Marxism and Scientific Socialism

182 Pages·2008·0.89 MB·English

by  Paul Thomas

Marxism and Scientific Socialism
Engels declared at Marx’s funeral in Highgate Cemetery that “just as Darwin
discovered the law of development of organic nature, so Marx discovered the
law of development of human history”. Scientific socialism was the term Engels
used to describe Marx’s socio-economic philosophy and many later theorists
sought to reinforce Marxist theory with a supposedly scientific basis.
This book explains the development of the idea of scientific socialism
through the nineteenth and twentieth century from its origins in Engels to its last
manifestation in the work of Althusser. It provides a detailed analysis of Engel’s
own conceptualization, the impact of Darwin, the relationship to the “official”
historical materialism of the Soviet states and later reformulations by Althusser
and others. In so doing it provides a vivid intellectual history of Marxist and
socialist thought, exploring its significant insights as well its manifest failures.
Marxism and Scientific Socialism will be of particular interest to those with
an interest in the development of Marxism and socialism, political ideologies
and the history of Western political thought.
Paul Thomasis Professor in Political Science specializing in Political Theory at
the University of California, Berkeley, California, USA. He is author of Karl
Marx and the Anarchists, Alien Politics, Culture and the State (with David
Lloyd).
Routledge studies in social and political thought
1 Hayek and After 8 Max Weber and Michel Foucault
Hayekian liberalism as a research Parallel life works
programme Arpad Szakolczai
Jeremy Shearmur
9 The Political Economy of Civil
2 Conflicts in Social Science Society and Human Rights
Edited by Anton van Harskamp G.B. Madison
3 Political Thought of André Gorz 10 On Durkheim’s Elementary
Adrian Little Forms of Religious Life
Edited by W.S.F. Pickering,
4 Corruption, Capitalism and W. Watts Miller and N.J. Allen
Democracy
John Girling 11 Classical Individualism
The supreme importance of each
5 Freedom and Culture in human being
Western Society Tibor R. Machan
Hans Blokland
12 The Age of Reason
6 Freedom in Economics Quixotism, sentimentalism and
New perspectives in normative political economy in eighteenth-
analysis century Britain
Edited by Jean-Francois Laslier, Wendy Motooka
Marc Fleurbaey, Nicolas Gravel
and Alain Trannoy 13 Individualism in Modern
Thought
7 Against Politics From Adam Smith to Hayek
On government, anarchy and order Lorenzo Infantino
Anthony de Jasay
14 Property and Power in Social
Theory
A study in intellectual rivalry
Dick Pels
15 Wittgenstein and the Idea of a 26 Metaphor and the Dynamics of
Critical Social Theory Knowledge
A critique of Giddens, Habermas Sabine Maasen and
and Bhaskar Peter Weingart
Nigel Pleasants
27 Living with Markets
16 Marxism and Human Nature Jeremy Shearmur
Sean Sayers
28 Durkheim’s Suicide
17 Goffman and Social A century of research and debate
Organization Edited by W.S.F. Pickering and
Studies in a sociological legacy Geoffrey Walford
Edited by Greg Smith
29 Post-Marxism
18 Situating Hayek An intellectual history
Phenomenology and the neo- Stuart Sim
liberal project
Mark J. Smith 30 The Intellectual as Stranger
Studies in spokespersonship
19 The Reading of Theoretical Texts Dick Pels
Peter Ekegren
31 Hermeneutic Dialogue and
20 The Nature of Capital Social Science
Marx after Foucault A critique of Gadamer and
Richard Marsden Habermas
Austin Harrington
21 The Age of Chance
Gambling in western culture 32 Methodological Individualism
Gerda Reith Background, history and meaning
Lars Udehn
22 Reflexive Historical Sociology
Arpad Szakolczai 33 John Stuart Mill and Freedom
of Expression
23 Durkheim and Representations The genesis of a theory
Edited by W.S.F. Pickering K.C. O’Rourke
24 The Social and Political 34 The Politics of Atrocity and
Thought of Noam Chomsky Reconciliation
Alison Edgley From terror to trauma
Michael Humphrey
25 Hayek’s Liberalism and Its
Origins 35 Marx and Wittgenstein
His idea of spontaneous order and Knowledge, morality, politics
the Scottish enlightenment Edited by Gavin Kitching and
Christina Petsoulas Nigel Pleasants
36 The Genesis of Modernity 47 The Politics and Philosophy of
Arpad Szakolczai Michael Oakeshott
Stuart Isaacs
37 Ignorance and Liberty
Lorenzo Infantino 48 Pareto and Political Theory
Joseph Femia
38 Deleuze, Marx and Politics
Nicholas Thoburn 49 German Political Philosophy
The metaphysics of law
39 The Structure of Social Theory Chris Thornhill
Anthony King
50 The Sociology of Elites
40 Adorno, Habermas and the Michael Hartmann
Search for a Rational Society
Deborah Cook 51 Deconstructing Habermas
Lasse Thomassen
41 Tocqueville’s Moral and
Political Thought 52 Young Citizens and New Media
New liberalism Learning for democratic
M.R.R. Ossewaarde participation
Edited by Peter Dahlgren
42 Adam Smith’s Political
Philosophy 53 Gambling, Freedom and
The invisible hand and Democracy
spontaneous order Peter J. Adams
Craig Smith
54 The Quest for Jewish
43 Social and Political Ideas of Assimilation in Modern Social
Mahatma Gandi Science
Bidyut Chakrabarty Amos Morris-Reich
44 Counter-Enlightenments 55 Frankfurt School Perspectives
From the eighteenth century to the on Globalization, Democracy,
present and the Law
Graeme Garrard William E. Scheuerman
45 The Social and Political 56 Hegemony
Thought of George Orwell Studies in consensus and coercion
A reassessment Edited by Richard Howson and
Stephen Ingle Kylie Smith
46 Habermas 57 Marxism and Scientific
Rescuing the public sphere Socialism
Pauline Johnson From Engels to Althusser
Paul Thomas
Marxism and Scientific
Socialism
From Engels to Althusser
Paul Thomas
First published 2008
by Routledge
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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2008 Paul Thomas
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008.
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utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
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from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Thomas, Paul, 1943–
Marxism & scientific socialism: from Engels to Althusser/Paul Thomas.
p. cm. – (Routledge studies in social and political thought; 57)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Socialism–History. I. Title.
HX36.T56 2008
335.4(cid:2)11–dc22 2007047894
ISBN10: 0-415-77565-5 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0-203-92731-1 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-77565-6 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-92731-1 (ebk)
ISBN 0-203-92731-1 Master e-book ISBN
This book is dedicated to those who have gone before. In
memory of Richard Ashcraft, Eugene Lunn, Norman Jacobson,
Gwylfa Roberts, Michael Rogin, Dita Shklar, Robbie Wokler.

Contents
Preface: what’s in a word? x
Acknowledgements xiv
Introduction 1
1 Marx and science 9
2 Engels and “scientific socialism” 35
3 The question of Darwin 50
4 Scientific socialism on the ground: Haldane, Bernal, and
“scientific socialism” 68
5 Scientific socialism and dialectical materialism 86
6 Althusser and the enchantment of science 106
Conclusion 128
Epilogue: nature and artifice in Marx 132
References 152
Index 162