In Defense of Herbert Marcuse
For journalist Matt Taibbi, Herbert Marcuse is a pseudo-intellectual at fault for much of what ails the contemporary left. But the real Marcuse was a serious thinker who remained committed to socialism and working-class struggle. In our moment of political defeat, his works like One-Dimensional Man are well worth revisiting.
Herbert Marcuse should be read, debated, and respected for his contributions, not subject to lazy condemnation.
After the defeat of the Bernie Sanders insurgency and Jeremy Corbyn, things can feel hopeless on the Anglophone left. It is hard to avoid feeling that we’ll suffer even more defeats in the decades to come.
Now is a time for strategic reflection, and also for theory. Looking for answers, I’ve been drawing more on thought from the Frankfurt School, particularly Herbert Marcuse, much as the late Mark Fisher did in Acid Communism.
I think more people should, too, which is why I owe the journalist Matt Taibbi some thanks. His recent misreading of Marcuse — “Marcuse-Anon: Cult of the Pseudo-Intellectual” — offers a good opportunity to think about the real Marcuse’s intellectual contribution and relevance today.
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