i on thomas paine reviews: origins of crisis in ussr - Common Sense

Trial by Space: Reflections on Lefebvre Page 19
"reassertion of space in critical social theory" and an exploration of the intersection of
geography and the Marxist tradition.
Harvey, for example, has done much to advance our understanding of the processes of
urban and regional restncturing over the last two decades. Sigruficant in this respect has
been his attempts to elaborate upon the ways in which these processes manifest
themselves in a spatially uneven way in and through the continual production and
des'mction of the built environment. This emphasis reflects Harvey's belief that
"historical materialism has to be u p m to historical-geographical materialism" and this
is to be achieved through "the integration of the production of space and spatial
configurations as an active element within the core of Marxian theorisingW(l989 pp 6.4).
Smith also seeks the integration of nature and space into the Marxian theory of capitalist
development and advances the proposition "that uneven development is the hallmark of the
geography of capitalism. ... the systematic geographical expression of the contradictions
inherent in the very constitution and structure of capital." Like Harvey, he draws upon
Mm's analysis of capitalism. "For", declares Smith. "when one draws out the spatial
implications and dimensions of Mm's analysis, especially m Capital, the basis of uneven
development theory is then ready at hand." (Smith 1990 pp xii, xvi). Soja disagrees with
this interpretation of "Mm's analysis" but shares a common desire. By building on the
work of Foucaul~ Giddens. Berger, Breman, Jameson and, above all, Henri Lefebvre, Soja
seeks "to spatialise the historical narrative. to attach to duree an enduring critical human
gwgraphy .... to make room for the insights of an interpretative human geography, a spatial
hermeneutic." (Soja 1989 ppl-2) This desire, by Soja and others, to redress the balance
away from historicism and towards a new spatialised discourse of social change reflects a
growing belief that contemporary society is moving into "the epoch of space" (Foucault
1986 p22) in which the innocent spatiality of social life hides consequences for us. As
Soja, for example, puts it, "today ... it may be space more than time that hides
consequences from us, the making of geography' more than the 'making of history' that
provides the most revealing tactical and theoretical world." (1989 p 1) In this way,
postmodemism becomes a periodising concept in which gwgraphy increasingly matters as
a vantage point of critical insight, one which, in Jameson's terms, "raise(s) spatial issues
as a fundamental organising concern" (1984 p 89)
The purpose of this review article, however, is not to address this contemporary debate but
to return to one of its most important founders - Henri L$ebvre. Lefebvre was perhaps
the most influential figure shaping the course and character of French Marxist theory and
philosophy from the early 1930's to at least the late 1950's. Furthermore. as Soja rightly
points out, he became, after the 1950's. the leading spatial theoretician in Western
Marxism and the most forceful advocate for the reassertion of space in critical social
theory.(1989 p 47) But knowledge of his contribution to this debate is still limited partly
because few of his works have been translated into English. More significant, however,
is the fact that most Anglephone commentators on Lefebvre have focused on his
involvement in existential Marxism and his critique of Althusser and usually pass over his
interest in space and spatiality with a cursory nod or even blank incomprehension.
(chFY (1994) ~355)
According to Soja (1989 p47), Hegelian influences permeate Lefebvre's early Marxism and
this led him to retain a strand of 'objective idealism' within the materialist dialectic. He
also took a stance, throughout his works, against dogmatic reductionism in favour of a
more open ended dialectic which resulted in, what Soja refers to as, a "flexible, open and
cautiously eclectic Marxism able to grow and adapt without predetermined truncation."