Levant, Alex Rethinking Spontaneity Beyond Classical Marxism: Re-reading Luxemburg Through Benjamin, Gramsci and Thompson.

This paper reconsiders the established reading of Luxemburg's conception of spontaneity, where she is said to have overestimated the role of spontaneity and underestimated the role of the party because of an economic-determinist view of history. It reconsiders this view by re-reading Luxemburg's concept of spontaneity through the work of Walter Benjamin, Antonio Gramsci and E.P. Thompson. Using conceptions of subjectivity not yet available at the time of these debates, as well as the recent scholarship of Lars Lih on Lenin's What Is To Be Done?, this article illuminates both conscious and unconscious processes behind what often appears to be spontaneous resistance, and offers a new reading of Luxemburg's critique of Lenin's views on organization in 1902-1905. It argues that Luxemburg's perceived economism is produced by her critics' own economistic reading of spontaneity. In contrast, it suggests that her depictions of spontaneous activity speak to historical processes that can be illuminated by conceptions of subjectivity developed after her assassination, and which require a substantial reconceptualization of the nature of subjectivity beyond the limits of classical Marxism.

SolrDocument[{id=IT-GRAMSCI-BIB00001-0019391, livello=AP, titolo=Rethinking Spontaneity Beyond Classical Marxism: Re-reading Luxemburg Through Benjamin, Gramsci and Thompson., sottotitolo=, tipo_titolo=uniform, responsability_namePart=[Levant, Alex], autorevoc=[Levant, Alex], responsability_codice=[IT-GRAMSCI-EACCPF0001-007560], responsability_ruolo=[author], first_author=Levant, Alex, forma_parallela=, responsability=, note_edizione_traduzione=, luogo_pubblicazione=, editore=, forma_visualizzata=, forma_normalizzata=, tipo_data=, consistenza=, lingua=[eng], abstract=This paper reconsiders the established reading of Luxemburg's conception of spontaneity, where she is said to have overestimated the role of spontaneity and underestimated the role of the party because of an economic-determinist view of history. It reconsiders this view by re-reading Luxemburg's concept of spontaneity through the work of Walter Benjamin, Antonio Gramsci and E.P. Thompson. Using conceptions of subjectivity not yet available at the time of these debates, as well as the recent scholarship of Lars Lih on Lenin's What Is To Be Done?, this article illuminates both conscious and unconscious processes behind what often appears to be spontaneous resistance, and offers a new reading of Luxemburg's critique of Lenin's views on organization in 1902-1905. It argues that Luxemburg's perceived economism is produced by her critics' own economistic reading of spontaneity. In contrast, it suggests that her depictions of spontaneous activity speak to historical processes that can be illuminated by conceptions of subjectivity developed after her assassination, and which require a substantial reconceptualization of the nature of subjectivity beyond the limits of classical Marxism., table_contents=, titolo_collana=, collocazione=, relazioni_titolo_collegato=[Critique], relazioni_identificativo=[], relazioni_tipo_relazione=[padre], relazioni_numero_volume=[40], relazioni_numero_issue=[3], relazioni_start=[367], relazioni_end=[387], relazioni_pagine=[], relazioni_forma_visualizzata=[2012], relazioni_forma_normalizzata=[20120700-20120900], relazioni_tipo_data=[inferred], relazioni_luogo=[], relazioni_editore=[Routledge], relazioni_paese=[], soggettivoc=[Luxemburg, Rosa, Benjamin, Walter, Lenin, Nikolaj, Vladimir Il'ič Ul'janov, detto, Spontaneità (O Spontaneismo), Coscienza], subjectvoc=[Luxemburg, Rosa, Benjamin, Walter, Lenin, Nikolaj, Vladimir Il'ič Ul'janov, detto, Spontaneity, Consciousness], note_riservate=, source=IGS-2012, recordInfo=francescogiasi@libero.it, identifier=IT-GRAMSCI-BIB00001-0019391, recordOrigin=MODS.2CB3373E54889B3, condizioni_accesso=public, dateIssued=20120700-20120900}]