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The Tension Between Ideological Closure and Hermeneutic Openness in Ernst Bloch's Philosophy of Hope Salomon J. Terreblanche

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The Tension Between Ideological Closure and Hermeneutic Openness in Ernst Bloch's Philosophy of Hope Salomon J. Terreblanche The Tension between Ideological Closure and Hermeneutic Openness in Ernst Bloch’s Philosophy of Hope Salomon J. Terreblanche Abstract This chapter explores the inherent tensions in Ernst Bloch’s philosophy of hope. A controversial aspect of Bloch’s philosophy is the seemingly intolerant style in which he expresses his commitment to Marxism as the only objective science and plausible practice of social transformation. Also, Bloch’s philosophy is characterised by a tendency to ideological and dialectical closure. Bloch’s work borders on dialectical closure when that which is otherwise and alien to his system simply becomes embodied into his system as a part of his story. This may leave one suspicious that ideological closure characterises his whole intellectual project. This chapter illustrates how this tendency to closure in Bloch’s philosophy can be undermined from within his works, by emphasising the following: (1) Bloch’s emphasis that the practices by way of which we pursue the humane society should resemble the ideal of the humane society, (2) his emphasis on the openness of the historical process, (3) and his idea of ‘non-synchronicity’, entailing that unrealised surpluses of meaning can be explored through a retrospective engagement with the past which is guided by the hermeneutics of hope. By way of such subversive reading, Bloch is rehabilitated as a resource for rekindling the ethos of world-improvement as well as a resource for re- evaluating humane social ideals. Key Words: Bloch, critical theory, hope, Liberation Theology, memory, Neo-Marxism, social ideals, Todorov. ***** 1. Introduction A contemporary re-appropriation of Ernst Bloch’s social philosophy faces the challenge of overcoming the barrier posed by the fact that today many elements of his work may look somewhat archaic. Bloch’s works include not only a number of outdated beliefs but also appear to be shot through with an uncompromising commitment to Marxism’s ideological cause. Bloch himself introduced the concept of Ungleichzeitigkeit [non- synchronicity] to refer to the surplus of meaning that can be released in the critical analyses of ideologies that have lost their appeal.1 Ironically, Bloch’s corpus of work has become a monument of Ungleichzeitigkeit in its own right. By exposing the outdated and ideologically entrenched elements in his work, we can make the residue of philosophically relevant and politically Salomon J. Terreblanche - 9789042030237 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:53:45PM via free access 64 The Tension Between Ideological Closure and Hermeneutic Openness ______________________________________________________________ plausible aspects stand out more clearly. We need to subordinate Bloch’s work to the demand, which he himself stated with regards to the work of Karl Marx, that ‘understanding must repeatedly prove itself anew’.2 In reconsidering Bloch’s humanist philosophy, one cannot ignore the often questionable nature of his devotion to Marxism. In this regard, the following three themes need to be critically elucidated: (1) the intolerant style in which Bloch expresses his commitment to Marxism (and Leninism) as the only objective science and the only plausible practice of social transformation; (2) Bloch’s apparent approval of violent revolutionary practices; and (3) his alleged defence of Stalinism in the late 1940s and early 1950s. These three themes ought to be considered separately and in this sequence. In other words, if it is true that Bloch throughout his work expressed a bigoted preference for Marxism, it does not yet follow that his philosophy as a whole serves as an apology for Stalinism. Of the accusations against Bloch’s ideological commitments, those concerning his relation to Stalinism are most controversial. In ‘A Jubilee for Renegades’ (from 1937), an article in which Bloch reflects on the twenty years since the October Revolution in Russia (1917), his ideological commitments look somewhat precarious.3 He romanticises the October Revolution, arguing that the bloodshed of the French Revolution (1789) proved to have an emancipatory value. In an apologetic and protective stance with respect to the Stalinist regime, he states that ‘senselessly exaggerated criticism of the homeland of the [October] revolution will not benefit the ideal of the revolution…there can be no struggle against [Nazi] fascism, there can be nothing good without Russia’.4 In a somewhat one-sided reading of these remarks, Wayne Hudson contends that Bloch ‘idealised the reality of Stalinist murder and avoided the moral dilemma by accepting violence and ‘red terror’’.5 Bloch’s defensive remarks about Stalinism remain unpardonable. However, in a highly instructive commentary on Bloch’s 1937 article, Oskar Negt shows that, with a careful consideration of the context of these remarks, it becomes clear that ‘the major enemy of Bloch’s thinking and action is fascism’.6 He points out that Bloch was specifically addressing the Russian emigrants in Germany at the time. ‘Time and again he demonstrates their inability to understand one very simple fact: the historical alternatives of that time did not allow neutral positions… The alternatives were fascism or the Soviet Union… Hitler or Stalin’.7 This in part explains why Bloch, who in 1938 himself went into exile to the USA to flee Nazi Germany, refrained from publicly criticising Stalin in the late 1930s and the 1940s. In an article on his father’s relation to Stalinism, Jan-Robert Bloch points to the external political pressures that may have influenced Bloch’s public statements at the time.8 In 1941 ‘Stalin suspended all Soviet support of antifascism, and Ulbricht [a prominent member of the antifascist movement Salomon J. Terreblanche - 9789042030237 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:53:45PM via free access Salomon J. Terreblanche 65 ______________________________________________________________ in Germany] declared in Moscow: ‘Whoever intrigues against the friendship of the German and Soviet peoples is an enemy of the German people and is branded a helpmate of English imperialism’.9 10 In The Principle of Hope, which was written in the United States (1938 – 1947) and published in Germany in 1953 (Vol. I) and 1959 (Vol. II and III), Bloch remains hopeful about the future of socialism and, disappointingly, he is still very much unrepentant on the topic of Stalinist terrors.11 Occasionally he shows appreciation for the theoretical work of Stalin.12 Only toward the end of his magnus opus does he seem by way of insinuation to express some limited disapproval of the way in which Stalinism has corrupted Marxist doctrine and practice: ‘Marxism, correctly practised, if possible liberating itself from and unburdening itself of its wicked neighbour, has from the beginning been humanity in action, the realised human face’.13 With ‘wicked neighbour’ Bloch presumably refers to Stalinism. By the 1960s Bloch started to distance himself more explicitly from Stalin.14 In an interview with Michael Landmann recorded in 1968 Bloch concedes that, although he initially supported the way Soviet Communism was pursued, with the advantage of hindsight he realises that it was a mistake: In 1940 we (the leftist emigrants) in the USA all thought that fascism was the inevitable last stage of capitalism and that Russia would never become fascist. This prognosis turned out to be false. The citoyen of the French Revolution became the bourgeois of capitalism.15 In the end Bloch was disillusioned about the way in which emancipatory ideals came to be encapsulated in oppressive capitalist structures. But in 1968 Bloch was still hopeful about the socialist project. As Bloch states in his interview with Michael Landman: ‘Socialism has now reached the point where it can leave behind a wishy-washy dream world and ally itself irrevocably with the objectively real possibility contained in the tendency and latency of the social process, indeed the world process’. 16 2. Setting Bloch against Himself Many contemporary readers will find questionable the dogmatic style in which Bloch exonerates Marxist doctrine and practice. He hails dialectical materialism as the only objective scientific methodology,17 Marxism as the only plausible practice of social transformation and perspective for an authentic understanding and further advancement of imagination and morality.18 ‘Becoming happy was always what was sought after in the dreams of a better life, and only Marxism can initiate it’.19 As Salomon J. Terreblanche - 9789042030237 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:53:45PM via free access 66 The Tension Between Ideological Closure and Hermeneutic Openness ______________________________________________________________ Jack Zipes remarks, ‘what is perhaps most disconcerting about Bloch’s Marxist utopianism [is that] it simply labels other philosophical positions as bourgeois and irrational when they do not comply with the direction his own thought takes’.20 In spite of his deeper aspirations to amend the rigidities in orthodox Marxism, Bloch’s writings are permeated with a romanticising of Lenin21 and of revolution as a means of social transformation.22 Occasionally he seems to approve uncritically of revolutionary violence.23 Bloch indeed frequently borders on the dangers of both dialectical and ideological closure. He borders on dialectical closure when that which is otherwise and alien to his system simply becomes embodied into his system as a part of his story. An example of this is the way in which Bloch regards the pre-appearance of
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