| The Praxis Group |
Article Index for The |
Website Links For School |
Information AboutThe Praxis Group |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT PRAXIS SCHOOL | |
| social philosophy | |
| second yugoslavia | |
| marxism | |
| marxist theory | |
|
BASIC TENETS Due to the tumultuous sociopolitical conditions in the 1960’s, the affirmation of authentic Marxist theory and praxis, and its humanist and dialectical aspects in particular, was an urgent tasks for philosophers working across the SFRY . There was a need to respond to the kind of modified Marxism-Leninism enforced by the League Of Communists Of Yugoslavia . To vocalize and therefore begin to satisfy this need, the program of Praxis school was defined in French in the first issue of the International edition of ''Praxis: A quoi bon Praxis''. Pedrag Vranicki (''On the problem of Practice'') and Danko Grlić (''Practice and Dogma'') expanded this program in English in the same issue (''Praxis'', 1965, 1, p. 41-48 and p. 49-58). The Praxis philosophers considered Leninism to be apologetic due to its ad hoc nature. Leninist theory was considered to be unfaithful to the Marxist theory, adjusted according to the needs of the party elite. The defining features of the school were: 1) emphasis on the writings of young Marx ; and 2) call for freedom of speech in both East and West based upon Marx's insistence on ruthless social critique. As Erich Fromm has argued in his Preface to Marković's ''From Affluence to Praxis'', the theory of the Praxis theoreticians was "return to the real Marx as against the Marx equally distorted by right wing social democrats and Stalinists". Different theorists emphasized different aspects of the theory. Where Mihailo Marković writes of alienation and the dynamic nature of human beings, Petrović writes of philosophy as radical critique of all existing things, emphasizing the essentially creative and practical nature of human beings. Milan Kangrga emphasizes creativity as well, but also the understanding of human beings as producers humanizing nature. Another defining feature of the Praxis theory is the incorporation of Existential philosophy into the Praxis brand of Marxist social critique, spearheaded by Rudi Supek. Organizing Korčula Summer School and publishing the international edition of ''Praxis'' were ways to promote open inquiry in accordance with these postulates. Erich Fromm's collection of articles from , Veljko Korać , Rudi Supek and Predrag Vranicki . THE ''PRAXIS'' JOURNAL The ''Praxis'' journal was published by a group of praxis theoreticians, mainly from Zagreb University. It was published in two editions: Yugoslav and foreign. The first issue of the Yugoslav edition was published on 1 September 1964 and was published until 1974 . As for the foreign edition, it was published between 1965 and 1973 . Its founders were Branko Bosnjak , Danko Grlić , Milan Kangrga , Rudi Supek , Gajo Petrović , Predrag Vranicki , Danilo Pejović and Ivan Kuvačić . The first editors of the journal were Petrović and Pejović, but in 1966 Pejović resigned from ''Praxis''. After that, co-editor of the journal, together with Petrović, was Supek, from 1967 to 1973. Kuvačić replaced Supek as the co-editor in 1973. Praxis has helped to restore the creative potential of Marxism. It drew inspiration from the works of Antonio Gramsci , Karl Korsch , Georg Lukacs , Ernst Bloch , Herbert Marcuse , Erich Fromm and Lucien Goldmann . The texts in the magazine featured articles by writers from both the East and the West. ''Praxis'' editors had a stong tendency to publish articles that went against the Leninist theory and praxis promoted and enforced by the League Of Communists Of Yugoslavia . KORčULA SUMMER SCHOOL Korčula Summer School was preceded by a symposium organized by Gajo Petrovic and Milan Kangrga in the summer of 1963 in Dubrovnik. The summer school was organized by the publishers of the journal ''Praxis'' from 1964 to 1974 in the Croatian island of Korčula, with the exception of 1966, when the gathering was cancelled due to the intense attacks by the League of Communists of Croatia. The school was a meeting place for philosophers and social critics from the entire world. Some of the prominent attendees included Ernst Bloch , Eugen Fink , Erich Fromm, and Jürgen Habermas , to name a few. Another peculiarity is that one of the attendants was from the Vatican, Father Gustav Wetter, which testifies to the fact that Korčula Summer School was not merely a Marxist symposium - the attendees held interests ranging from phenomenology to theology. The articles produced during the meeting were published in the journal during the following year. Each summer, the gathering focused on a particular topic:
THE AFTERMATH Due to its critical nature - the editors and authors were referred to as "professional Anti-Communists" and "enemies of self-managing socialism" - the journal was banned on several occasions. By 1975 it became impossible to publish the journal under the increasingly repressive conditions in SFRY. In the same year, eight university professors, members of the Praxis school (Mihailo Marković, Ljubomir Tadić , Zagorka Golubović , Svetozar Stojanović , Miladin Životić , Dragoljub Mićunović , Nebojša Popov and Trivo Inđić ) were expelled from the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade on the basis of a decision of the Serbian Assembly. As of April, and Svetozar Stojanović. ''Praxis International'' was published until January and Nancy Fraser . INFLUENCE The influence of the Praxis school is mainly through its intellectual legacy as a heterodox interpretation of Marxism. This intepretation has been popular among Western Marxists and academics, notably Marshall Berman , who references the Praxis group in his major works. Many praxis theoreticians taught at various universities in Europe and US. The praxis approach was appealing to the Western academia due to its emphasis on dialectical, humanist Marx. EXTERNAL LINKS
REFERENCES
|
|
|