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PARTISAN REVIEW
so large in Marx's imagination as the very expression of an ideal
humanity because of the traditional connotation of leisure as
schoU
and
otium,
that is, a life devoted to aims higher than work or politics.
Marx himself regarded his so-called utopia as simple prediction,
and it is true that this part of his theories contains a great many
developments which have come fully to light only in our time. Gov–
ernment in the old sense has given way in many respects to admin–
istration and the constant increase in leisure for the masses is a fact
in all industrialized countries. Marx clearly perceived certain trends
inherent in the era ushered in by the Industrial Revolution, although
he was wrong in assuming that these trends would assert themselves
only under conditions of socialization of the means of production.
The hold which the tradition had over him lies in his viewing this
development in an idealized light, and in understanding it in terms
and concepts having their origin in an altogether different historical
period. This blinded him to the authentic and very perplexing prob–
lems inherent in the modern world and gives his accurate predictions
their utopian quality. But the utopian ideal of a classless, state-less
and labor-less society is born out of the marriage of two altogether
non-utopian elements: the perception of certain trends in the present
which can no longer be understood in the framework of the tradition,
and the traditional concepts and ideals by which Marx himself un–
derstood and integrated them.
Marx's own attitude to the tradition of political thought was one
of conscious rebellion. In a challenging and paradoxical mood he
therefore framed certain key statements which, containing his political
philosophy, underlie and transcend the strictly scientific part of his
work (and as such curiously remain the same throughout his life,
from the early writings to the last volume of
Das K apital).
Crucial
among them are the following: "Labor is the creator of man" (in
a formulation by Engels, who, contrary to an opinion current among
some Marx scholars, usually renders Marx's thought adequately and
succinctly). "Violence is the midwife of history" (which occurs in
both the writings of Marx and of Engels in many variations). Finally,
there is the famous last thesis on Feuerbach: "The philosophers have
only interpreted the world differently; the point is, however, to
change it," which,
in
the light of Marx's thought, one could render
