Domenico Losurdo facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Domenico Losurdo
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| Born | 14 November 1941 Sannicandro di Bari, Italy
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| Died | 28 June 2018 (aged 76) |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Alma mater | University of Urbino |
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Notable work
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Liberalism: A Counter-History Stalin: History and Criticism of A Black Legend |
| Era | Contemporary philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Hegelianism Marxism |
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Notable ideas
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Communist autophobia, political-moral and naturalistic despecification |
Domenico Losurdo (born 14 November 1941 – died 28 June 2018) was an Italian historian, writer, and Marxist philosopher. He was also involved in communist politics.
His Life and Work
Domenico Losurdo was born in Sannicandro di Bari, Italy. He earned his doctorate degree in 1963 from the University of Urbino. During the 1960s, he became more involved in communist ideas. He joined a small group of Italian communists who supported the People's Republic of China.
Losurdo was a director and teacher at the University of Urbino. He taught the history of philosophy. He also led the Hegel-Marx International Association for Dialectical Thought. This group focused on the ideas of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Karl Marx. Losurdo was also a member of the Leibniz Society of Sciences in Berlin. He died in 2018 at 76 years old.
Losurdo was known for his strong communist beliefs. He often spoke out against American imperialism. He also studied the history of African Americans and Native Americans in the United States. Many historians and philosophers saw him as an important Marxist thinker.
He explored the ideas of many famous philosophers. These included Immanuel Kant, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Martin Heidegger. Losurdo also studied Marxism and the works of Antonio Gramsci.
Losurdo's work often looked at how philosophical ideas fit into their historical time. He was critical of liberalism, capitalism, and colonialism. He defended Marxist dialectics and historical materialism. He also studied anti-revisionism within Marxism–Leninism.
He investigated modern history and politics. He often challenged common historical interpretations. For example, he disagreed with historians like Hannah Arendt and Ernst Nolte. Losurdo argued that some historians tried to erase the importance of revolutionary traditions. He believed their reasons were more about politics than understanding the past.
Losurdo also looked at the history of modern German philosophy. He reinterpreted liberalism. He criticized John Locke for his involvement in the Atlantic slave trade. Losurdo believed that totalitarianism and internment first appeared during the New Imperialism of the late 19th century. This was when colonial empires grew.
After the Soviet Union broke apart, Losurdo focused on four main areas. He criticized liberalism and the idea that liberals always led democratic struggles. He also looked at socialist experiences in the Soviet Union and China. He strongly criticized colonialism and imperialism. Finally, he critiqued parts of the modern left, especially "Western Marxism." He felt it had ignored important issues like class struggle and fighting imperialism.
Key Ideas
Losurdo developed several important ideas in his work.
What is Despecification?
Losurdo used the term despecification. This means excluding a person or group from the normal community. He identified two types:
- Political and moral despecification: This happens when someone is excluded because of their political beliefs or moral actions.
- Naturalistic despecification: This happens when someone is excluded because of their biological factors, like their race.
Losurdo believed that naturalistic despecification was worse. This is because you cannot change biological factors. Political exclusion, however, might change if someone changes their ideas.
He argued that while the the Holocaust of Jewish people was very tragic, it was not the only event of its kind. He said that comparing it to other mass killings, like the Black Holocaust (the genocide of black people) or the American Holocaust (the genocide of Native Americans in the United States), helps us understand history better. He felt that saying the Jewish Holocaust was "incomparable" could make people overlook other terrible events.
Views on Nazism and Communism
Losurdo strongly disagreed with the idea that Nazism and communism were the same. He criticized scholars who made this comparison. He argued that Nazi concentration camps had the clear goal of killing people. He believed that Gulag camps in the Soviet Union, while bad, aimed to re-educate prisoners, not kill them. He said that Nazis saw their prisoners as "subhuman." In contrast, he claimed that Gulag prisoners were seen as potential "comrades" or "citizens."
He also compared the Gulag to other concentration camps used by Western countries. He argued that some Western camps were more like Nazi camps because they were used for extermination, not re-education. He also criticized figures like Winston Churchill and Harry S. Truman.
Autophobia
Losurdo developed the idea of autophobia. This describes how victims sometimes start to see themselves through the eyes of their oppressors. They might begin to dislike or hate themselves. He first used this idea when studying Jewish history and the history of slavery. Losurdo later applied it to social classes and political groups that had been defeated.
He believed that communists sometimes suffered from autophobia. This meant they had a fear of themselves and their own history. He saw this as a problem that needed to be fixed, different from healthy self-criticism.
Views on Joseph Stalin
Losurdo also sparked debate about Joseph Stalin. He argued that a "black legend" had been created around Stalin. This legend, he claimed, was meant to discredit all of communism. He disagreed with comparing Nazism and Stalinism. He also criticized the idea of "totalitarianism" as used by some scholars. He felt this term unfairly grouped Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union together. He believed it served anti-communism during the Cold War.
Losurdo argued that the negative image of Stalin came from Nikita Khrushchev's "Secret Speech" in 1956. Losurdo believed this speech was not fully credible. He saw it as part of an internal power struggle. Losurdo aimed to put Stalin into his historical context. He wanted to offer a more neutral analysis of the facts. He did not want to fully "rehabilitate" Stalin, but to study the history of real socialism more deeply.
His book on Stalin was controversial. Some praised his criticism of liberalism. Others accused him of defending Stalin's actions. Losurdo argued that the "crimes" attributed to Stalin should be compared to those linked to liberalism. He pointed to genocides and concentration camps supported by capitalist nations. He suggested that liberals might have a worse historical record in some ways.
Political Views
Losurdo was a Marxist–Leninist. He supported Mao Zedong's idea that class struggle was complex. He also paid attention to women's rights and the struggles of colonized peoples. He saw China's economic reforms as a new NEP. He believed these changes did not harm China's socialist values.
He was a member of several Italian communist parties throughout his life. He was also the director of the Marx XXI political-cultural association.
Losurdo strongly opposed American interventionism and its foreign policies. He was against imperialism and NATO. He also controversially criticized the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. Losurdo accused Liu of supporting Western colonialism.
Major Works
Losurdo wrote many books that explored his ideas.
Aristocratic Rebel
In Aristocratic Rebel (2002), Losurdo criticized how some people on the left used Friedrich Nietzsche's ideas. He felt this weakened socialist thought. He believed it sometimes led to abandoning universal values for more "spiritual" political struggles.
Historical Revisionism
In Historical Revisionism (1996), Losurdo criticized historians like François Furet and Ernst Nolte. He used the idea of a "Second Thirty Years' War" (1914–1945). He argued that these historians unfairly blamed the Russian Revolution for starting a "European Civil War." Losurdo believed they ignored the shared experience of total war and colonialism in Europe. He compared Adolf Hitler's desire for Lebensraum (living space) in Eastern Europe to the American expansion into the frontier.
He argued that European Jews were seen as "Oriental natives" in this colonialist view. He stated that their fate was sealed by being labeled both "oriental natives" and supporters of "oriental Bolshevism."
Liberalism: A Counter-History
In Liberalism: A Counter-History (2005), Losurdo argued that liberalism, while claiming to value individual freedom, often excluded many people from these rights. He linked this exclusion to racism, slavery, and genocide. He suggested that the roots of Nazism could be found in the colonialist and imperialist policies of the Western world. Losurdo saw Immanuel Kant and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel as great thinkers of modern times. He viewed Friedrich Nietzsche as its biggest critic.
Stalin: History and Critique of A Black Legend
In Stalin: History and Critique of A Black Legend (2008), Losurdo discussed Joseph Stalin. He claimed that a "black legend" had been created about Stalin to discredit all of communism. He disagreed with comparing Nazism and Stalinism. He also criticized the idea of "totalitarianism" used by scholars like Hannah Arendt and Karl Popper. Losurdo argued that "totalitarianism" was a complex term. He believed applying it to politics unfairly grouped Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union together. He felt this served anti-communism during the Cold War.
Losurdo aimed to bring a more balanced view to history. He wanted to understand the role of important figures and criticize certain moral ideas. He believed that some authoritarian tendencies in the communist movement came from a desire for a perfect, free society, rather than from a desire to build a strong state. Losurdo described his book as a history of Stalin's image, not a biography. He wanted to challenge common ideas about anti-Stalinism and Stalinism. He believed that studying "the black legend" could help understand Stalin as a statesman. He noted that Stalin's image was quite positive worldwide when he died in 1953. Losurdo argued that the Khrushchev report later changed this view. He saw the report as unreliable, coming from internal party struggles.
His work on Stalin was very polarizing. Some praised his criticism of liberalism. Others accused him of defending Stalin. Losurdo compared actions attributed to Stalin with those linked to liberalism. He argued that liberals had a worse record regarding genocides and concentration camps.
Losurdo's view that some actions were justified due to ongoing threats was criticized by some. However, his work was also praised by others who shared his critical approach to historical interpretations.
Western Marxism
In Western Marxism, Losurdo discussed a difference between Western Marxism and Eastern Marxism. He criticized Western Marxism for ignoring important issues of its time. He felt it had abandoned class struggle and the fight against imperialism. He believed it had embraced ideas related to globalization.
See also
- Marxist historiography
- Marxist philosophy
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Domenico Losurdo
