TIBOR  SZABÓ

Dittatura, democrazia e fattore soggettivo nel pensiero di Luxemburg, Gramsci e Lukács  

N. 3/1987

Summary — In this essay the a. tries to make a comparison between the activity and the thought of three revolutionary thinkers of the "belle époque" of the history of Marxism, the interest in whose works is due to a great extent to their contrast with Stalin’s conception. According to Stalin, dictatorship is all-powerful and democracy has little importance. All this is in relation to Stalin's undervaluation of the human moment, of the so-called "subjective factor". Luxemburg, Gramsci and Lukacs instead - thanks also to their intellectual training - are in general against dictatorship and for democracy and persist in the subjective factor.

Such affirmation is quite clear in two moments of their activity. During the period following the October Revolution, Luxemburg in her work Die Russische Revolution condemns Lenin’s attempt of "socialism by edict" which suppresses democratic freedoms in Russia. At the same time, however, she is aware of the importance of force in the struggle against the bourgeoisie. Gramsci gradually changes his previous conception according to which, first of all, there is a need for an intellectual and moral reform and then for a change in the social relations and of the State. He changes his belief during the "biennio rosso" when he affirms that in the fight against Fascism democracy is not enough but armed force is needed, only temporarily. Lukacs - after his conversion o Communism of December 1918 - accepts immediately also the means of the dictatorship of the proletariat, but he is convinced that after the final victory there will not be any more need of it.

The further evolution of Gramsci and Lukacs’ thought clearly confirms these trends. In the Quaderni, Gramsci condemns every kind of dictatorship which cannot find a solution to social problems. Lukacs, in his works of the late period, strongly attacks Stalin who has destroyed democracy in the socialist Countries and claims a reform not only economic, but also and above all political, consisting in the democratization of social relations in the real Socialism.