THE EPIC AND HEDONISM: SOCIALIST CULTURE, CLASS EROS, AND BIOPOLITICS IN THE MARXIST CRITICISM OF VOLODYMYR YURYNETS

The paper examines the concept of socialist culture of the Ukrainian philosopher Volodymyr Yurynets in the context of the debates of the 1920s on the nature of ‘proletarian culture.’ With the consolidation of the principle of the ideological party character of literature, the concept of ‘proletarian culture,’ which implicitly referred to the class idea and the proletarian world revolution, was replaced by the thesis of socialist culture, the main idea of which should be socialist construction. Yurynets’ theory of socialist culture has a biopolitical character and is based on the communist illusion that in the future human beings and the secondary social nature, as products of labor, will not be alienated but will become the same. Yurynets sees the meaning of modern culture in the “discovery of the living forces of the epoch,” that is, its humanistic potential. Among the possible forms of socialist literature, he distinguishes between stoic and hedonistic. According to Yurynets, stoic culture reflects labor and, accordingly, its content is “the competition between man and nature.” This culture is restrained in its methods, cyclical, and determined by the rhythm of collective work. New achievements in science and technology are the source of genetic development. In general, Yurynets focuses the stoic cultural consciousness on the human being’s enthusiasm for the conquest of nature. According to Yurynets, in the depths of stoic culture another type of culture will be born: hedonistic. Part of this culture will be the production of everyday objects, comfort, and individual consumption. The hedonistic culture will revive ‘cheerful laughter,’ which will exist to provide relaxation for a tired person, i.e., it will have primarily a physiological purpose. The hedonistic form of culture resembles the theory of mass culture, which V. Yurynets interprets in the vein of psychology and reflexology. Hedonistic culture serves as a form of collective creativity, intended for rest from work and restoration of the sensory organs. The emphasis on cosmism and everyday life makes the theory of socialist culture similar to the theory of pan-art (total art). Yurynets’ concept of culture, based on futuristic and cosmic visions of the struggle between man and nature, resembles socialist utopias.