O jovem Marx e o último Mészáros: quatro linhas de convergência sobre a crítica do Estado e da política

Abstract

The posthumous book by István Mészáros entitled Beyond Leviathan: Critique of the State constitutes an effort of extreme importance for the contemporary social debate. It is not our objective to provide a synthesis of the work in its entirety, nor to offer a review summarizing what we believe to be its main points or the process of writing and editing the opus. At present, we intend to propose a reflection on four theoretical lines that permeate Mészáros' entire text and trace their origins in the textuality of the young Marx. Our work was to identify and choose, for this article, four lines of influence/convergence between the late Mészáros and the young Marx. They are: the State as an alienation of civil society; the State as an abstract universality; the State as form and essence; the necessary withering away of the State for human emancipation. Thus, our reading and exposition of Mészáros' book derives from these four fundamental theoretical points also found in the young Marx. We conclude by stating that both authors postulate the ontonegative determination of politics and, among other implications, this nature of politics itself removes human emancipation from the sphere of reformism and from strictly political revolutions.