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Essays on the Materialistic Conception of History by Antonio Labriola
A collection of essays by the Italian Marxist theoretician and Professor in the University of Rome first published in the original Italian in 1896. This edition reprinted from the English translation published in America in 1908.
Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
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About the author
Antonio Labriola
108 books13 followersAntonio Labriola (Italian: [labriˈoːla]; July 2, 1843 – February 12, 1904) was an Italian Marxist theoretician. Although an academic philosopher and never an active member of any Marxist political party, his thought exerted influence on many political theorists in Italy during the early 20th century, including the founder of the Italian Liberal Party, Benedetto Croce and the leaders of the Italian Communist Party, Antonio Gramsci and Amadeo Bordiga.
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June 5, 2021
Interesting reflections on the base-superstructure dialectic, as well as the basic of historical materialism in general; useful especially for Labriola's emphasis on employing historical materialism, laying guidelines and suggestions for Marxist historians to apply historical materialism and contribute to theory.
His brief foray and comments on "peasant stupidity" are disheartening, certainly discounting the progressive aspects of the peasantry more than necessary; I have read of influence from Labriola on Trotsky, I find this to be a possible connection.
Labriola's comments on the nature of the state in Chapter 8 are also interesting, positing that the state "creates around itself a circle of persons interested directly in its existence." While Labriola does not specify a socialist or capitalist state, but the nature of the state itself, this holds important consequences for the nature of a socialist state, something I think can be seen in "state of the whole people" as advanced by the Khrushchevite revisionists, the reaction against the Cultural Revolution in Mao's China, as well as the "Three Represents" theory advanced by the reactionary Jiang Zemin in the immediate post-Deng era; these revisionist (reactionary, even) theories seem to be direct manifestation of this "circle of persons interested directly" in the existence of state, finding ideological justification in the pause of socialist development or even a "Great Leap Backward" as posited by Bettelheim.
His brief foray and comments on "peasant stupidity" are disheartening, certainly discounting the progressive aspects of the peasantry more than necessary; I have read of influence from Labriola on Trotsky, I find this to be a possible connection.
Labriola's comments on the nature of the state in Chapter 8 are also interesting, positing that the state "creates around itself a circle of persons interested directly in its existence." While Labriola does not specify a socialist or capitalist state, but the nature of the state itself, this holds important consequences for the nature of a socialist state, something I think can be seen in "state of the whole people" as advanced by the Khrushchevite revisionists, the reaction against the Cultural Revolution in Mao's China, as well as the "Three Represents" theory advanced by the reactionary Jiang Zemin in the immediate post-Deng era; these revisionist (reactionary, even) theories seem to be direct manifestation of this "circle of persons interested directly" in the existence of state, finding ideological justification in the pause of socialist development or even a "Great Leap Backward" as posited by Bettelheim.
Displaying 1 of 1 review