Crisis and Praxis in Lukács’ History and Class Consciousness

Abstract

In Lukács’ early Marxist thought in the 1920s, crisis is understood as an expression of a deeper dissonance of social life that reveals the violence inflicted upon humans even in “normal” social conditions. The experience of crisis can thus lead to new forms of social consciousness and, consequently, to a “revolutionizing praxis.” However, this transition is in no way mechanically necessary, as crisis can also be perpetuated and temporarily “overcome” through the restoration of dominant power relations. However, the relative instability of the system during a crisis calls us to think about the appropriate forms of organizing collective political practice to effectively intervene in the historical continuum, instead of letting historical automatism be restored.