Leo Kofler (also known by the pseudonyms ''Stanislaw Warynski'' or ''Jules Dévérité''; 26 April 1907 – 29 July 1995) was an Austrian-German
Marxist
Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...
sociologist. He ranks with the Marburg politicologist
Wolfgang Abendroth and the
Frankfurt school
The Frankfurt School (german: Frankfurter Schule) is a school of social theory and critical philosophy associated with the Institute for Social Research, at Goethe University Frankfurt in 1929. Founded in the Weimar Republic (1918–1933), dur ...
theoreticians
Max Horkheimer
Max Horkheimer (; ; 14 February 1895 – 7 July 1973) was a German philosopher and sociologist who was famous for his work in critical theory as a member of the Frankfurt School of social research. Horkheimer addressed authoritarianism, militari ...
and
Theodor W. Adorno among the few well-known Marxist intellectuals in post-war Germany. However, almost nothing of his work was ever translated into English, and he is therefore little known in the English-speaking world. Kofler had his own, distinctive interpretation of
Marxism
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
, which connected
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...
and
history
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
with
aesthetics
Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed t ...
and
anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...
.
Biography
Kofler was born of
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
parents on 26 April 1907 in
Chotymyr,
Galicia
Galicia may refer to:
Geographic regions
* Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain
** Gallaecia, a Roman province
** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia
** The medieval King ...
,
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
(now
Ivano-Frankivsk Raion
Ivano-Frankivsk Raion ( uk, Івано-Франківський район, translit=Ivano-Frankiwśkyj rajon) is a raion (district) of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraine. It was created in July 2020 as part of the reform of administrative divisions ...
,
Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast
Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast ( uk, Іва́но-Франкі́вська о́бласть, translit=Ivano-Frankivska oblast), also referred to as Ivano-Frankivshchyna ( uk, Іва́но-Франкі́вщина), is an oblast (region) in western Ukraine ...
,
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...
).
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
in 1915/16 drove his family to escape to Vienna, where Leo attended business school, until 1927. His working career was cut short by the
1929 stock crash
The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange colla ...
, and he became an adviser of a social-democratic education center in Vienna, joining the left-wing of the social-democratic labour party (SDAP). From 1933-34, he devoted himself to research with
Max Adler. In July 1938, after the annexation of
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
by
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, he escaped to
Basel, Switzerland
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS), ...
where he was interned in an immigrant camp. Most of his family was murdered in
the Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europ ...
, and his parents were shot in 1942. Nevertheless, he continued his theoretical studies, being influenced especially by the writings of
Georg Lukács
Georg may refer to:
* ''Georg'' (film), 1997
* Georg (musical), Estonian musical
* Georg (given name)
* Georg (surname)
* , a Kriegsmarine coastal tanker
See also
* George (disambiguation)
{{disambiguation ...
. In 1944 he published his first book under the pseudonym "Stanislaw Warynski".
His second book, on the history of the civil society, was published in 1948 in
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In t ...
. In September 1947 he moved to the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany, and in 1948 became lecturer in medieval and modern history at the
University of Halle
Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university in ...
. But after his public criticism of the Stalinization of the
Socialist Unity Party, he was dismissed from his post. At the end of 1950, he escaped with his future wife Ursula Wieck to
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
in
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...
, and worked there as well as in Dortmund and
Bochum
Bochum ( , also , ; wep, Baukem) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 364,920 (2016), is the sixth largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) of the most populous German federal state of N ...
as lecturer and researcher, publishing a stream of books and articles.
He died on 29 July 1995 in Cologne after a lengthy illness.
Main works
* '' Die Wissenschaft von der Gesellschaft '', 1944, 1971
*''Zur Geschichte der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft. Versuch einer verstehenden Deutung der Neuzeit'', 1948.
*''Stalinistischer Marxismus'', 1951
*''Das Wesen und die Rolle der stalinistischen Bürokratie'', 1952.
* '' Der Fall Lukacs. Georg Lukacs und der Stalinismus'', 1952
* ''Geschichte und Dialektik'', 1955
* ''Staat, Gesellschaft und Elite zwischen Humanismus und Nihilismus'', 1960
* ''Das Ende der Philosophie?'', 1961
* ''Zur Theorie der modernen Literatur'', 1962
*''Der proletarische Bürger'', 1964
*''Der asketische Eros. Industriekultur und Ideologie'', 1967
*''Perspektiven des revolutionären Humanismus'', 1968
* ''Marxistische Staatstheorie'', 1970
* ''Stalinismus und Bürokratie'', 1970
*''Kunst und absurde Literatur'' 1970,
* ''Technologische Rationalität im Spätkapitalismus'', 1971
*''In Aggression und Gewissen. Grundlegung einer anthropologischen Erkentnnistheorie'' 1973
*''Haut den Lukács. Realismus und Subjektivismus'' 1977.
* ''Der Alltag zwischen Eros und Entfremdung'', 1982
* ''Beherrscht uns die Technik? Technologische Rationalität im Spätkapitalismus'', 1983
* ''Aggression und Gewissen. Grundlegung einer anthropologischen Erkenntnistheorie'', 1973
* ''Soziologie des Ideologischen'', 1975
* ''Geistiger Verfall und progressive Elite'', 1981
*''Der Alltag zwischen Eros und Entfremdung. Perspektiven zu einer Wissenschaft von Alltag'', 1982.
* ''Eros, Ästhetik, Politik. Thesen zum Menschenbild bei Marx'', 1985
*''Aufbruch in der Sowjetunion?'' 1986
* ''Die Vergeistigung der Herrschaft'', 2 Bände 1986/87
* ''Avantgardismus als Entfremdung. Ästhetik und Ideologiekritik'', 1987
* '' "Die Kritik ist der Kopf der Leidenschaft." Aus dem Leben eines marxistischen Grenzgängers.'' Ein Gespräch anlässlich seines 80. Geburtstages mit Wolf Schönleitner und Werner Seppmann, 1987
* ''Zur Kritik bürgerlicher Freiheit. Ausgewählte politisch-philosophische Texte eines marxistischen Einzelgängers'', Hrsg. Christoph Jünke, 2000
Commentaries in German
*''Humanistische Anthropologie und dialektischer Materialismus. Ein Arbeitsbuch. Leo Kofler zum 70. Geburtstag.'' Broschiert - 320 Seiten, November 1982,
*''Marxismus und Anthropologie. Festschrift für Leo Kofler''. Bochum: Germinal Verlag, 1980.
*Jünke, Christoph (Hg.), ''Am Beispiel Leo Koflers. Marxismus im 20. Jahrhundert''. Münster: Verlag Westfälisches Dampfboot, 2001.
Commentaries in English
* Christoph Jünke: ''Leo Kofler’s Philosophy of Praxis: Western Marxism and Socialist Humanism. With Six Essays by Leo Kofler Published in English for the First Time.'' Brill: Leiden 2022, ISBN 978-90-04-50255-0.
External links
*Leo Kofler Society (in German
*Leo Kofler as praxis-thinker (in Germa
Christoph Jünke: ''Leo Kofler Was a Marxist and a Revolutionary Humanist'', jacobinmag.com, March 14th 2022
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kofler, Leo
1907 births
1995 deaths
People from Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast
Ukrainian Jews
20th-century German philosophers
Jewish philosophers
German people of Polish-Jewish descent
Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe)
Academic staff of the University of Halle
German male writers
German Marxist historians
Austrian emigrants to Germany