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185
general interest: it cannot free itself without abolishing itself as a class,
and all classes. This is not an "ideal," but the very dynamic of the
socialist revolution.
It
follows that the goals of the proletariat
as rev–
olutionary class
are self-transcendent: while remaining historical con–
crete goals, they extend, in their class content, beyond the specific
class content. And if such transcendence is an essential quality of all
art and Trotsky, as well as Lenin, was critical of the notion of a
in
bourgeois art, and in all forms of art. It seems to be more than
a matter of personal preference
if
Marx had a conservative taste in
art and Trotsky, as well as Lenin, was critical of the notion of a
"proletarian culture."12
It is therefore no paradox, and no exception, when even spe–
cifically proletarian contents find their home in "bourgeois literature."
They are often accompanied by a kind of linguistic revolution, which
replaces the language of the ruling class by that of the proletariat–
without exploding the traditional form (of the novel, the drama). Or,
conversely, the proletarian revolutionary contents are formed in the
"high,"
stylized language of (traditional) poetry: as in Brecht's
Three Penny Opera
and
Mahagonny
and in the "artistic" prose of
his
Galilei.
The spokesmen for a specifically proletarian literature tried to save
this
notion by establishing a sweeping criterion that would allow them
to reject the "reformist" bourgeois radicals, namely, the appearance,
in
the work, of the basic laws which govern capitalist society. Lukacs
himself made this the shibboleth by which to identify authentic rev–
olutionary literature. But precisely this requirement offends the very
nature of art. The basic structure and dynamic of society can never
fmd sensuous, aesthetic expression: they are, in Marxian theory, the
essence behind the appearance, which can only be attained through
scientific analysis, and formulated only in the terms of such an
analysis. The "open form" cannot close the gap between the sci–
entific truth and its aesthetic appearance. The introduction, into the
play or the novel, of montage, documentation, reportage may well
(as
in Brecht) become an essential part of the aesthetic form - but
it
can do so only as a subordinate part.
Art
can indeed become a weapon in the class struggle by promot–
ing changes in the prevailing consciousness. However, the cases where
12. Gallas, Ibid.,
p.
210
f.
