Source: Unity, 10 February 2007, via: Communist Party of Ireland
“. . . Being a communist cannot be separated from being politically organised, being in the party. Political practice is always organised, collective practice. The Individual remains private, no matter how much he or she may become touched or excited by politics. Unus homo nullus homo—one human being is no human being—said the Romans. Communists become (political) human beings within the party. Therefore the question of being organised is not just a practical-sociological one: it is a basic philosophical question . . .”
It might seem unusual to begin an article with a quotation from a book. But when writing about a man whose life span is often measured in “over 5,000 publications” one comes across such an abundance of important statements that it becomes inevitable to use some of them.
Professor Hans Heinz Holz will be eighty years old on 26 February. The by no means progressive internet dictionary Wikipedia calls him a “German universal scholar.” Born in Frankfurt am Main, Hans Heinz Holz has been actively involved in the communist movement from a very young age. At the age of seventeen he was thrown into prison by the Gestapo because of his anti-fascist activities. There he suffered a severe heart attack, which left him with a reduced heart capacity for life.
His career both as a philosopher and as an art critic has been one of the most remarkable ones in the twentieth century and there is no end to it yet.
He taught philosophy at the universities of Marburg and Groningen (Netherlands) and has published countless books and pamphlets on dialectics, on art theory, about known artists, on social science and politics. Especially during the 1990s his writings played a key role in the reconsolidation of the revolutionary movement in Germany and in many other countries.
His book The Defeat and Future of Socialism (1991) has become known around the world and was published in many languages. Communists Today (1995) is now one of the most read books by Marxists in Europe.
Hans Heinz Holz was president and is now honorary president of the International Society of Dialectical Philosophy and an elected member of the Leibniz-Sozietät and the World Academy of Letters. He has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Urbino and was given the plaque of honour by the Association of German Engineers, the Order of Merit (Britain), and the Legion of Honour (USA).
In 1991 Holz and his wife, Silvia Markun, founded the research institute Fondazione Centro di Studi Filosofci.
At eighty his life is as busy as always. He is joint editor of the philosophical magazine Topos, publishes books, and has been lecturing tens of thousands of people during the last few years. His famous public lectures took him to many countries. He regularly contributes to the theoretical magazine T&P (Germany) and the Communist weekly Unsere Zeit, to name but few. The new programme of the German Communist Party (DKP) carries his handwriting in large parts; he was one of the four writers of the draft version.
Needless to say, the eightieth birthday of a leading Marxist-Leninist philosopher like Hans Heinz Holz will draw attention right across the globe. The Communist Party in the German city of Essen, where he is organised, is holding a one-day symposium followed by an evening reception on 24 February. The theme of the event, which will be attended by 150 people—friends of Hans Heinz Holz and leading revolutionary individuals from Germany, Greece, Turkey, and other countries—is “revolutionising philosophy: philosophy of the revolution.”
Very honouring for the Marxist-Leninist movement in Ireland, Marion Baur (CPI) has been invited and will take part. She is travelling to Essen straight after the reopening celebrations of the CPI headquarters in Dublin on 23 February. In her baggage she’ll carry the greetings of the Communists and other progressive people from these shores to a man whose political life could be summed up in Karl Marx’s words, “The philosophers have only interpreted the world; the task is to change it.”
The readers of Hans Heinz Holz’s publications are larger in number than the communists. Those who agree with and like them would be well advised to read Communists Today. It ends like this:
“Being a small minority in this society, but a minority which is capable of being a centrepiece in bringing about change in society and suitable for people to group around, we cannot do without a well-structured form of organisation for our political acting. We need a Marxist-Leninist party.”
Those of us who are organised in the party, in whatever country we may live, need people like Hans Heinz Holz who carry the torch of Marxist-Leninist philosophy in dark times like now and in brighter ones to come.
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