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'True Democracy' As a Prelude to Communism Political Philosophy and Public Purpose ‘True Democracy’ as a Prelude to Communism THE MARX OF DEMOCRACY ALEXANDROS CHRYSIS Political Philosophy and Public Purpose Series Editor Michael J. Thompson William Paterson University USA This series offers books that seek to explore new perspectives in social and political criticism. Seeing contemporary academic political theory and philosophy as largely dominated by hyper-academic and overly- technical debates, the books in this series seek to connect the politically engaged traditions of philosophical thought with contemporary social and political life. The idea of philosophy emphasized here is not as an aloof enterprise, but rather a publicly-oriented activity that emphasizes rational refection as well as informed praxis. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/14542 Alexandros Chrysis ‘True Democracy’ as a Prelude to Communism The Marx of Democracy Alexandros Chrysis Panteion University Athens, Greece Political Philosophy and Public Purpose ISBN 978-3-319-57540-7 ISBN 978-3-319-57541-4 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57541-4 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017939613 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifcally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microflms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifc statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affliations. Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland To the memory of my mother Zoe and my dearest always missed Anaxagoras. To my wife Eugenia and my daughter Zoe. SERIES EDITOR’S FOREWORD ‘True Democracy’ as a Prelude to Communism: The Marx of Democracy The relationship between Marxism and democracy has caused much ink to be spilt. What is at stake is nothing less than the political dimensions of Marxist theory and its prospects to serve as a valid and compelling political theory in present times. Marx’s own ideas about democracy were complex and were never the subject of prolonged theoretical refec- tion. But there is little question that his admiration for the democratic experiments in France, in his philosophic and historical affnities with Athenian democracy, and his persistent support for working class par- ties in parliamentary democracies of his own time attest to his continued engagement with questions of concrete political relevance. But per- haps even more, examining Marx’s relation to democracy and his ideas about the political shape that human society should adopt could show us ways to overcome the alienation and fragmentation of modernity and to equip politics with a renewed sense of purpose in an age when lib- eralism is waning and few progressive alternatives present themselves. Marx’s youthful ideas about democracy and politics, however, evince a humanism and emancipatory potential that has received scant scholarly attention. Indeed, one reason for this has been the legacy of Soviet Marxism, of Leninism, Stalinism and the antipathy to ideas about democratic politics and democracy itself that this tradition has had on Marx’s original ideas. The traces of this legacy have severely distorted Marx’s nascent ideas on these questions and they still mark Marxist theory with an anti-political tinge. But in this important study, Alexandros Chrysis has provided us vii viii SERIES EDITor’S FOREWORD with an important corrective to this theoretical straightjacket. His basic claim is that we should see Marx’s ideas about democracy as an out- growth of his early writings on politics. Rejecting Althusser’s coupure épistémologique and insisting that we see Marx’s mature idea as an out- growth of his youthful ideas about the ethical aims of human self-devel- opment, Chrysis argues that Marx’s argument for democratic politics is a creation of active citizenship that forms a way of life, a vita politica, for members of the political community. Rejecting the liberal separation between the individual, civil society and the state, Marx instead seeks to understand the political as constituted by active members of as associa- tion that promote the common interests of the social whole. This view of democracy is therefore a thicker one than an Arendtian community of opinion just as it is more than a participatory mode of politics. Chrysis sees Marx’s novel ideas about politics as rooted in his youth- ful republicanism and an insistence on the “rational state” as opposed to the actually existing state which is a mere instrument for elite economic interests. This republican idea is one that emphasizes the common good and interest over the particular interests of the bourgeoisie. In so doing, Chrysis makes a contribution to seeing Marx and his ideas as integrated within a radical republican tradition stemming back to Machiavelli and running through Rousseau and Hegel, among others. But he then goes on to claim that Marx’s ideas evolve into a self-contained political theory, moving beyond this republican tradition. What concerns the youthful Marx, even before his turn to communism, is the fragmented and instru- mental conception of politics that allows for the wealth-defense and its counter position to a society where politics has been allowed to penetrate all aspects of life. The solution becomes the breaking down of the state-civil society barrier, a true democracy where the state breaks down and the politi- cal becomes a concern of all members of the association and for the common end of that association and the individuals that compose it. No longer will there be a separate state, alienated from the community, which can be used as a tool for the interests of any segment of the asso- ciation. What Chrysis proposes is that we see Marx’s idea of democ- racy as non-reducible to the state form, but instead as woven into the praxis of engaged solidaristic citizenship. The end of this kind of true democracy would be the fourishing and development of a free associa- tion of equals. It would be the realization of politics as an end in itself, of politics as constituting the shape of this free association of cooperative SERIES EDITor’S FOREWORd ix equals that dialectically also develops the individual even as it develops and shapes the social whole. Chrysis therefore brings us to the political and philosophical horizon where Marx will come to adopt communism as his life-long political project. In so doing, Chrysis animates what has been locked away from view in much of twentieth-century Marxology. He has revived Marx’s humanistic, democratic and political ideas, giv- ing a potency and relevance much needed in an age where our collective political imagination has withered. New York City Michael J. Thompson Spring 2017 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I feel deeply indebted to all my friends, colleagues and students with whom I share theoretical research and practical action for our common cause. My special gratitude is due to Vassilis Fouskas, a good friend during our unclouded student years of the 1980s and a devoted scholar in the hard times we are living in now. Without his help this book could hardly have reached publication. Last but not least, I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart my wife Eugenia and my daughter Zoe; their permanent support and patience allowed me to accomplish my task. xi CONTENTS 1 Themes and Methodological Delimitations 1 2 The Philosophical ‘Moment’ of Marx’s Theory of Democracy: From the Metaphysics of Law to the Critique of Politics 23 3 The Republican ‘Moment’ of Marx’s Theory of Democracy: From the Critique of Politics to the Theory of the Rational State 63 4 The Dialectical ‘Moment’ of Marx’s Theory of Democracy: From the Theory of the Rational State to ‘True Democracy’ 103 5 The Sovereignty of the Demos as ‘True Democracy’ 135 6 Theoretical Conclusions and Political Perspectives 191 Bibliography 219 Index 231 xiii CHAPTER 1 Themes and Methodological Delimitations Undoubtedly, the concept of ‘democracy’ is one of the most disputed and debated issues in the political theory and practice of all historical epochs. This is also the case in the context of Marxist theory and the political movements that it inspired: democracy, as both theory and prac- tice, has never ceased to be a controversial subject within the felds of Marxist-oriented research inquiry, interpretation and political practice. This study, which is part of a wider research project, attempts to answer the following questions: • What is the content that Marx attributes to the term ‘democracy’ in his early work—that is, before he embraced the communist project? • What is the inner relationship between the pre-communist Marxist theory of democracy and the quest for self-determination as formu- lated by Marx in his early work? I attempt to show that these questions are anything but academic.
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