Leo Kofler (also known by the pseudonyms ''Stanislaw Warynski'' or ''Jules Dévérité''; 26 April 1907 – 29 July 1995) was an Austrian-German

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

sociologist. He ranks with the Marburg politicologist Wolfgang Abendroth and the

Frankfurt school The Frankfurt School is a school of thought in sociology and critical theory. It is associated with the University of Frankfurt Institute for Social Research, Institute for Social Research founded in 1923 at the University of Frankfurt am Main ...

theoreticians

Max Horkheimer Max Horkheimer ( ; ; 14 February 1895 – 7 July 1973) was a German philosopher and sociologist best known for his role in developing critical theory as director of the Institute for Social Research, commonly associated with the Frankfurt Schoo ...

and

Theodor W. Adorno Theodor W. Adorno ( ; ; born Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund; 11 September 1903 – 6 August 1969) was a German philosopher, musicologist, and social theorist. He was a leading member of the Frankfurt School of critical theory, whose work has com ...

among the few well-known Marxist intellectuals in post-war Germany. However, almost nothing of his work was ever translated into English, and he is therefore little known in the English-speaking world. Kofler had his own, distinctive interpretation of

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

, which connected

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

and

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

with

aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...

and

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

Biography

Kofler was born of

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

parents on 26 April 1907 in Chotymyr, Galicia,

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

(now Ivano-Frankivsk Raion,

Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast (), also referred to as Ivano-Frankivshchyna () or simply Frankivshchyna, is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (region) in western Ukraine. Its administrative center is the city of Ivano-Frankivsk. It has a pop ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

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in 1915/16 drove his family to escape to Vienna, where Leo attended business school, until 1927. His working career was cut short by the 1929 stock crash, and he became an adviser of a social-democratic education center in Vienna, joining the left-wing of the social-democratic labour party (SDAP). From 1933 to 1934, he devoted himself to research with Max Adler. In July 1938, after the annexation of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, he escaped to

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where he was interned in an immigrant camp. Most of his family was murdered in

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

, and his parents were shot in 1942. Nevertheless, he continued his theoretical studies, being influenced especially by the writings of

Georg Lukács Georg may refer to: * ''Georg'' (film), 1997 *Georg (musical), Estonian musical * Georg (given name) * Georg (surname) * , a Kriegsmarine coastal tanker * Spiders Georg "Spiders Georg" is an Internet meme that began circulating on the mic ...

. In 1944 he published his first book under the pseudonym "Stanislaw Warynski". His second book, on the history of the civil society, was published in 1948 in

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

. In September 1947 he moved to the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany, and in 1948 became lecturer in medieval and modern history at the

University of Halle Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

. But after his public criticism of the Stalinization of the Socialist Unity Party, he was dismissed from his post. At the end of 1950, he escaped with his future wife Ursula Wieck to

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, and worked there as well as in Dortmund and

Bochum Bochum (, ; ; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 372,348 (April 2023), it is the sixth-largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federa ...

as lecturer and researcher, publishing a stream of books and articles. He died on 29 July 1995 in Cologne after a lengthy illness.

Main works

* '' Die Wissenschaft von der Gesellschaft '', 1944, 1971 *''Zur Geschichte der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft. Versuch einer verstehenden Deutung der Neuzeit'', 1948. *''Stalinistischer Marxismus'', 1951 *''Das Wesen und die Rolle der stalinistischen Bürokratie'', 1952. * '' Der Fall Lukacs. Georg Lukacs und der Stalinismus'', 1952 * ''Geschichte und Dialektik'', 1955 * ''Staat, Gesellschaft und Elite zwischen Humanismus und Nihilismus'', 1960 * ''Das Ende der Philosophie?'', 1961 * ''Zur Theorie der modernen Literatur'', 1962 *''Der proletarische Bürger'', 1964 *''Der asketische Eros. Industriekultur und Ideologie'', 1967 *''Perspektiven des revolutionären Humanismus'', 1968 * ''Marxistische Staatstheorie'', 1970 * ''Stalinismus und Bürokratie'', 1970 *''Kunst und absurde Literatur'' 1970, * ''Technologische Rationalität im Spätkapitalismus'', 1971 *''In Aggression und Gewissen. Grundlegung einer anthropologischen Erkentnnistheorie'' 1973 *''Haut den Lukács. Realismus und Subjektivismus'' 1977. * ''Der Alltag zwischen Eros und Entfremdung'', 1982 * ''Beherrscht uns die Technik? Technologische Rationalität im Spätkapitalismus'', 1983 * ''Aggression und Gewissen. Grundlegung einer anthropologischen Erkenntnistheorie'', 1973 * ''Soziologie des Ideologischen'', 1975 * ''Geistiger Verfall und progressive Elite'', 1981 *''Der Alltag zwischen Eros und Entfremdung. Perspektiven zu einer Wissenschaft von Alltag'', 1982. * ''Eros, Ästhetik, Politik. Thesen zum Menschenbild bei Marx'', 1985 *''Aufbruch in der Sowjetunion?'' 1986 * ''Die Vergeistigung der Herrschaft'', 2 Bände 1986/87 * ''Avantgardismus als Entfremdung. Ästhetik und Ideologiekritik'', 1987 * '' "Die Kritik ist der Kopf der Leidenschaft." Aus dem Leben eines marxistischen Grenzgängers.'' Ein Gespräch anlässlich seines 80. Geburtstages mit Wolf Schönleitner und Werner Seppmann, 1987 * ''Zur Kritik bürgerlicher Freiheit. Ausgewählte politisch-philosophische Texte eines marxistischen Einzelgängers'', Hrsg. Christoph Jünke, 2000

Commentaries in German

*''Humanistische Anthropologie und dialektischer Materialismus. Ein Arbeitsbuch. Leo Kofler zum 70. Geburtstag.'' Broschiert – 320 Seiten, November 1982, *''Marxismus und Anthropologie. Festschrift für Leo Kofler''. Bochum: Germinal Verlag, 1980. *Jünke, Christoph (Hg.), ''Am Beispiel Leo Koflers. Marxismus im 20. Jahrhundert''. Münster: Verlag Westfälisches Dampfboot, 2001.

Commentaries in English

* Christoph Jünke: ''Leo Kofler’s Philosophy of Praxis: Western Marxism and Socialist Humanism. With Six Essays by Leo Kofler Published in English for the First Time.'' Brill: Leiden 2022, ISBN 978-90-04-50255-0.

External links

*Leo Kofler Society (in German

*Leo Kofler as praxis-thinker (in Germa

Christoph Jünke: ''Leo Kofler Was a Marxist and a Revolutionary Humanist'', jacobinmag.com, March 14th 2022
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kofler, Leo 1907 births 1995 deaths People from Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Ukrainian Jews 20th-century German philosophers Jewish philosophers German people of Polish-Jewish descent Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe) Academic staff of the University of Halle German male writers German Marxist historians Austrian emigrants to Germany