HUMANISM AND TERROR - AN ESSAY ON THE COMMUNIST PROBLEM

• NCJ Number: 63438
• Author(s): M MERLEAU-PONTY
• Date Published: 1969
• Length: 237 pages
• Corporate Author: Beacon Press
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Historical Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: TRANSLATED BY JOHN O'NEILL

Annotation

QUESTIONS ARE RAISED ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN REVOLUTION AND VIOLENCE FROM A MARXIST VIEW AGAINST THE BACKGROUND OF POSTWAR EUROPE AND THE FRENCH COMMUNIST PARTY.

Abstract

AN INFLUENTIAL FRENCH PHILOSOPHER HAS UNDERTAKEN A CRITICAL STUDY OF ARTHUR KOESTLER'S NOVEL, DARKNESS AT NOON, IN TERMS OF ITS POLITICAL AND MORAL LOGIC. THIS VOLUME SEEKS TO INTERPRET THEORETICAL MARXISM, THE HARDENING OF THEORETICAL MARXISM INTO DOGMA UNDER SOVIET COMMUNISM, AND THUS TO EXPLAIN THE TRANSITION FROM REVOLUTIONARY VIOLENCE TO MODERN (1947) COMMUNISM. IN THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF FRENCH LEFTISTS' REJECTION OF SOVIET COMMUNISM, AS WELL AS AMERICAN AND FRENCH CAPITALISM, THIS BOOK OFFERS A CREATIVE INTERPRETATION OF MARXIST THOUGHT. DISCUSSIONS ARE PRESENTED ON THE MOSCOW TRIALS OF THE 1930'S, TROTSKY'S VIEWS OF HISTORY, AND THE ORIGINS AND KINDS OF VIOLENCE NECESSARY TO HISTORY. A PROVISIONAL POLITICAL STRATEGY FOR UNDERSTANDING MARXISM IS SUGGESTED. FOOTNOTES ARE INCLUDED. (RFC)