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To cite this article: Wolfgang Fritz Haug (1997) Guidelines for the historical‐critical dictionary
of Marxism , Socialism and Democracy, 11:2, 155-158, DOI: 10.1080/08854309708428204
Article views: 18
Introductory Remarks
When in 1983 a German translation of Labica's Dictionnaire critique du marxisme
(DCM) started to appear, it was planned to add a number of supplementary
volumes.
At first only German Marxists were invited to participate. When the project was
attacked by the German Communist Party, we decided to internationalize it.
Subsequently the response was so positive that the conception of a mere supplement
was transcended.
After two years of preparation with innumerable consultations the outlines of a
comprehensive conceptual dictionary of Marxism had been developed.
A "dictionary workshop" was founded at the Philosophical Institute of the Freie
Universität Berlin and a secretariat began to work. An international board of editors
was constituted.
The project received its final shape after 1989, in the context of post-communism.
It took five more years before the first two volumes appeared. The third volume,
going through the letter 'E/ is due out in 1997.
156 Socialism and Democracy
More than 500 authors are now working on over 1,250 entries to be published in 12
volumes.
The following guidelines, the result of many public discussions, formulate the
consensus of the collaborators. The editorial reworking of the articles will also be
guided by it.
Basic Orientation
The dictionary is not a work intended to take an ideological or political position. It is
in the first place a historical-critical collective work by representatives of various
orientations and regions in world Marxism which is intended to review and make
available, in a scholarly framework, an enormous mass of material.
Key Words
The book is constructed as a conceptual dictionary. The material entered in it will
consist primarily of theoretical and political-strategic concepts which have acquired a
special meaning in the works of Marx and Engels or in one of the traditions of
Marxism. Personal names will not be entered as key words, but names of tendencies
derived from proper names (for example, Trotskyism, Mao Zedong Thought, the
Brecht Line) will be included. The contributions of individual authors to Marxism
will be treated under the corresponding concepts (for example, Ernst Bloch under
utopia). An index of names will assist in finding references to persons.
New concepts which were unknown to the Marxist traditions or have not yet found
general acceptance within present-day Marxism will also be taken up in cases where
recently-arisen problems and demands are articulated in them or where they tend to
put into relief neglected aspects of Marxism (for example, ecology, feminism, or
discourse). Key words receive double treatment where concepts—primarily in
relation to the women's movement—exhibit a "split" history. Historical events and
geographical designations will in general not be included unless they have become
concepts for strategic problems (for example, Auschwitz, or the Long March).
Metaphors, images, manners of speech, and stereotyped expressions (topoi) will be
included if they have become important for the articulation of theoretical or strategic
ideas (surface/depth, mole).
2. Occurrence and development of the concept in the writings of Marx and Engels
(M/E) with consideration of the contextual problematic.
4. Current Problematic
Here, the present-day state of the problem should be shown, along with a survey
of differing or controversial approaches. Divergent readings of theoretical concepts
also find their place here. It is important above all to show the real practical
problems to which particular concepts and theorems are intended to respond.
Handling of Controversies
In the HKWM representatives of different currents are, in effect, assembling a "tool
kit" which can be used by everyone. No one has to deny his or her standpoint, but
competing positions must also be represented. The entries should not be treated like
fortresses in a war of positions. The final part of each article provides space for the
presentation of controversies. Here the authors can accentuate their own positions
more strongly. The fact that related concepts are often treated by representatives of
different currents results in the desired "stereoscope" effect