Revista de Estudios Sociales

rev. estud. soc. | eISSN 1900-5180 | ISSN 0123-885X

The Conceptual Renovation of Class Consciousness, Revolution and Violence: Reflections Concerning the Actuality of Georg Lukács’ Work

No. 90 (2024-10-04)
  • Nicol A. Barria-Asenjo
    Universidad de los Lagos, Chile
  • Slavoj Žižek
    Birkbeck Institute for Humanities, University of London, United Kingdom, and University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
  • Florian Maiwald
    Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Germany
  • Simone A. Medina Polo
    Global Center for Advanced Studies, Ireland
  • Javier Camargo-Castillo
    Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico
  • Francisco Alejandro Vergara Muñoz
    Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • Jesús Ayala-Colqui
    Universidad Científica del Sur, Peru
https://doi.org/10.7440/res90.2024.09

Abstract

One hundred years after the publication of History and Class Consciousness, it is imperative to revisit the classic work of Georg Lukács to discuss the relevance of his ideas in a world where the capitalist mode of production does not cease to show its devastating effects. To do so, we divide the article into two sections. In the first part, we place Lukács’ work in dialogue with that of Hegel and Marx in order to clarify the status of violence as an ontological condition of history, allowing us to determine the theoretical-practical framework from which social revolution can be conceptualized. In the second section, we analyze Lukács’ notion of class consciousness not as a historical fatality but as an act of self-determination of the proletariat. We compare this proposal with the current situation of gentrification of the proletariat which, far from invalidating the Hungarian author’s proposal, constitutes its reversal and the platform for its actualization. Ultimately, it is about the proletarian still today taking control and becoming, through class consciousness, the subject-object of history. We conclude by reinterpreting Lukács’ terms in a practice that counters a reactionary position in order to combat both the reactionary movements and the hedonistic immobilism of the proletariat.

Keywords: class consciousness, Hegel, Lukács, Marx, proletariat, revolution

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Copyright (c) 2024 Nicol A. Barria-Asenjo, Slavoj Žižek, Florian Maiwald, Simone A. Medina Polo, Javier Camargo-Castillo, Francisco Alejandro Vergara Muñoz, Jesús Ayala-Colqui

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