Protest Against Closing Down the Lukács Archive

#2: -  

 What does Lukács have to do with Slavic languages?

I think it is absolutely necessary to criticize such an attempt by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Lukács is not only incredibly important for the Hungarian intellectual scene - he is one of the greatest, most influential and debated about thinkers of the 20th century, whose works encouraged a majority of the critical and socially aware European and American thought for more decades. His "History and Class Consciousness" (especially his concept of "reificaiton" of human relations in a capitalist society) from 1923 almost single-handedly opened a new conceptual continent which gave way to philosophers such as Adorno, Horkheimer, Benjamin and Marcuse, or Lucien Goldmann (the latter providing sound arguments that Heidegger's "Being and Time" was merely a polemic with Lukács). Less directly, his popularization of young Marx-Hegelian term "alienation" (that also entered numerous disciplines henceforth) is responsible for the philosophical development of thinkers such as Kojève, Lefebvre, Sartre or Merleau-Ponty. In general, the thinkers of which no one is willing (at least not yet) to close down their archives, but are generally understood as the seminal philosophers of the 20th century.

His literary studies, including his very early theory of novel and history of modern drama (and especially his accomplished work on historical novel), have still been influential on literary criticism and literary historiography academic scene worldwide.

Apart from that - Lukács's work is becoming more relevant than ever. It does not really matter whether you read his early essays on reification and its connection to the "second nature" of capitalism's immediacy (where every potential innovation is understood as "unnatural" and "incomprehensible") or his later works about social and political implications of irrationalist philosophy - Lukács's critical eye would not at all have been surprised by the ongoing irrational commodity-driven conformism diving in a free-fall into neofascism. Instead, his books are a necessary conceptual tool to grasp the today's seemingly confused conditions analytically; this, finally, is a precondition to resolve them successfully.

I would love to help with the archive, if possible (and needed).

I signed the petition because the bourgeoisie is parasitic in this world, they is a natural destroyer, destroyer conditions of the working class and inhibitors of science in our world. Let us eliminate this problem by eliminating capitalism from this earth and building socialism worldwide. without this we will continue to see barbarism. let the proletariat all over the world unite!

The Lukacs  archive  is  the  concrete manifestation  of  dialectical  ,  concrete  UNITY  towards  which  we  should  all strive .   

The Lukacs Archive is necessary for my research, and indispensable for anyone invested in Hungarian cultural, intellectual, and political history, as well as in intellectual, cultural, and political history in general, as Lukacs is one of the pivotal intellectuals of the 20th century. Hungary owes it to itself and to the world to maintain this legacy regardless of the political vicissitudes of the moment. -- Ralph Dumain, Washington DC

Lukacs was a deeply flawed individual but had a brilliant mind.  he himself was repsonsible for restricting access to many books as a party apparatchik after the second world war, and probably signed death warrants in bela kun's administration after the first world war.  Still, this archive should be preserved because it is a valuable research resource.

Lukacs has been fundamentally influential in the development of Marxist theory over the last century. The important work of Istvan Meszaros ('Beyond Capital', 'Marx's Theory of Alienation', etc) has been influenced by Lukacs. He was his student when he lived in Hungary.

#1: -  

 f*cking nazis.