Is There a ‘Proletarian Standpoint’?

Abstract

Lukács’ criticism of the antinomies of bourgeois thought and the closely related affirmation and presentation of the “proletarian standpoint” belong to the core of History and Class Consciousness, the Lukácsian work that marks the beginning and coronation of his Marxist phase (Zur Ontologie des gesellschaftlichen Seins, as well as the works in between are clearly not up to its level). The conceptual core of History and Class Consciousness is the problem of totality. Lukács uses the ability to grasp the totality as a measure of the intellectual capacity of the social classes that are in conflict. Let us recall the main elements in Lukács’ doctrine.