From Class Consciousness to Needs Consciousness. The transformation of Socialism from György Lukács to Agnes Heller

Abstract

This paper aims to inspect the evolution of socialist emancipation from György Lukács early writings to the emancipatory claims of his disciple Agnes Heller and argues for the actuality of the School of Budapest paradigm of social imagination to face some challenges of current polarized societies. First I address the political potential that Lukács finds in the literary text, as a space shaping a subject able to wonder about the place he occupies in history and also capable to lead an emancipatory practical project. Second I analyze the exposition of the worker as the adequate main character of history in History and Class Consciousness (1923), highlighting the specific experiences that carve out the political consciousness of the proletarian class. Third I explore Heller’s theory of needs as a transformation of political consciousness that meets the requirements of a democratic society and is aware of the roots that capitalist cultural practices already took in the subjects. Finally I draw some conclusions about the aftermath that this evolution of socialist goals might have on the construction of new theories and practices of emancipation.