Marxism, Spinoza, and the “Radical” Enlightenment (Transl. from Eng. By Veronika Sklonna and Dariia Savenkova). In Commons, 2024-05-07.

The material is a translation of an article by Aaron Jaffe. The author engages in a debate with left-wing intellectuals who seek to rehabilitate Spinoza’s radical Enlightenment project. He emphasizes that Spinoza’s followers do not propose a single set of political principles. The need to search for the metaphysical foundations of revolution is rejected in favor of focusing on the current needs of society. According to the author, the main task of the contemporary left is to identify and articulate the subject of social struggle that is appropriate to current historical circumstances.

Translation from English: “Commons” (Veronika Sklonna and Dariia Savenkova)

Original: Aaron Jaffe, “Marxism, Spinoza, and the “Radical” Enlightenment: An Argument for a Dialectical and Materialist Approach to Ideas, History, and Struggles for Emancipation”. In Spectre, 2022-06-01.