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Dialectical Materialism and Psychoanalysis
[from Marxists.org ]
Socialist Reproduction are to be congratulated for popularizing this little-known text of Wilhelm Reich's which appeared simultaneously, in 1929, in Unter dem Banner des Marxismus (the theoretical journal of the German Communist Party) and in its Russian equivalent Pod Znameniem Marxisma.[1] It is a symptom of the void in both psychoanalytic and meaningful radical literature today that we have to thread our way back for more than four decades to find a sensible discussion of these interesting matters.
Unlike previous texts of Reich's to which we have referred in either the review of What is Class Consciousness? or the pamphlet The Irrational in Politics, "Dialectical Materialism and Psychoanalysis" is of no immediate relevance to an understanding of human needs or of the founts of human action. It is something very an attempt by Reich to reply to some of his critics (in both the psychoanalytic and Marxist movements).
It is important to situate the text in the Germany of the late twenties. In 1929 Reich's break with Freud was on the horizon, its roots clearly understood. Personal relations with Freud, however were not as yet embittered. The break with the Stalinists was also in the offing. Relations were bitter but had not as yet been traced back to their ideological source. In 1929 Reich is walking two tightropes. He uses Freud to argue against Freud and the Freudians - and Marx to argue against the Marxists. It is a difficult endeavour, as we have learned from our own experience.
Reich starts by pointing out (rightly in my opinion) that most of those on the left who were criticizing Freudian psychoanalysis or Marxism were doing so on the basis of an inadequate knowledge of either - or both. He sought to define the proper object of psychoanalysis as "the study of the psychological life of man in society", an "auxiliary to sociology", "a form of social psychology". He defined limits for the discipline. He freely admits that the Marxists are right when they reproach certain representatives of the psychoanalytic school with attempting to explain what cannot be explained by that method. But, he points out "they are wrong when they identity the method with those who apply it ... and blame the method for their mistakes".
Both psychoanalysis and Marxism are seen by Reich as "science" (psychoanalysis as the science of psychological phenomena and Marxism of social phenomena) and by implication as unarguably valid. That the categories and values of science might themselves be products of historical evolution is barely envisaged. In this whole approach Reich is echoing the "scientific" ethos of the epoch, which had its roots in the rise of the bourgeoisie and its drive to control and dominate nature, rather than to live in harmony with it.
Reich vigorously defends psychoanalysis against the charge of being idealist. To the indictment that it arose "during the decadence of a decaying bourgeoisie" he retorts that Marxism did too. "So what?", he rightly asks. He dismisses those who crudely attack all knowledge as "bourgeois knowledge". "A culture", he points out, "is not uniform like a bushel of peas ... the beginnings of a new social order germinate in the womb of the old ... by no means everything that has been created by bourgeois hands in the bourgeois period is of inferior value and useless to the society of the future". Reich attacks the simplistic mechanical materialism of those who would claim that psychological phenomena as such do not exist, that "only objective facts which can be measured and weighed are true, not the subjective ones". He sees this as an understandable but nevertheless misguided reaction against the Platonic idealism still dominating bourgeois philosophy. He demolishes Vogt's once popular thesis that "thought is a secretion of the brain, in the same way that urine is a secretion of the kidney". To dispose of this nonsense Reich calls Marx to his rescue, the Marx of the Theses on Feuerbach, the Marx who wrote that it was not good enough to say that "changed men were the products of ... changed upbringing" because this forgot "that it is men that change circumstances". Psychological activity, Reich correctly insists, has a material reality and is a force in history that only the most short-sighted would deny.
There is no reason, Reich argues, why psychoanalysis should not have a materialist basis. He boldly plunges the Freudian categories and concepts into the reality of the class society around them. "The reality principle as it exists today", he writes, "is a principle of our society". Adaptation to this reality is a conservative demand. "The reality principle of the capitalist era imposes upon the proletarian a maximum limitation of his needs, while appealing to religious values such as modesty and humility ... the ruling class has a reality principle which serves the perpetuation...
Socialist Reproduction are to be congratulated for popularizing this little-known text of Wilhelm Reich's which appeared simultaneously, in 1929, in Unter dem Banner des Marxismus (the theoretical journal of the German Communist Party) and in its Russian equivalent Pod Znameniem Marxisma.[1] It is a symptom of the void in both psychoanalytic and meaningful radical literature today that we have to thread our way back for more than four decades to find a sensible discussion of these interesting matters.
Unlike previous texts of Reich's to which we have referred in either the review of What is Class Consciousness? or the pamphlet The Irrational in Politics, "Dialectical Materialism and Psychoanalysis" is of no immediate relevance to an understanding of human needs or of the founts of human action. It is something very an attempt by Reich to reply to some of his critics (in both the psychoanalytic and Marxist movements).
It is important to situate the text in the Germany of the late twenties. In 1929 Reich's break with Freud was on the horizon, its roots clearly understood. Personal relations with Freud, however were not as yet embittered. The break with the Stalinists was also in the offing. Relations were bitter but had not as yet been traced back to their ideological source. In 1929 Reich is walking two tightropes. He uses Freud to argue against Freud and the Freudians - and Marx to argue against the Marxists. It is a difficult endeavour, as we have learned from our own experience.
Reich starts by pointing out (rightly in my opinion) that most of those on the left who were criticizing Freudian psychoanalysis or Marxism were doing so on the basis of an inadequate knowledge of either - or both. He sought to define the proper object of psychoanalysis as "the study of the psychological life of man in society", an "auxiliary to sociology", "a form of social psychology". He defined limits for the discipline. He freely admits that the Marxists are right when they reproach certain representatives of the psychoanalytic school with attempting to explain what cannot be explained by that method. But, he points out "they are wrong when they identity the method with those who apply it ... and blame the method for their mistakes".
Both psychoanalysis and Marxism are seen by Reich as "science" (psychoanalysis as the science of psychological phenomena and Marxism of social phenomena) and by implication as unarguably valid. That the categories and values of science might themselves be products of historical evolution is barely envisaged. In this whole approach Reich is echoing the "scientific" ethos of the epoch, which had its roots in the rise of the bourgeoisie and its drive to control and dominate nature, rather than to live in harmony with it.
Reich vigorously defends psychoanalysis against the charge of being idealist. To the indictment that it arose "during the decadence of a decaying bourgeoisie" he retorts that Marxism did too. "So what?", he rightly asks. He dismisses those who crudely attack all knowledge as "bourgeois knowledge". "A culture", he points out, "is not uniform like a bushel of peas ... the beginnings of a new social order germinate in the womb of the old ... by no means everything that has been created by bourgeois hands in the bourgeois period is of inferior value and useless to the society of the future". Reich attacks the simplistic mechanical materialism of those who would claim that psychological phenomena as such do not exist, that "only objective facts which can be measured and weighed are true, not the subjective ones". He sees this as an understandable but nevertheless misguided reaction against the Platonic idealism still dominating bourgeois philosophy. He demolishes Vogt's once popular thesis that "thought is a secretion of the brain, in the same way that urine is a secretion of the kidney". To dispose of this nonsense Reich calls Marx to his rescue, the Marx of the Theses on Feuerbach, the Marx who wrote that it was not good enough to say that "changed men were the products of ... changed upbringing" because this forgot "that it is men that change circumstances". Psychological activity, Reich correctly insists, has a material reality and is a force in history that only the most short-sighted would deny.
There is no reason, Reich argues, why psychoanalysis should not have a materialist basis. He boldly plunges the Freudian categories and concepts into the reality of the class society around them. "The reality principle as it exists today", he writes, "is a principle of our society". Adaptation to this reality is a conservative demand. "The reality principle of the capitalist era imposes upon the proletarian a maximum limitation of his needs, while appealing to religious values such as modesty and humility ... the ruling class has a reality principle which serves the perpetuation...
Pamphlet
First published January 1, 1929
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About the author
Wilhelm Reich
158 books734 followersWilhelm Reich (24 March 1897 – 3 November 1957) was a Jewish Austrian-American doctor of medicine, psychiatrist/psychoanalyst and a member of the second generation of analysts after Sigmund Freud. Author of several influential books, he became one of the most radical figures in the history of psychiatry.
Reich was a respected analyst for much of his life, focusing on character structure, rather than on individual neurotic symptoms. He promoted adolescent sexuality, the availability of contraceptives and abortion, and the importance for women of economic independence. Synthesizing material from psychoanalysis, cultural anthropology, economics, sociology, and ethics, his work influenced writers such as Alexander Lowen, Fritz Perls, Paul Goodman, Saul Bellow, Norman Mailer, A. S. Neill, and William Burroughs.
He was also a controversial figure, who came to be viewed by the psychoanalytic establishment as having gone astray or as having succumbed to mental illness. His work on the link between human sexuality and neuroses emphasized "orgastic potency" as the foremost criterion for psycho-physical health. He said he had discovered a form of energy, which he called "orgone," that permeated the atmosphere and all living matter, and he built "orgone accumulators," which his patients sat inside to harness the energy for its reputed health benefits. It was this work, in particular, that cemented the rift between Reich and the psychoanalytic establishment.
Reich, of Jewish descent and a communist, was living in Germany when Adolf Hitler came to power. He fled to Scandinavia in 1933 and subsequently to the United States in 1939. In 1947, following a series of critical articles about orgone and his political views in The New Republic and Harper's, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began an investigation into his claims, winning an injunction against the interstate sale of orgone accumulators. Charged with contempt of court for violating the injunction, Reich conducted his own defense, which involved sending the judge all his books to read, and arguing that a court was no place to decide matters of science. He was sentenced to two years in prison, and in August 1956, several tons of his publications were burned by the FDA. He died of heart failure in jail just over a year later, days before he was due to apply for parole.
Reich was a respected analyst for much of his life, focusing on character structure, rather than on individual neurotic symptoms. He promoted adolescent sexuality, the availability of contraceptives and abortion, and the importance for women of economic independence. Synthesizing material from psychoanalysis, cultural anthropology, economics, sociology, and ethics, his work influenced writers such as Alexander Lowen, Fritz Perls, Paul Goodman, Saul Bellow, Norman Mailer, A. S. Neill, and William Burroughs.
He was also a controversial figure, who came to be viewed by the psychoanalytic establishment as having gone astray or as having succumbed to mental illness. His work on the link between human sexuality and neuroses emphasized "orgastic potency" as the foremost criterion for psycho-physical health. He said he had discovered a form of energy, which he called "orgone," that permeated the atmosphere and all living matter, and he built "orgone accumulators," which his patients sat inside to harness the energy for its reputed health benefits. It was this work, in particular, that cemented the rift between Reich and the psychoanalytic establishment.
Reich, of Jewish descent and a communist, was living in Germany when Adolf Hitler came to power. He fled to Scandinavia in 1933 and subsequently to the United States in 1939. In 1947, following a series of critical articles about orgone and his political views in The New Republic and Harper's, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began an investigation into his claims, winning an injunction against the interstate sale of orgone accumulators. Charged with contempt of court for violating the injunction, Reich conducted his own defense, which involved sending the judge all his books to read, and arguing that a court was no place to decide matters of science. He was sentenced to two years in prison, and in August 1956, several tons of his publications were burned by the FDA. He died of heart failure in jail just over a year later, days before he was due to apply for parole.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 23, 2015
A brief introduction to Freudian Psychoanalysis and Dialectics. Wilhelm Reich wrote this book/pamphlet in order to convince his fellow comrades of the Communist Party of Germany in the 30s that the emerging science of psychology in the early 20th century was compatible with the philosophical works of Hegel, Marx, Engels and Lenin about nature, and it can be used as a tool for social revolution.
The main problem of this book is that it's a very short introduction and the greater part is used for presenting the main elements of psychoanalysis to mostly ignorant audiences and the general theme of dialectic materialism. A nice intro to get into freudo-marxism but if you want a better understanding you should read more books about it.
The main problem of this book is that it's a very short introduction and the greater part is used for presenting the main elements of psychoanalysis to mostly ignorant audiences and the general theme of dialectic materialism. A nice intro to get into freudo-marxism but if you want a better understanding you should read more books about it.
July 14, 2020
A must read for everyone who wants to understand the sex-political question.
December 16, 2022
Excelente rehabilitación de la perspectiva freudiana, dotandola de una flexibilidad que difiere de la concepción común de la teoría de freud. El mayor logro de reich en este texto es el de dar un análisis materialista al principio de realidad que superdita tanto al yo como al superyo, notando como el desarrollo psicosexual se ve en gran manera influenciado por las condiciones sociales y las necesidades materiales de la época.
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March 22, 2022aaaaaaaa você é um velho tarado porra
May 10, 2022
In this essay, Reich searches for communality between the then uprising theory of Psychoanalysis, headed by Sigmund Freud, and the Scientific Socialism, namely the philosophical theory of Dialectical Materialism presented by Karl Marx.
Much of the essay is dedicated to a few critiques of prior tries on uniting both theories and explaining why such has not been achieved before.
As for the link that Reich sets himself to find, he presents psychoanalysis, much like marxism itself, as the product of a bourgeois-dominated society and says that, just as marxism represents the revelation to men of the chains dictating their economic exploitation, psychoanalysis serves as the revelation of the sexual repression imposed by the bourgeois morals upon the proletariat, both serving as a means to set man free from capitalism. As proof of this, Reich explains the role of the Church on the superstructure derived from capitalist production, as well as the psychological symptoms of the bourgeois puritanism.
Even though the evidence Reich sets forward does seem to be intelectually coherent with both Marx's and Freud's theories, it is not enough to form a strong link between them. As such, the author doesn't quite achieve his ambitious goals.
Much of the essay is dedicated to a few critiques of prior tries on uniting both theories and explaining why such has not been achieved before.
As for the link that Reich sets himself to find, he presents psychoanalysis, much like marxism itself, as the product of a bourgeois-dominated society and says that, just as marxism represents the revelation to men of the chains dictating their economic exploitation, psychoanalysis serves as the revelation of the sexual repression imposed by the bourgeois morals upon the proletariat, both serving as a means to set man free from capitalism. As proof of this, Reich explains the role of the Church on the superstructure derived from capitalist production, as well as the psychological symptoms of the bourgeois puritanism.
Even though the evidence Reich sets forward does seem to be intelectually coherent with both Marx's and Freud's theories, it is not enough to form a strong link between them. As such, the author doesn't quite achieve his ambitious goals.
May 7, 2021
La primera mitad sobre la intersección entre el materialismo dialéctico y el psicoanálisis me ha resultado complicado por mi poco bagaje del tema, pero es accesible e interesante, aunque me cuesta empatizar con el psicoanálisis por desconocimiento y por el hecho de vivir en el s.XXI.
La mitad final sobre la conciencia de clase me ha parecido un deleite de lucidez y me ha devuelto esperanza en el socialismo.
La mitad final sobre la conciencia de clase me ha parecido un deleite de lucidez y me ha devuelto esperanza en el socialismo.
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November 2, 2019For all the girls that got dick from Kanye West
If you see 'em in the streets give 'em Kanye's best
If you see 'em in the streets give 'em Kanye's best
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews