Tracing the Genesis of the Split between Western and Soviet Marxism: the Case of Karl Korsch and Georg Lukacs in the 1920s Debate over ‘Ultra-Leftism’

Although a certain incommensurability between Soviet and Western Marxism has been assumed in a wide variety of studies, no research has been done on the genesis of the split between the two traditions in the context of the political turmoil of the 1920s. The current study aims to address this issue. By highlighting the commitment of the so-called ‘fathers of Western Marxism’ to the political tactics of left communism, I argue that the tradition of Western Marxism emerged specifically as a philosophical justification for what in the Soviet Union was considered the ‘ultra-left’ political ideology. Further, I demonstrate that that the works of Karl Korsch and Georg Lukacs were read precisely in this light by the Bolshevik philosophers whose criticism marked an important watershed in the genesis of the split between Western and Soviet Marxists.