Kellner, UCLA, author of Critical Theory, Marxism, and Modernity

“Dunayevskaya writes, particularly in the letters and talks, like a person ‘drunk’ on Hegel. But rather than causing her to lose control, this drunkenness is a measure of her intellectual excitement, an infectious one that gets transferred to her readers. She is especially good in linking Hegel, Marx, and Lenin. Her varied attempts to explain the importance of Hegel’s absolute idea and theory of negation for the traditions that followed, but also for the hoped-for revolution, are as clear and convincing as any I’ve seen from her pen. It’s a truly impressive display, and one that will delight as well as instruct most readers.”

—Bertell Ollman, New York University, author of Dialectical Investigations

“[This book] is the portrait of an exceptional mind at work, and a treasure trove of insights and provocative ideas. The matters Dunayevskaya brought forward remain of supreme historical importance. The editors have made this a labor of love, with fastidious footnoting, intertextual referencing, and a superb introduction. Dunayevskaya’s courage and vitality shine through and through.”

—Joel Kovel, Bard College, author of The Enemy of Nature

“With the writings of Raya Dunayevskaya, the continent of revolutionary thought underwent a seismic shift, the world-historical reverberations of which we are still feeling today and which continue to grow stronger in this new millennium as the crisis of world capitalism intensifies. Dunayevskaya is one of the great revolutionary thinkers of the last century and her work on the dialectics of philosophy is unsurpassed in the development of Marxist humanism. Expertly edited by Peter Hudis and Kevin B. Anderson, this volume is destined to become a classic. History bequeaths us few gifts, and it is up to the present generation of revolutionaries to take advantage of this opportunity to engage with Dunayevskaya’s most important ideas, condensed in this exceptional edited edition.”

—Peter McLaren, UCLA, author of Capitalists and Conquerors: A Critical Pedagogy Against Empire

The introduction by Peter Hudis and Kevin Anderson is a fine essay – so lucid and explicit yet sacrificing no complexity. It should be accessible to a range of people – students, or people recently stimulated to think about the nature of capitalism and the requirements of a different society, as well as longtime socialists who need the “placing” of Raya’s thought as it’s provided here.”

—Adrienne Rich, author of What Is Found There, on the introduction

This article argues that while the limitations of Hegel’s political reconciliation with existing reality has long been evident, the depth of Marx’s challenge to capital cannot be fully comprehended, let alone restated for today, without a re-encounter with Marx’s rootedness in and transcendence of Hegel’s concept of absolute negativity. The need to go beyond critiques of private property and the market by projecting ground for the negation of capital creates a compulsion to return to Hegel at his most ‘abstract’ level — the Absolute.

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This article originally appeared in Capital & Class, No. 70, Spring 2000