Communism’s defeat also ended modernism’s dream of total social transformation

Evidence

This quotation from Francis Spufford’s extraordinary Red Plenty reminds us that when communism was defeated, it wasn’t just a particular ideology that disappeared. The demise of communism was also the disappearance of modernism’s Promethean dream of a total transformation of human society. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1905

This quotation from Francis Spufford’s extraordinary Red Plenty reminds us that when communism was defeated, it wasn’t just a particular ideology that disappeared. The demise of communism was also the disappearance of modernism’s Promethean dream of a total transformation of human society.

Michael Hardt has argued that “the positive content of communism, which corresponds to the abolition of private property, is the autonomous production of humanity — a new seeing, a new hearing, a new thinking, a new loving.”

— Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1905

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1905
• XREF: connects to: Modernism’s decline stems from political defeats rather than economic change — Perry Anderson, The Origins of Postmodernity, 216; World War II’s outcome destroyed modernism’s spurring historical forces — Perry Anderson, The Origins of Postmodernity, 218; Stalinism and Nazism together destroyed the avant-garde — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 252 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Modernism’s decline stems from political defeats rather than economic change #corroborates (0.80) — Perry Anderson, The Origins of Postmodernity, 216
• World War II’s outcome destroyed modernism’s spurring historical forces #contradicts (0.75) — Perry Anderson, The Origins of Postmodernity, 218
• Stalinism and Nazism together destroyed the avant-garde #exemplifies (0.75) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 252