Past and revolution in Karl Marx and Walter Benjamin

Abstract

This paper studies a tension between Marx’s and Benjamin’s thought, in connection with the different ways they regard memory. In principle, it could be argued that these authors assume opposing points of view: while in The Eighteen Brumaire Marx argues that any recourse to the past is superstition; for Benjamin, the revolutionary change refers to the past. However, what calls our attention is that Benjamin in his Thesis XIV maintains that the leap to the past that he defends is “the revolution as Marx has understood it”. Our aim here is to explain why Benjamin included this reference to Marx if he knew about his refusal to accept any reference to the past.