DOMENICO LOSURDO AND THE MARXIST-LENINIST CRITIQUE OF WESTERN MARXISM

Author

Carlos L. L. Garrido, Southern Illinois University CarbondaleFollow

Date of Award

12-1-2025

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Philosophy

First Advisor

Brown, Matthew

Abstract

Domenico Losurdo’s work on Western Marxism pioneered a systematic critique of Western Marxism from the tradition of Marxism-Leninism, clarifying the points of demarcation between the two Marxisms and tracing the historical origins of the split. While indebted to his groundbreaking work, my dissertation argues that Losurdo’s project leaves certain crucial areas of critique underdeveloped, and others wholly absent. In this dissertation I elucidate what is at stake in understanding how the two Marxisms are to be distinguished. The key demarcation, I argue, is situated in the political positions each tradition takes on socialist and anti-imperialist states, and how such differences are rooted in important philosophical divergences. First, in how universals are to be thought of – either as abstract or concrete; second, in how analysis of the real world is carried out – either dialectically or through the purity fetish. In each instance, I argue that, although inroads are made, Losurdo’s framework of divergences in the “temporalities of communism” is insufficient in understanding the philosophical grounding of how each Marxism approaches key political questions on the state, economy, science and technology, the nation, and the tradition of twentieth and twenty-first century socialism. In addition, elaborating on the framework of comprehensive critique outlined by Georg Lukács in The Destruction of Reason, I demonstrate how Losurdo’s critique of Western Marxism also ignores the dimension of class and social function that, alongside a philosophical-immanent critique, is necessary to carry out a systematic Marxist-Leninist critique of another intellectual tradition. This dissertation thus seeks to refine and expand the project of critique of Western Marxism charted by Losurdo. While critical of its limitations, my project remains within and inspired by Losurdo’s tradition.