Dunayevskaya, Raja. The Power of Negativity: Selected Writings on the Dialectic in Hegel and Marx.

Johnson, Patricia A.

Edited and Introduced by Peter Hudis and Kevin B. Anderson. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2002. xlii + 386 pp. Cloth, $100.00; paper $24.95--Dunayevskaya is a unique thinker for the twentieth century. She combines an involvement in freedom struggles with a very deep commitment to philosophical ideas and exploration. She served as secretary to Leon Trotsky in 1937-38, but then broke with him in 1939 during the Hitler-Stalin pact and developed a very sophisticated analysis of state capitalism. "She argued that Roosevelt's New Deal, Hitler's Germany, and especially Stalin's Russia represented varieties of a new stage of global capitalism" (p. xvii). This volume presents her life-long thinking, showing how influential her reading of Hegel was for her interpretation of how humanity works to make itself free. She used Marx and Hegel to think through how the movement of negation promotes human freedom. She explored "the positive within the negative, to express philosophically the yearning of women, children, and men to be whole human beings (p. xxix).

This volume is representative of the full range of Dunayevskaya's thought. The editors have selected from her published essays and articles and also from unpublished letters, lectures, and other works. The selections represent her range of styles and her ability to address many different audiences. Rather than begin with her first works, the volume begins with Dunayevskaya's last discussion of dialectics, written only a week before her death on June 9, 1987. Moreover, it focuses on the letters she wrote in 1953 where she breaks with Lenin and thinks through the importance of Hegel's work on the Absolutes for her understanding of Marxist humanism as distinct from capitalist forms of communism. She sees this thinking as a new beginning for herself and for Marxist thought in the contemporary world. Dunayevskaya's work provides a way of thinking about liberation movements that is influenced by Marx through Hegel and so is not so much doctrinal as philosophical. In a historical period where Marx is often dismissed, this volume provides an opportunity for thinking with Hegel and Marx, as well as Dunayevskaya, about issues that remain important for the twenty-first century.

The volume contains important essays written from Dunayevskaya's turn to Hegel in 1953 until the end of her life. Part 2 contains essays written between 1956 and 1963. These focus on careful and innovative readings of Hegel and on interpretations of the relationship between Hegel and Marx. She is caught up in reading the Science of Logic during this period, and many of these essays shed light on that work as well as on her own philosophical development.

Part 3 covers the period of 1964-71. During this period, Dunayevskaya focuses on freedom struggles throughout the world. In the United States she is especially concerned about civil rights. During this period she also reflects on Sartre and Mao, and she continues to position her reflections within Hegel's understanding, particularly of negativity and freedom. All of this work contributes to her book Philosophy and Revolution (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2003). During this period, she also writes on Rosa Luxemburg. She recognizes that this period in her life is pivotal. She says, "Until my own return to Hegel ... and new forces of liberation as Reason--Labor, Black Dimension, Women's Liberation, Youth--no new stage of cognition could become concrete and profound" (p. 227).

Part 4 covers the period of 1972-81. During this decade, Dunayevskaya again returns to thinking with Hegel and tries to develop a philosophical understanding of the movement of liberation. Essays in this section include conversations with Fanon and Lukas and are gathered around the theme of "After Philosophy and Revolution."

Part 5 includes writings from 1982-87. During this period, Dunayevskaya explores the roots of contemporary Marxist thought in Hegel. These essays look at how Hegel and Marx provide for new beginnings. They look at the women's movement and at the movement of youth in the United States. Dunayevskaya is constantly searching for ways to open movement toward liberation. She recognizes both the merits and problems of Marxist analysis and critique. She writes, "Lenin left future generations without full illumination of what may befall them--Stalinism. It is the generation that followed, our age that suffered through the three generations of Stalinism, that had to face the reality of what happens after" (p. 336). Dunayevskaya's strength is always that she reads Hegel looking for ways to find new beginnings in what happens after. For her, organization is the new beginning. In political community, she believes that people will work out the philosophical dialectics that will achieve human freedom.

For those who have never read Dunayevskaya, this volume provides an excellent introduction. For those who have read her work, this is a volume that presents her total thought as a process. In an era where Marx's thought is being minimized, Dunayevskaya's thought is an important reminder of how both Marx and Hegel have influenced and continue to influence contemporary political understanding and movements.--Patricia A. Johnson, University of Dayton.