Volume 12 – Section 5

  • Section V

    The Battle of Ideas

  • A. Correspondence with Herbert Marcuse, 1954-1978

  • (1) Letters between Raya Dunayevskaya (RD) and Herbert Marcuse (HM) from Dec. 7, 1954 through Oct. 27, 1955.

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/9889.pdf

    Nine letters. Discussion by RD of Hegel’s Absolutes begins (Feb. 12, 1955); HM criticizes RD’s viewpoint (April 14 and June 22, 1955); HM reads outline of RD’s Marxism and Freedom; RD reports on her West Coast lecture tour (Oct. 27, 1955).

  • (2) Dunayevskaya-Marcuse letters, Dec. 2, 1955 through Oct. 15, 1957.

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/9900.pdf

    17 letters. Begins with HM’s comment that RD’s ideas are an “oasis in the desert of Marxist thought”. Letters center around HM’s work to assist RD in finding a publisher for Marxism and Freedom, around RD’s writing of a final draft of the book, and on HM’s critique of RD’s discussion of the American roots of Marxism. Includes RDs “recapitulation” of Marxism and Freedom (June 11, 1957); discussion of HM’s preface (July 22, 1957); and tracing of American roots of Marxism (Oct. 11. 1957). Also included are RD letters to John of Nov. 27 and 28, 1956, reporting on RD meeting with Marcuse at Brandeis.

  • (3) Dunayevskaya-Marcuse letters, Jan. 28, 1958 through July 15, 1958.

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/9923.pdf

    Four letters. After the publication of Marxism and Freedom, RD opens discussion on Hegel’s Absolutes, saying that she is thinking of a “supplement” to Marxism and Freedom even before the reviews are in. Includes RD’s discussion of relationship of Hegel’s Absolutes to Marx (July 15, 1958). Correspondence breaks off in period when DeGaulle comes to power in France and RD prepares for International Conference of state-capitalist groups. See here RD’s letters to Damen and other European Marxists, # 9410.

  • (4) Dunayevskaya-Marcuse letters, Aug. 8. 1960 through Jan. 12, 1961.

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/9930.pdf

    Begins with HM’s request for assistance on work-in-progress, One-Dimensional Man (Aug. 8, 1960), and RD’s response on automation in current social science literature and in Marx (Aug. 16, 1960). RD writes on the Absolute Idea and the African revolutions (Oct. 16, 1960); on Bukharin, Hegel’s Logic and Hegel’s Philosophy of Mind (Nov. 22, 1960). Letters conclude with RD’s response to HM’s question on “why you need the Absolute Idea” (Jan. 12, 1961). For other discussions of Marxism and Freedom and its ramifications, see reviews by Alasdair MacIntyre, George Lichtheim and others.

  • (5) Dunayevskaya-Marcuse letters, March 6, 1961 through Sept. 9, 1965.

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/9951.pdf

    11 letters. Letters begin with HM’s response — not on Absolute Idea, but on RD’s critique of Deutscher. Correspondence breaks off, resuming Aug. 6, 1964, at the time of RD’s review of One-Dimensional Man. Includes RD’s presentation of an outline for Philosophy and Revolution, centering on “Why Hegel? Why Now?” (Oct. 27, 1964); discussion on the early translations of Marx’s 1844 Essays (Sept. 9, 1965). For discussion of Philosophy and Revolution as it was published in 1973, see reviews by Louis Dupre, John O’Neill and others.

  • (6) Dunayevskaya-Marcuse letters, May 16, 1967 through Jan. 31, 1978.

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/9966.pdf

    Eight letters. On RD lecture tours; on the completion of Philosophy and Revolution; on Freedom of Information Act files on both RD and HM. Includes Marcuse’s reference to his work-in-progress (The Aesthetic Dimension, 1978). Last letter from RD to HM (Jan. 31, 1978) takes up her study of Luxemburg and Women’s Liberation, published in 1982 as Rosa Luxemburg, Women’s Liberation and Marx’s Philosophy of Revolution.

  • B. Correspondence with Erich Fromm, 1959-1978

  • (1) Letters between Raya Dunayevskaya (RD) and Erich Fromm (EF), June 6, 1959 through Dec. 8, 1961.

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/9976.pdf

    Five letters. Begins with EF’s request to RD to translate unpublished writings of Marx for a projected book. RD declines and discusses history of her translations. Letters resume in 1961 with RD’s critique of EF’s Marx’s Concept of Man (Oct. 11, 1961) and EF’s reply on the “concrete nature of Marx’s Humanism”.

  • (2) Dunayevskaya-Fromm letters, Nov. 21, 1963 through Jan. 16, 1965.

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/9982.pdf

    11 letters. RD appeals for “dialogue on Hegel between us” (Nov. 21, 1963). outlines Absolute in Phenomenology of Mind. Letters in this period center on RD’s participation in Fromm’s symposium, Socialist Humanism, published in 1965. Includes comments by EF and RD on Marcuse’s One-Dimensional Man, and RD’s discussion ( Dec. 6, 1964) of a proposed collection of essays, “A Doctor’s Notebook”, by Louis Gogol.

  • (3) Dunayevskaya-Fromm letters, May 23, 1965 through Nov. 25, 1966.

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/10005.pdf

    Six letters. Letters include comments by both RD and EF on Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir; RD discussion of Marx’s 1841 doctoral thesis (May 16, 1966); and on RD’s 1965-66 trip to Japan and her battle of ideas with the non-Stalinist left there, as well as her experience in Hiroshima.

  • (4) Dunayevskaya-Fromm letters, July 10, 1967 through Dec. 10, 1968.

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/10012.pdf

    Seven letters. Includes EF’s critique of Marcuse and RD’s discussion. Comments also on Czechoslovakia dissidents after the Russian invasion of 1968.

  • (5) Dunayevskaya-Fromm letters, July 25, 1971 through July 28, 1975.

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/10021.pdf

    20 letters. Letters center around publication of Philosophy and Revolution by RD in 1973. EF calls it “a great contribution to the theoretical and hence political situation re socialism” (March 6, 1973). Also includes discussion of EF’s book To Have or To Be; EF asks RD for sources for Marx’s categories on having and being; RD reports on her experience at 1974 Hegel Society of America conference and confrontation there with Sir T. M. Knox; RD and EF discuss Bukharin; RD responds to joint postcard to her by EF and Mihailo Markovic. Letters conclude with discussion of American Hegelians Putnam and Blow and Putnam’s relation to Freud (June 21 and July 8. 1975).

  • (6) Dunayevskaya-Fromm letters, July 8, 1976 through Nov. 27, 1978.

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/10049.pdf

    Nine letters. Letters begin with EF’s preface to German edition of RD’s Philosophy and Revolution. Discussion also takes up early ideas by RD on Rosa Luxemburg for her 1982 work, Rosa Luxemburg, Women’s Liberation and Marx’s Philosophy of Revolution. Includes EF’s comments on Frankfurt School writers Adorno and Horkheimer; RD’s discussion of her demand for Freedom of Information Act files; and final exchange of letters on Rosa Luxemburg, with RD’s comments on Luxemburg’s reference to Penthesilea.

  • C. Two Letters on Marxism and philosophy

  • (2) “Letter to the Editor”. of New York Review of Books, by Dunayevskaya

    April 8, 1965. On George Lichtheim’s view of Lenin’s Philosophic Notebooks and Dunayevskaya’s discussion of them in Marxism and Freedom. For Lichtheim’s review of Marxism and Freedom, see # 10103.

  • D. Correspondence with Silvio Frondizi, 1963

  • Six letters between Dunayevskaya and Silvio Frondizi from March 28, 1963 through June 20, 1963.

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/10064.pdf

    On the possible publication of a Spanish edition of Marxism and Freedom, and on the differences between Frondizi’s uniting of philosophy and organization in Argentina and the form of News and Letters Committees in the U.S. For Dunayevskaya’s Introduction to the Spanish edition of Marxism and Freedom as it was eventually published in Mexico in 1976, see # 5421.

  • E. Articles of Dunayevskaya published in The Activist a “student journal of politics and opinion” (Oberlin, Ohio, 1964-1968)

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/10069.pdf

    (1) “Reason and Revolution vs. Conformism and Technology”. Fall 1964. A review of Marcuse’s One-Dimensional Man. (2) “Youth, Philosophy and Revolution”. Fall 1966. A review of The Revolutionary Internationals, 1864-1943, by Milroad Drachkovitch. (3 ) “Cadres and Communists: A Dissent”. Spring 1967. A discussion of Tracey Strong’s review of Ideology and Organization in Communist China. (4) “Philosophy in Revolt”. Fall 1968. A review of The Alienation of Reason by Leszek Kolakowski.

  • F. Dialogue with Telos, (a journal of radical philosophy), 1970-72

  • Six letters between Dunayevskaya and Paul Piccone, editor of Telos, 1970-72.

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/10084.pdf

    on her articles for Telos and her participation in Telos conferences of 1970 and 1972. Included also are the announcements for both conferences.

  • G. Two Exchanges of Ideas on Dunayevskaya’s Philosophy and Revolution

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/10093.pdf

    (1) “Why Hegel? Why Now?” Letter from Peter Bergmann, as printed in News & Letters, August-September 1974; a critique of Part One of Philosophy and Revolution. Answer by Dunayevskaya as printed in News & Letters, November 1974. For other discussion of Philosophy and Revolution during 1974, see especially Dunayevskaya’s address to the Hegel Society of America, “Absolute Negativity as New Beginning”, # 5631. See also her view of the significance of Chapter One of that book for organization, # 5622. (2) Discussion of “Absolute Method” in Philosophy and Revolution as it appears in George Armstrong Kelly’s Hegel’s Retreat From Eleusis, 1978. Printed in News & Letters, March 1979, accompanied by response from Dunayevskaya. A fuller discussion of Kelly’s critique by Dunayevskaya is presented in her 1982 Introduction to the second U.S. edition of Philosophy and Revolution, # 7622.

  • H. On “educators” and “the educated”

  • I. Critical Responses to Dunayevskaya’s Major Works: Selected Reviews of Marxism and Freedom; Philosophy and Revolution; Rosa Luxemburg, Women’s Liberation and Marx’s Philosophy of Revolution

  • (1) Reviews of Marxism and Freedom:

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/10103.pdf

    a. Industrial Worker, Chicago. March 17, 1958. (Fred Thompson) b. The Socialist Leader, Glasgow, Scotland. Sept. 13, 1958. (Eric S. Heffer) c. Universities and Left Review, Oxford, England. Autumn 1958. (Alasdair MacIntyre) d. New York Review of Books, New York. Dec. 17, 1964. (George Lichtheim) e. The Times Literary Supplement, London. Aug. 21, 1959. (unsigned) f. Cambridge Forward, Cambridge, England. November 1960. (Peter Cadogan) g. Mankind, Hyderabad, India. November 1960. (M.T. Khan) h. London Tribune, London. Aug. 21, 1964. (Paul Foot) i. Il Popolo, Rome. Feb. 8, 1963. (Silvio Bertocci) j. Reader’s Weekly, Tokyo. Oct. 19, 1964. (Sobuku Yamada) k. La Revolution Proletarienne, Paris. January 1973. (Pierre Aubery) 1. Le Monde, Paris. Sept. 3, 1971. (Jean-Michel Palmier) Response by Dunayevskaya in News & Letters, October 1971 and February 1972. m. Uno Mas Uno, Mexico City. Jan. 30, 1979. (Margarita Sordo)

  • (2) Reviews of Philosophy and Revolution:

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/10129.pdf

    a. Journal of the History of Ideas, Philadelphia. April 1974. (Louis Dupre) b. Peace News, London. April 5, 1974. (Bob Potter) c. Owl of Minerva, Villanova, Pennsylvania. June 1974. (Raymond Plant) d. Slavic Review, New York. December 1974 (Henri Chambre) e. Telos, Buffalo, New York. Winter 1974-75. (John O’Neill) f. Aut-Aut, Milan, Italy. July-October 1974. (Amadeo Vigorelli) g. Sin Nombre, Puerto Rico. January-March 1975. (Jose Emilio Gonzalez) h. Uno Mas Uno, Mexico City. May 1979. (Virgilio Torres) i. Journal of Chinese Philosophy, Honolulu, Hawaii. Vol. 7, No. 4, 1980. (George Hampsch)

  • (3) Reviews of Rosa Luxemburg, Women’s Liberation and Marx’s Philosophy of Revolution:

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/10171.pdf

    a. Political Theory, Beverly Hills, California. November 1983. (George A. Kelly) b. Dimensions, Rome. No. 30, 1984. (Valerie Russo) c. Africa Today, Denver, Colorado. No. 4, 1982. (Kevin Anderson) d. off our backs, Washington, D.C. August-September 1984. (Michelle Landau and Terry Moon) e. Idealistic Studies, Oswego, New York. January 1985. (Bat-Ami Bar On) f. Local 1930 Newsline, New York. March 1985 (Dave Beasley) g. Marxist Review, Calcutta. September 1985 (Gabrielle Dietrich)

  • (4) Philosophers Index Retrospective Bibliography, 1978.

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/10216.pdf

    Entry on “Raya Dunayevskaya”. A summary of Dunayevskaya’s Marxism and Freedom and Philosophy and Revolution by the Philosophy Documentation Center, Bowling Green, Ohio, as published in their “retrospective index to U.S. publications from 1940”.