Walden’ı Marksist Gereçlerle Yorumlamak: Thoreau’nun Walden Adlı Eseri Üzerine Bir Çalışma

Year 2022, , 219 - 242, 23.03.2022

Sultan Komut Bakınç

https://doi.org/10.30767/diledeara.941219

Abstract

On dokuzuncu yüzyıl, gelişmiş dünyanın birçok bölgesinde olduğu gibi, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri de sanayileşmenin önemli bir güce dönüşmesine şahit olmuş ve yaşanan yeni gelişmeler akabinde, sözde Yeni Cennet Bahçesi de çürüyen modern yaşam ile yüzleşmeye başlamıştır. Makineleşme, kapitalist üretimdeki artışı da beraberinde getirmiş ve bu artışa, toplumsal çürüme ile içinde barındırdığı zenginlik ve tamahkârlık, yozlaşmış insani değerler ve doğaya ve kişinin kendisine duyduğu genel kayıtsızlık hissi gibi olumsuzluklar eşlik etmiştir. Transandantalizm ve Ütopyacı Toplumlar gibi o yüzyıldaki belli başlı hareketler, gittikçe çürüyen bu sisteme cevaben gelişen tepkiler olarak anlaşılabilir. Transandantalizm hareketinin önde gelen yazarlarından biri olan Henry David Thoreau, toplumsal yaşam ve siyaset alanlarında da etkili bir kişi ve eleştirmendir. İki yıl boyunca Walden Gölü’nün kenarındaki tahta kulübesinde doğal bir tecrit hayatı sürerek topluma sırt çeviren Thoreau, kilise, devlet, gelenekler ve hatta toplumun bizzat kendisi de dâhil olmak üzere her türlü kuruma başkaldırmıştır. Kendisiyle aynı çağda yaşayan düşünür, ekonomist, gazeteci ve devrimci sosyalist Karl Marx gibi, Thoreau da toplumsal adalet ve siyasal ekonomi arasında bir ilişki olduğuna inanmıştır. Adil davranmayan bir devletin zorba ve baskıcı eylemleri olarak gördüğü belli kapitalizm türlerine ve dini kurumlara karşı meydan okumuş; köleliğe son verilmesi ve Afrika kökenli Amerikalıların özgürleştirilmesini coşkuyla savunmuştur. Denilebilir ki Thoreau, yaşamış olduğu topluma göre, bir devrimci kimliğiyle ortaya çıkmakta ve toplumsal kuralları, sınıfları ve özel mülkiyeti reddetmektedir. Bu makalenin amacı, deyim yerindeyse, Walden’ın topraklarını işlemek ve Thoreau’nun düşünceleri ve Marksist dünya görüşü arasındaki ilişkiyi gün yüzüne çıkarmaktır. Çalışmanın genelinde Walden’ın bir bütün olarak ele almasına karşın, büyük oranda kitabın ilk bölümüne odaklanılmaktadır. Bu bölümde sunulan “Ekonomi” ve diğer düşünceler, Marx’ın siyasi planı olan Komünist Manifesto’da şiddetle savunulan fikirler ile karşılaştırılmaktadır.

Keywords

: Transandantalizm, Komünist Manifesto, Walden, Marx, Thoreau

Digging Walden’s Soil with Marxist Tools: A Study on Thoreau’s Walden

Abstract

The nineteenth century saw industrialization become a significant force in the United State of America, just as in much of the developed world, and with these new developments, the so-called new Eden started to face the corruption of modern life. With mechanization came the speed-up associated with capitalist production, and alongside this speed-up came ideas of the corruption of society with the evils it bears: wealth and avarice, degradation of human values, and general indifference to nature and one's self. Some movements of the century, such as philosophical Transcendentalism and the Utopian Societies, can be understood as nascent reactions to this increasingly corrupted system. Henry David Thoreau, one of the most prominent writers of Transcendentalism, was also a very influential figure and critic in terms of social life and politics. He rebelled against institutions of every kind: church, state, social convention, inherited tradition, and indeed even eschewed society itself, turning his back on it to spend two years in the natural isolation of a wood-built cabin by Walden Pond. Like his contemporary, philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist Karl Marx, Thoreau believed that there was a connection between social justice and political economy. He was a daring fighter against particular modes of capitalism, religious organizations he saw as oppressive, and the coercive actions of an unfair state; he was also an ardent advocate for the abolition of slavery and for the emancipation of African Americans. This article argues that, to a great extent, even though Thoreau cannot be called a Marxist, Walden was an experiment in building an idealistic world in which with no class division, no religion, no ownership similar to a Marxist utopia in microcosm. Thus, Thoreau emerges as a revolutionist, and in his microcosm; Thoreau had no rules, no social division, or no private property. Much as, the language they use is quite different and Thoreau does not use Marxist terms, the similar themes they explore in their works cannot be underestimated. Hence, the aim, here, is to cultivate Walden's soil and unearth the connections between Marxist philosophy, in particular, The Communist Manifesto and Thoreau's Walden. While the paper considers Walden as a whole, the focus is primarily on the first chapter of the book, "Economy" and the ideas presented in this chapter are compared with those in the pithiest expression of Marx's political program The Communist Manifesto.

Keywords

Transcendentalism, Communist Manifesto, Walden, Marx, Thoreau

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