pp xviii246 Demy 8vo May 1998
Paperback 0-7083-1430-9
Hardback 0-7083-1429-5
"The former Soviet republics have been baptised by blood, and drowned in Pepsi Cola". David MacGregor
'In his latest book, David MacGregor challenges us to re-think the place we have given to Hegel and Marx in the social theory of a so called 'post-communist' world. In a jolting and lucid argument, MacGregor re-casts the relationship between these two thinkers within a framework that is deeply committed to a critique of everyday forms of domination. In doing so, MacGregor reveals Hegel and Marx to be superbly relevant and profound for an analysis of the practices of the "new economy".' Joe Hermer, Wolfson College, Oxford
` . . . MacGregor illustrates the continuing relevance of Marx and even more importantly, Hegel, for comprehending and combating a rapacious free market global capitalism . . . Scholarly exegesis is excitingly combined with biography and a critical assessment of debates, both in Hegel's and Marx's time and since . . . This is an accessible, thought-provoking account that will serve as an excellent introduction for students and demand a response from Hegel-Marx scholars.' (Political Studies)
`. . . an extensive and impressive re-examination of the Hegel-Marx relation . . .Scholarly exegesis is excitingly combined with biography and a critical assessment of debates, both in Hegel’s and Marx’s time and since . . . This is an accessible, thought-provoking account that will serve as an excellent introduction for students and demand a response from Hegel-Marx scholars.' (Political Studies Association)
` . . . enlightening and stimulating . . . fired by a strong sense of intellectual excitement and individuality.' (Studies in Marxism)
` . . . MacGregor's discussion is handled well, with some interesting excursions . . . Clearly and engagingly written, it is a conscientious effort to grapple with some of our pressing issues.' (Tijdschrift voor Filosofie)
' . . . lucid and incisive . . . MacGregor's lucidly expressed and formidably marshalled approach offers a Hegel who has more to say to the present seekers for new ideas and new thinking on the Left than Marx.' (Planet)
The collapse of the Soviet Empire led many to think communism and perhaps socialism were no longer relevant to the modern world. This book presents a balanced discussion for and against the validity of the arguments of two of the most important political philosophers of all time. It re-interprets their philosophies, and analyses the dynamic between Hegelian and Marxist thought. The final chapter also theorises the possible future for Hegel and Marx in the 21st Century.
David MacGregor is Professor of Political Thought at Kings College, an affiliate of the University of Western Ontario, Canada.
Paul Trejo writes:
'The new book by Professor David MacGregor, Hegel and Marx After the Fall of Communism (1998, U. of Wales Press, 246 pages), fulfills its mission to advance our knowledge of the relationship of the philosophies of GWF Hegel and Karl Marx in a way hardly imagined before the fall of Communism. Immediately within his Introduction Professor MacGregor sets the tone:
"My argument resembles one put forward by the Hegel scholar, Errol E. Harris: 'My contention,' he writes, 'is that had Marx understood Hegel co rrectly he would have found in him much that he was seeking, including a basis for socialism that would not have led his followers astray into totalitarian repression of human liberty." (MacGregor, p. xii)
In his first chapter, "Marx's Relationship with Hegel," Professor MacGregor immediately addresses the problem of the widely held views of Georg Lukacs (1885-1971) and Marx's partner, Frederick Engels. The official party line begun by Frederick Engels (ca. 1868) and followed closely by Georg Lukacs during the repressive Stalin era (ca. 1938) was that Hegel's influence on Marx had mainly to do with formal logic (i.e. dialectics) since Hegel's politics remained those of a conservative mo narchist and a Prussian apologist. Professor MacGregor traces the evolution of these views and provides for the English reader a profoundly different view. Hegel's politics were sometimes veiled within the police state in which he lived, but they were o ften openly stated as liberal, socially oriented, class conscious and advocated a Free Republic.
In his second chapter, "Dialectics of Youth and Maturity," Professor MacGregor continues his criticism of Georg Lukacs who divided Hegel's philosophy into an idealistic youth and a conciliatory maturity. Lukacs influenced Avineri, Marcuse and Althusser, and so the marxist perception of Hegel's philosophy was propagated.
In his third chapter, "Hegel's Development from 1770-1801)," Professor MacGregor challenge s the postulate of Lukacs head on by first addressing Hegel's youth. Hegel's idealism and commitment to a Republic is linked with his Rationalist theology and his relationship with the brilliant poet Hoelderlin. The Grecophile attitudes they held in common conditioned all their early writings.
In his fourth chapter, "Hegel and Tom Paine in the Age of Revolution," Professor MacGregor attempts a unique biographical effort in this field. He seeks a link between young Hegel's ideal of Freedom with the writin gs of Thomas Paine which circulated widely in this period. Similarities between Paine's The Rights of Man and Hegel's The Philosophy of Right are indicated, as well as similarities between Paine's The Age of Reason and Hegel's Early Theological Writings. Identical key-words and key-issues are provided in numerous examples.
In his fifth chapter, "Revolution, Despotism and Censorship from 1801-1831)," Professor MacGregor examines the police-state in which Hegel lived which exerted considerable pressure on H egel to write in an increasingly unique language in order to continue to express his commitment to Freedom. The confinement of Hoelderlin is cited in this period, as is the death of Hegel and the transition of his mantle to his close Jewish friend, Eduar d Gans. It was Gans, reports MacGregor, who tutored both Marx and Engels. As the dates of Hegel's conciliation with the police-state are given variously as 1800, 1807, 1818 and 1830, Professor MacGregor can find no evidence to support any of them.
In his sixth chapter, "Property and the Corporation," Professor MacGregor focuses on Hegel's 1817-1819 lectures on the Right in Heidelberg. In this chapter the views of Hegel and Marx are finally contrasted. Unlike Marx, Hegel advocated private property, begi nning with the full ownership of one's own body, as the foundation for Law and Rights. Professor MacGregor writes:
"Unlike Hegel, Marx failed to probe the positive side of private rights." (MacGregor, p. 118)
Also, Hegel advocated the increasing in fluence of a Civil Servant class as a catalyst for change, and called this class the Universal Class, the class which would reform all levels of society in the interest of the Whole. By contrast, Marx hoped to eliminate all class distinction.
However, Professor MacGregor writes:
"Although Marx rejects Hegel's universal class, there can be no doubt that such a class must be a part of Marx's own ideal society." (MacGregor, p. 120)
It is quite correct that Hegel's Philosophy of Right is not an apology for freebooter Capitalism. On the contrary, Hegel advocated the power of the State to master the anarchist tendencies of industries. Taxation and Regulation are tools of Reason, he wrote, as are Education and Mutual Recognition upon which a Commonwealth subsists. Professor MacGregor argues for Hegel's ideal of a Democratic Corporation in which each worker has a voice and an interest. Here, also, the interesting works of Antony Black are cited.
In his seventh chapter, "Labour and Civil Society," Prof essor MacGregor begins with a criticism of Francis Fukuyama as a prelude to a study of Hegel's own class consciousness and futuristic tendencies. Hegel's Master/Slave theory in relation to capital and labor, his idea of a social aspect of private property, a critique of untamed bourgeois economics, a recognition of Ricardo's labor theory of value and commodity exchange, are all tied neatly into his argument.
In his eighth and final chapter, "The State in Time," Professor MacGregor attempts to find a place for Hegel's theory in the coming economic realities of the 21st century. To this end he reviews Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) in the light of his Hegelian analysis. At this pinnacle of this analysis he places Hegel's Universal Class of Civil S ervants.
In my reading, this is the first book to treat these topics from the properly Hegelian vantage with a view to a defense of Hegel. I am impressed by Professor MacGregor's thorough scholarship in which he cites Howard Kainz, Raya Dunayevskaya, Habe rmas, Galbraith, Keynes, Gorbachev, David Ellerman, Alvin Gouldner, Charles Taylor and many others in this eminently readable and innovative study in Hegelian thought.' Paul Trejo (Hegel-L)