Liberalism (Locke, Mill)

Michael Hoover hoov at freenet.tlh.fl.us
Fri Oct 30 04:26:55 PST 1998



> As I recall Herbert Marcuse
> (who himself was attracted to utilitarianism) was able to Mill's
> utilitarianism against the defense of free speech as an absolute
> right. Marcuse argued that under certain circumstances reactionary
> speech could be justifiably repressed particularly racist and/or
> pro-fascist speech. He took the view that the failure of the Weimar
> Republic to repress the Nazis paved the way for their eventual
> ascension to power.
> Jim Farmelant

Marcuse's 'critique of pure tolerance' (the title of the book in which his essay *Repressive Tolerance* was published along with ones by Robert Paul Wolff & Barrington Moore) is similar to US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes' 'clear & present danger' doctrine holding that civil liberties can be suspended under certain conditions. ..HM thought, for example, that racist speech represented a 'clear and present danger' that should not be tolerated...of course, in the US the 'intolerance thesis' has been most often used to suppress the left...

Marcuse argues in his essay that 'pure' or abstract tolerance (ie., free speech for left and right) is repressive because 'neutrality' serves the status quo...dominant social institutions 'immunize' people against oppositional ideas...of course, a few 'break through' and read Against the Current, Left Business Observer, Monthly Review, etc. (today, I guess that would include participating on e-lists like this one) but that only proves that 'tolerance' exists...in this sense, toleration is elitist (and smarmy) because of the unequal circumstances... Michael Hoover



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list