Critique and confrontation of fascism in Walter Benjamin´s thesis “On the concept of history"
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Abstract
By the time he was writing his theses “On the concept of history”, Benjamin sought a new conception of history to explain critically the Fascism´ phenomenon. He considered that the temporary defeat on the political front, with the rise of Nazism, was related to unsatisfactory theoretical answer gave by organisations linked to the II International´s guidelines. Especially the German Social Democracy added to the inability of its political decisions in 1914 as well as to its responsibility for the death of the Spartacist leaders Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht an epistemological approach of history which was politically ineffective. That moment of deep crisis required a radical think, which was not possible if one follows methodological demands of objectivity and distance. This paper aims at enlightening the guidelines of Benjamin´s proposal to facing Fascism. To do so, we follow his justification, proposed means, and some consequences of this commitment which is political as well as narrative.
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