The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon （Karl Marx, 1852)
路易·波拿巴的霧月十八日
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eighteenth_Brumaire_of_Louis_Bonaparte
Karl Marx’s famous statement from The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon (1852) is a profound and often-cited critique of history, politics, and human agency. In this passage, Marx reflects on the repetition of historical events and the transformation of their meaning over time. Let’s break it down:
The Structure of the Quote
1. Hegel’s Original Observation
• Hegel remarked that history tends to repeat itself, often as a rational progression toward freedom. For Hegel, historical events might reoccur as part of a dialectical process where each iteration reflects a deeper truth or development.
2. Marx’s Addition: Tragedy and Farce
• Marx builds on Hegel but injects irony and materialist critique: when history repeats, it often does so in a diminished, grotesque, or absurd form.
• The first appearance is a tragedy—a serious, impactful moment. The second appearance is a farce—an exaggerated, comical, or meaningless imitation.
What Marx Meant
1. History as Repetition
• Marx suggests that historical events often recur, but the conditions under which they do so change. In their second appearance, these events often lose their original grandeur and significance, becoming parodies of their former selves.
2. Historical Examples
• In The Eighteenth Brumaire, Marx analyzes how Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III) came to power by emulating his uncle, Napoleon Bonaparte.
• Napoleon Bonaparte’s rise was a tragedy: a world-altering event born of revolutionary upheaval and ambition.
• Louis Napoleon’s rise was a farce: a hollow imitation that lacked the revolutionary substance and grandeur of his uncle’s legacy, characterized instead by opportunism and self-serving theatrics.
3. A Critique of Political Theatre
• Marx highlights how later repetitions of historical events often lack the original’s transformative significance. Instead, they reflect cynicism, opportunism, or absurdity, reducing monumental events to shallow performances.
4. Materialist Interpretation
• Unlike Hegel, Marx sees these repetitions as rooted in material conditions, not abstract dialectical progress. The “farce” occurs because the socio-economic conditions that produced the original event are no longer present, making any repetition inherently inauthentic.
Broader Implications
1. The Irony of History
• Marx’s insight reveals the ironic nature of history: what begins as a significant, transformative moment often devolves into something absurd when people attempt to repeat or reenact it.
2. Critique of Revolution and Counter-Revolution
• Marx’s statement serves as a critique of political leaders and movements that invoke the symbols, language, or actions of past revolutions (like Napoleon Bonaparte) without understanding or recreating their underlying causes. Such attempts often result in failure or mockery.
3. Human Agency and Historical Context
• Marx emphasizes the importance of historical materialism: historical outcomes are shaped by specific material conditions, not by the will or genius of individuals. The failure to recognize this leads to “farce.”
Examples Beyond Marx
This idea has been applied to various historical contexts:
• French Revolution and Its Echoes:
• The French Revolution (tragedy) vs. Napoleon III’s coup (farce).
• The Russian Revolution (tragedy) vs. Stalin’s totalitarianism (farce).
• Modern Politics:
• Politicians often invoke past leaders or ideologies but in ways that feel hollow, performative, or absurd, reflecting Marx’s critique of historical repetition.
Philosophical Resonance
Marx’s statement aligns with:
• Nietzsche’s Eternal Recurrence: History repeats, but it may do so as an affirmation or as an empty ritual.
• Kundera’s Aesthetics: The comic often reveals more than the tragic by highlighting life’s contradictions and absurdities, echoing your belief that “the comic is more thoughtful than the tragic.”
Relevance Today
In your context, Marx’s insight might resonate with the ambiguity of historical events and the problematique of modernity. If tragedy and farce are recurring aspects of history, then understanding their interplay can reveal how power, memory, and cultural symbols are reinterpreted and diminished over time. It could also inform your exploration of the metaphysics of van life, as farce may expose the absurdity of cultural repetitions, encouraging deeper existential reflection.
