Top 10 left communists and council communists
Karl Korsch
Dutch and German
1. Anton Pannekoek
https://libcom.org/tags/anton-pannekoek
Anton Pannekoek was a Dutch theorist and the main theorist and founder of council communism. He wrote for Dutch and German publications. He was a critic of anarchism, social democracy and Leninism. His main works were Workers Councils, Marxism and Darwinism and Lenin as Philosopher: A Critical Examination of the Philosophical Basis of Leninism.
2. Otto Ruhle
https://libcom.org/tags/otto-ruhle
Otto Ruhle was a German Marxist and member of the Spartacus League. His most famous works are Karl Marx: His Life and Works and The Revolution Is Not A Party Affair.
3. Herman Gorter
https://libcom.org/tags/herman-gorter
Herman Gorter was a Dutch council communist. His most famous work is Open Letter to Comrade Lenin which is a response to Left-Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder.
4. Paul Mattick
https://libcom.org/tags/paul-mattick
Paul Mattick Snr was a German communist writer in the council communist and left communist tradition. His key work was Marx and Keynes: The Limits of the Mixed Economy. Other works are The Masses and Vanguard, Council Communism, Introduction to Anti-Bolshevik Communism and Capitalism and Ecology.
5. Karl Korsch
https://libcom.org/tags/karl-korsch
Karl Korsch was a German left communist considered the main figure of the ‘Western Marxism’ tradition. He is known for his writings on Karl Marx and philosophy including Marxism and Philosophy.
Italian
6. Amadeo Bordiga
https://libcom.org/tags/amadeo-bordiga
Amadeo Bordiga was an Italian Marxist and founder of the Italian Communist Party. Eventually he was expelled from the party.
7. Onarato Damen
https://libcom.org/tags/onorato-damen
Onarato Damen was an Italian left communist influential in the Internationalist Communist Party (Battaglia Comunista). He was author of Bordiga Beyond the Myth and Gramsci between Marxism and Idealism.
French
8. Cornelius Castioriadis
https://libcom.org/tags/cornelius-castoriadis
Cornelius Castioriadis was a Greek-French Philosopher who co-founded Socialisme ou Barbarie.
9. Gilles Dauve
https://libcom.org/tags/gilles-dauve
Gilles Dauve is a French theorist. Dauvé has attempted to fuse, critique, and develop different left communist currents, most notably the Italian movement associated with Amadeo Bordiga (and its heretical journal Invariance), German-Dutch council communism, and the French perspectives associated with Socialisme ou Barbarie and the Situationist International.
English
10. Sylvia Pankhurst
https://libcom.org/tags/sylvia-e-pankhurst
Sylvia Pankhurst was an English suffragette and later left communist. Her most notable work was Communism and its Tactics.
Comments
Quote: Gilles Dauve was a
As far as I know he is still amongst the living.
Amended.
Amended.
Is it a "top" 10? Seems
Is it a "top" 10? Seems arranged by nationality.
No they're not. Marx and Keynes: The Limits of the Mixed Economy was his major work.
Amended
Amended
Weird list. Castoriadis and
Weird list. Castoriadis and Dauvé are not left or council communists - in fact, both developed their politics through a growing rejection of Marxism.
What is this, Hallo magazine?
What is this, Hallo magazine? Top Ten celeb left Marxists?? Top ten anti-hierarchicals?
BigFluffyTail
That is an opinion; but "key works" and "major work" aren't necessarily the same thing. Judging by influence, his political essays were more influential among people I know.
Dyjbas
I doubt Dauvé would agree with you about "rejection". Again, that's an opinion. His take on 'marxism' may be different than yours but he, at least, wouldn't pretend there is only one true marxism.
Quote: That is an
It's not a matter of opinion. It's the work he spent the most time on and the one that received the most attention, especially internationally. It's clearly his magnum opus. In contrast, "Capitalism and Ecology" is short and only came to attention recently. Not that it isn't good or interesting of course.
I agree Castoriadis doesn't really qualify. He started to espouse a form of market socialism. Then, through Aristotle, rejected Marx and became obsessed with the notions of autonomy and democracy (rather than socialism). At some point he was an atlantist, supporting Thatcher and Reagan against the USSR (perceived as the bigger threat).
If you wanted french council communists people like Maximilien Rubel or Serge Bricianer (who had also been a member of Socialisme ou Barbarie) would've been better picks.
Great, another f*cking top 10
Great, another f*cking top 10 list...
How about "top 10 marxists to read if you're trying to lose weight"?
Craftwork wrote: Great,
Craftwork
"She started reading Das Kapital, you'll never guess what happened next!"
As I said; Quote: "key works"
As I said;
Depends on how you define and how you measure - whether by size, influence, appreciation or however you choose. A "major work" could be less influential than a collection of essays that were "key" for a lot of people. And also what period/generation you talk of. In the Europe of the 70s Marx & Keynes did sell well, far more than in the US. But for later generations my impression is that interest in Mattick among young activists was more to do with an interest in his critique of bolshevism and vanguardism: and that would have been so if he’d never written Marx & Keynes. But there is probably no objective measure of that and for the purpose of this odd list it doesn’t really matter.
But on your advice the author has already changed the above to say that Marx & Keynes was his "key work".
Craftwork wrote: How about
Craftwork
"Boost your gag reflex with just a bit of Zhdanov"