The Concept of the Austromarxist lntellectual

Abstract

The overriding topic of the author's scholarly interest in connection with this article was the concept of the so called (Austromarxist) ,,Leftist Intellectual“ who is considered as a particular „cultural type“ (Kulturtypus). In opposition to the traditional historical approach, this article not only deals with the reception of the ideas of the year 1848, including Marxism, but also tries to reflect in a very substantial way the harmful experiences intellectuals had to undergo during the early days of the Austrian working class movement. The very centre of Pfabigan's argument are the strained relations between intellectuals and their „anti-proletarianism“ on the one hand - after all they felt themselves to be part of bourgeois culture - and proletarians and their „anti-intellectualism“ on the other hand. In the first period (cf. e.g., Max Adler's book „Socialism and Intellectuals“) Austromarxist intellectuals asserted a hegemonic claim on society - for themselves and their „movement“. In the second period (cf. e.g. Max Adler's book „New People“) intellectuals saw themselves in a hegemonic position superior to the working class: The intellectual as educator.