Walter Benjamin's 'Critique of Violence'

IG: @theory_and_philosophy
Intro song: Danosongs-Sky Seeds - Trance Mix

In this episode, I present Benjamin's approach to a critique of violence and how he opposes Divine violence to Mythic violence that manifests itself in the form of law as we know it.

[jonathancampbell]

You can't really understand this essay (or any other) without considering it's historical context.

Benjamin isn't just "writing" in early 1920s Germany, he's responding to actual events that were happening right in front of him.

When he talks about a "General Strike", he's got a very specific "General Strike" in mind- the Weimar Republic had crushed uprisings by radical Socialists- like the Spartacist Revolt- which he was sympathetic to, but would temporarily fall to something called the Kapp Putsch- by the far-right Fatherland Party- not long after, only for the Kapp Putsch to be killed in it's infancy by a General Strike organised by the workers of Berlin, with the conspirators forced to flee with their tail between their legs, and the Weimar government returning to power shortly afterwards.

Benjamin is mostly writing about "this" General Strike, and his essay is a lament on it- he thinks that the working class had an opportunity to overthrow the government themselves after defeating the Kapp Putsch, but instead they decided to let the bourgeois politicians back into power and maintain the status quo, likely (in his view) because they had moral and religious reservations about going any further, especially as extreme left wing violence was associated with atheistic anti-clerical terror at this point in time (see the Red Terror of the Soviet regime in Russia for instance).

Benjamin is a Jewish mystic but he's also got radical Socialist inclinations, and he's trying to provide a religious justification for overthrowing the State and having a revolutionary Socialist society put in its place. He thinks that violence is not only necessary but essential for this to happen and he's trying to assure the leaders of the working class strikers (and maybe himself) that the violence "of" the State (especially against the revolutionaries and the workers) is unjust and mythical, but violence "against" such an unjust system is Divine and any who commit violence to this end is innocent and blameless as they are trying to get rid of an unjust system in the name of establishing a world without violence at all (a Socialistic paradise)

Needless to say, this has drawn criticism not just from the Right but also from many of the Left (who didn't like the religious justifications for what they saw as a purely secular project), but the essay is part of a broader narrative of radical leftist texts that seek to justify violence against the state regardless.

[harisubramanian]

Thank you so much for taking your time and explaining some great philosophical ideas and insights

[ambujarouth]

thanx a ton for this simplified discussion of one of the toughest texts I read ever!

[Anakin-Skywalker]

very clear, i really struggled with this text and i have to write a paper on it. You have a nice voice and accent!

[tchgizeh]

Thank you so much. I had had trouble understanding this text and your video clarified so much.

[Zing_art]

I really appreciate your efforts of bringing these gems to us. Your videos are a great way to further my understanding of the texts. This text is really difficult and indeed ‘tricky’ as you state in the beginning and I think you have deliberated almost upon every point.

However, Benjamin remains obscure with his idea of ‘Divine/Sovereign Violence’ and does the Holocaust actually qualify to be that (i am not sure)? And yes indeed, he seems to be applauding this idea which is quite unfortunate.

Can you consider doing some videos on Agamben’s writings on violence?
Once again, thank you! That’s a great work on your part.

[micah]

Do you think that Benjamin is implying that the proletarian general strike is a form of divine violence? I know that he categorizes it as non-violence, but when viewed systemically, it seems very much like an act of violence against violence. Divine violence is intended to evoke liberation from law's confines and the prole strike does this as well.

[KeenanWilliams]

That trump analogy didnt age well lmaoo

[lushelly]

Could you please clarify divine violence by another example? I still don't get it.

[phonesnelson]

No such thing as natural law. Or does Walter have a specific definition of nat law?