Tactics and Ethics: Political Writings 1919-1929

by György Lukács

The articles and essays collected in this book were written during the decade of Lukács’s life when he was most active in politics. The first texts mark his transition from an anti-bourgeois aestheticism to Marxism and the newly founded Hungarian Communist Party. They are followed by material which displays the full range of his activity and thought during the subsequent ten years. Some of these essays were written when Lukács was deputy commissar of education in the embattled, short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic. Others include the famous article on parliamentarianism which earned its author the respectful yet severe criticism of Lenin.

The volume includes short studies on German revisionism, Bukharin’s Marxism, and Karl Wittfogel, and longer pieces on Lassalle and Moses Hess. The collection ends with the theses Luckás wrote, under his cover name “Blum”, in opposition to the policies of the Third Period of the Comintern.

Genres: Philosophy, Politics, History, Nonfiction

280 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

György Lukács was a Hungarian Marxist philosopher, aesthetician, literary historian and critic. He is a founder of the tradition of Western Marxism, an interpretive tradition that departed from the Marxist ideological orthodoxy of the Soviet Union. He developed the theory of reification, and contributed to Marxist theory with developments of Karl Marx's theory of class consciousness. He was also a philosopher of Leninism. He ideologically developed and organised Lenin's pragmatic revolutionary practices into the formal philosophy of vanguard-party revolution.

His literary criticism was influential in thinking about realism and about the novel as a literary genre. He served briefly as Hungary's Minister of Culture as part of the government of the short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic.

Reviews

[T · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The greatest tragedy of the workers' movement has always been the ability to tear itself completely free from the ideological matrix of capitalism" (67)

Lukàcs essays are taken from the 'Werke' and published between 1919-1929, during his early Marxist period, wherein Lukàcs acted as education commissar and was subsequently an exile in Austria.

The first set of essays are in a very similar vein to 'History and Class Consciousness', with Lukàcs focusing on general Marxist problems like tactics, and intellectual leadership. The essay "What is Orthodox Marxism' also appears here, although it is a shorter and earlier version of the one that appears in 'History'.

The second set of essays deals with similar issues to the previous set, although these essays tend to focus on the specific political events of the time, such as the syndicalist movement in Italy and parliamentarianism in Hungary. Much of this work is dated, but worth reading for the Lukàcs fan or for general historical understanding. A slightly weaker and less interesting set of essays than the first, we see a reflexive Lukàcs relying more on slogans and Lenin quotes, perhaps in response to his exile and the failure of the Kun leadership. However, Lukàcs writes quite insightfully on voting and how the communist party should interact vis a vis parliament.

The next section is a set of reviews which explores Bernstein's set of essays written in honour of Kautsky. Lukàcs sees the logic of Kautsky's philosophy as leading to Bernsteinianism, due to both the overly naturalistic and technological-mechanical view of Kautsky. This, for Lukàcs is evidenced by Bernstein's capitulation to social democracy, which has cooperation with the bourgeoisie as the conclusion (133).
Next, we get a critique which is as complementary as it is critical, of Bukharin's book on Historical Materialism. Lukàcs sees a critique of Bukharin's book as necessary, since the only comprehensive non-bourgeois account written on historical materialism has been Engels' 'Anti Duhring'. Whilst Lukàcs sees Bukharin's work as a solid effort, it fails due to its "overschematic view" (135). Also, similar to many other Marxists at the time, Bukharin's attempt to equate Marxism with natural science is something Lukàcs was very resistant too, with Lukàcs explaining in other essays and in his 'History...' that Marxism is an all encompassing worldview which is the step beyond science, which is subsumed under Marxism (139).
The other reviews are of Lasalle's letters, and Karl Wittfogel's (member of the Frankfurt School) book on science and Marxism. These are in my opinion only of interest to the scholar, and the review of Lasalle is a little tedious.

The final sections contains Lukàcs famous 'Blum Theses' another work which Lukàcs self criticised and later reviled, owing to ultra leftism. In fact, it was this book which was the final nail in the end of Lukàcs' political career before the 1956 revolution in Hungary. The theses are interesting and still have a great deal of relevance today, with Lukàcs arguing that the party must defend bourgeois rights, such as the right to strike, against the 'fascisitation' of democracy and social democracy, something that the neoliberal period has demonstrated better perfectly.
The other essay is 'Moses Hess and the Problem of Idealist Dialectics', a pretty dull essay, wherein Lukàcs takes on the philosophy of Hess, reviling it for its Feuerbachian hyperfocus. This is an essay that I'll have to re-examine once I've acquainted myself with more Hegel, since it devolves into constant Hegel quoting and a discussion of Dialectics which was above my head.

[Lilé · Rating 3 out of 5]

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[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting book and I'm glad I read it. Lots of ideas to think about and clarifications of ideas from other theorists.

Not sure how much I agree with Lukács ideologically but I'm looking forward to reading more of his work.

[graceofgod · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was originally going to give this 3 stars. Mainly because I found the second to last chapter very hard to understand—though that is probably my own fault—but decided against it because the last chapter was absolutely amazing.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting work, by its historical and activist nature largely devoid of the gems of intellectual analysis which characterizes Lukacs's philosophical and literary criticism. There are various observations on the nature of class struggle and early visions of the Leninist Communist Party in the 1919-1922 period, while reviews of Bukharin's Historical Materialism and the early work of Wittfogel are incisive critiques of the worldviews which those authors would take up, namely Bukharin's mechanical materialism and Wittfogel's inability to make actual Marxist criticism. There are good insights into the Young Hegelians and the critique of Feuerbach and Hegelian philosophy in the review of Lasalle's collected letters as well as "Moses Hess and the Problem of Idealist Dialectics." Lukacs's "Blum Theses" is also included here, often seen as the appeal to a Popular Front model during the sectarian "Third Period," the rejection of which marked his retirement from active politics.

[Davide · Rating 4 out of 5]

La finzione della democrazia parlamentare borghese si basa proprio sul fatto che il parlamento appare non come organo dell’oppressione di classe, ma come l’organo di «tutto il popolo». Ogni radicalismo verbale – con il fatto stesso della sua possibilità d’esplicarsi in parlamento – risulta opportunistico e riprovevole poiché rafforza negli strati meno coscienti del proletariato le illusioni nei confronti di questa finzione.

[Peter Harrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting collection of short essays from the inter-war period by Georg Lukacs, some of which were subsequently expanded to form part of Lukacs' larger work "History and Class Consciousness".

The specific pieces are quite variable, but often feel to me like they emphasise the orthodox Leninist stance of Lukacs when writing about the appropriate strategy for the party and its interaction with the working class movement as a whole. The need for a central party to direct and build on the spontaneous activity of the mass movement. The need for tactics to be based on the tactical situation presented.

Two reviews at the end of the book - those on the collected letters of Ferdinand Lassalle and Moses Hess - give Lukacs the opportunity to make a wider critique of two of the significant socialist thinkers of the nineteenth century - based on similar themes. That on Moses Hess in particular contains an extremely clear outline of the Hegelian basis for the dialectic in Marx's thinking. Lukacs is occasionally described as a 'Hegelian' Marxist, and that is never more clear than in this essay. This is a superb exposition, making the book almost worth reading for this essay alone.

In short, this is an interesting collection of essays, insightful for the inter war period the development of Lukacs' thought and with particular interest for the specific detail on Lukacs approach to the connection between Marx and Hegel.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lukács was a brilliant theoretician and this book is a wonderful showcase for his skills. Some might say the works here are so dated as to be immaterial to any current discussion of Marxism, Capitalism, or social realities. But lacking the foundations is the cause of many a person's distrust, dislike, or disavowal of Marxism as a system, and Lukács provides ample proof of the truths, falsehoods, and misdirections of many with respect to Marxism and socialist theory in general. Not an exhaustive one, for sure, but a detailed one nonetheless. I admit the 'Reviews' were rather translucent (as opposed to opaque or transparent...) to me having not read the books being reviewed. When Lukács focuses of their academics I found them fascinating, but when he gets into the specifics of each book I was lost irretrievably. Another incredible book from Verso's 'Radical Thinkers' series, one that still resonates today, and, oddly enough, has a frightening foreknowledge of Capitalism's havoc on the economy, society, and politics.

[محمّد · Rating 4 out of 5]

از بخش عمده‌ی این کتاب که شامل مقالات خود لوکاچ بود ممنونم.
ولی در پایان کتاب مطلب بسیار بی‌سروتهی از پتر لوتس(؟!) گنجانده شده بود که خیلی خیلی بدردنخور بود. نمی‌دونم آوردنش کار کتاب مبدا بوده یا مترجم خودش تصمیم گرفته همچین چیزی رو در ادامه‌ی ترجمه بیاره (بررسی نکردم و توی این نسخه‌ی epub که خوندم هم اشاره نکرده بود بهش). اگر کار مترجم بوده باشه بهش بسیار بدبین خواهم شد. :)

[Homayoun Hamedmoghadam-Rafati · Rating 3 out of 5]

To comprehend the manuscript thoroughly, one needs to have sufficient background on Marxism philosophical and political views. The book brings together a fine set of relevant articles written by Lukacs written in a relatively short yet critical period in his political life. The Persian translation has a few typing mistakes, and to me a little exaggerated on turning the source language to Persian while sticking to the source structure.

[Sergio Corchete · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bueno, brutal. Las tesis de blum son totalmente claves. El texto sobre Lasalle es de lo mejor que he leído nunca sobre Marx y Hegel. Las disputas con las teorías de elección racional avant la lettre en la misión moral del partido comunista también. Se nota el quiebre a partir del 20 y de la enfermedad infantil del izquierdismo de Lenin. Una gozada.

[Uriel Gutiérrez · Rating 5 out of 5]

El Lukács 1918-1924 el mejor Lukács.
Excelente recopilación; es la primera vez que encuentro traducido completo el ensayo sobre Moses Hess y las Tesis de Blum.