Research On The Humanism Of Marxist Theory Of The Praxis Group In Yugoslavia

In the 20 th century,the development and evolution of Marxism in the whole academic thought map,East European Neo-Marxism undoubtedly occupies a place.The Praxis Group in Yugoslavia(hereinafter referred to as the Praxis Group)is the biggest and most influential school of thought in East European Neo-Marxism which names after the founding of the academic journal Praxis and is famous for Korcula Summer School.Under the banner of "reviving Marx",the Praxis Group made a creative interpretation on the thought of Marx.They deeply reflected on the defects of Soviet Marxism theory and the insufficiency of Soviet socialist model.They also probed into the road of self-governing socialism in Yugoslavia and answered the important problem of "what is socialism and how to build socialism".This paper attempts to take "humanitarian Marxism" as the central clue,to expound,summarize and reflect on the contributions and shortcomings of the theory on Praxis Group.In general,the Praxis Group argued that Marxian thought was a kind of humanitarian social critical theory that realized the unity of the critique and science.The fundamental method of Marxism was the revolutionary dialectics whose basic principles were totality,historicity,self-determination,contradiction and transcendence.From the praxis philosophy of Aristotle,Arendt,Kant and Hegel,the Praxis Group made a new interpretation of the concept of praxis and conceived praxis as a universal,free,creative and revolutionary activity unique to human beings.In the understanding of the concept of human beings,the Praxis Group regarded human as an existential thing of praxis.They criticized the hypotheses of "economic man","man is an animal that can make tools" and "man is an economic animal" which were popular false ideas in society.They also reconsidered and criticized the determinism of economic factors that was a common idea in the history of Marxist philosophy.To some extent,the Praxis Group's interpretation of the concept of human beings got rid of the defects of bourgeois abstract theory of human nature and revealed the dual dimensions of human nature(descriptive and normative)and adhered to the unity of critique and science in theory.The Praxis Group comprehensively explained the relationship between humanitarianism and revolution.As far as humanitarianism was concerned,the Praxis Group opposed all the abstract bourgeois humanitarianisms and insisted on a concrete,fighting,practical and scientific humanitarianism.As far as revolution was concerned,the Praxis Group opposed the idea that the revolution should be regarded as a violent revolution(or political revolution),and advocated that the revolution should be extended to human revolution and social revolution.The Praxis Group tried to understand dialectically the relationship between humanitarianism and revolution.They believed that humanitarianism and revolution existed side by side and played a part together.There was no humanitarianism without the real revolution and vice versa.Starting from Marxian historical materialism,the Praxis Group set the starting point of their theory as the realistic individual and the realistic social conditions.They focused on how the real society blocked the human development and what possibility the concrete social conditions can provide for the human needs and development.From the standpoint of humanitarian Marxism,the Praxis Group reflected on the relationship between social determinism and freedom,and distinguished between naturalistic social determinism and humanitarian social determinism.They believed that the later had great significance because it embodied the subjective dimension and the critical spirit of Marxian dialectics of history.Furthermore,they criticized the internal mechanism and one-sided viewpoint of social determinism,emphasizing contingency and possibility on the premise of acknowledging necessity and causality.The Praxis Group opposed to regard freedom as the understanding of necessity,and thought that the core of freedom should be self-determination.They distinguished personality freedom from social freedom.Different from liberals and neoliberals,they insisted on realizing positive freedom while not giving up negative freedom.They also reconsidered the relationship between freedom and equality according to the relevant texts of Marxism.The Praxis Group believed that the Soviet Union was a bureaucratic society where alienation existed generally,so it is necessary to carry out a thorough socialist reform.Starting from this viewpoint,they believed that the only right direction for Yugoslav socialist reform was to take the path of self-governing socialism,allowing workers to run their own enterprises and the country.Under the influence of a variety of extremely complicated factors,the reform attempt of the Yugoslav self-governing socialism failed in the end,but it left us with valuable experience and lessons: we must proceed from the reality of our own country,oppose to the dogmatism and improve the Party's leadership.In addition,we must explore and reform the old relations of production and politics,and address items with the fundamental interests of the people.The humanitarian Marxist theory of the Praxis Group had a unique position and value in the Neo-Marxism of Eastern Europe,which could be found by comparing with the western Marxism and other Neo-Marxism in Eastern Europe.In spite of the rationality of the critique on Russian Marxism and the deepening of the understanding on Marxian thought in some aspects,there was still one-sidedness,such as their concept of praxis and the theory of self-governing socialism,which had a utopian color.The Praxis Group had also neglected the theory and method of Marxist economic philosophy and their critical discourse was still a kind of grand narrative and philosophical speculation.They neither revealed the social mechanism and factors that hinder the realization of humanitarianism,nor seen the new changes and phenomena in the contemporary capitalist society.