Hegel's spirit, marxist aesthetics and stalinist restoration

the tragic philosophy of history of Mikhail Lifshits

Vesa Oittinen

pp. 331-342

in: Andrey Maidansky, Vesa Oittinen (eds), Mikhail Lifshits, Studies in East European Thought 68 (4), 2016.

Abstract

The article focuses on one highly idiosyncratic trait of Lifshits' reading of Hegel, namely his assertion that the epoch of Restoration during which Hegel produced his main works was analogous to the period of the 1930s in the USSR. In both cases, "constructive" tasks came to the fore as the fermentation of the revolutionary era waned. On this assumption, Lifshits built up his idea of a Restauratio magna, which should serve as the guiding star of cultural politics. In fact, Lifshits came very near to rehabilitating of Edmund Burke's views about the conservation of cultural heritage, which is highly problematic in light of his initial Marxist convictions.

Cited authors

Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich