Heterogeneities – an unusual perspective of the philosophy of history based on The Communist Manifesto

Abstract

The Communist Manifesto, basically written by Marx immediately after the second congress of the League of the Communists that took place between November the 29th and December the 8th of 1847, contains various elements which – besides a certain conception of history based on the concept of “class struggles” – also point out in the direction of an embryonic philosophy of history. Departing from the Deleuzian conception of “philosophy” and of the “concept”, but also from a conceptual distinction of diversity, multiplicity and heterogeneity that tries to reformulate the concept of “multiplicity” as it was used by Deleuze and Guattari, the present article aims at demonstrating that the philosophy of history to be found in status nascens in the Manifesto is characterized by a high degree of heterogeneity which allows for a reading of the text decidedly oriented toward a Marxian openness of history, thus contradicting the ultra-unitary and closed attitude of the most current readings.