Walter Benjamin’s Theses on the Philosophy of History
Walter Benjamin’s Theses on the Philosophy of History (also translated as On the Concept of History) is a foundational essay in Marxist theory, cultural criticism, and 20th-century philosophy. Written in 1940 shortly before Benjamin’s tragic death, the work provides a scathing critique of linear historical progress, blending historical materialism with Jewish mysticism and theology. Benjamin argues that history must be "brushed against the grain" to redeem the oppressed rather than celebrate the victors.
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Historical and Biographical Context
Walter Benjamin composed the twenty numbered paragraphs (or "theses") that make up this essay in early 1940, during his exile in Vichy France. He was fleeing the Nazi regime and desperately trying to secure passage to the United States.[1]
The essay was profoundly shaped by two concurrent political catastrophes:
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The Rise of Fascism: The seemingly unstoppable march of Hitler’s armies across Europe shattered any lingering enlightenment illusions of natural human progress.
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The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (1939): The non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union disillusioned Benjamin and many other Marxist intellectuals, forcing him to rethink the teleological certainty of orthodox Marxism.
Benjamin directed much of his critique at the German Social Democrats (SPD), arguing that their blind faith in technological and social "progress" disarmed the working class. Social Democracy had treated history as a smooth continuum, leaving the left wholly unprepared for the brutal reality of fascism.[2]
Core Metaphors and Allegories
Benjamin’s philosophical style in the Theses is highly poetic, relying heavily on striking allegories rather than sequential logical proofs.
The Mechanical Turk and Theology (Thesis I)
Benjamin opens the essay with an allegory based on a famous 18th-century automaton known as the Mechanical Turk. The machine appeared to be a robotic chess master that could defeat any human opponent, but it actually concealed a human dwarf—a master chess player—who manipulated the puppet from within.[1:1]
"The puppet called 'historical materialism' is always supposed to win. It can do this with no further ado against any opponent, so long as it employs the services of theology, which as everyone knows is small and ugly and must be kept out of sight."
Benjamin implies that orthodox Marxism (the puppet) has become a hollow, deterministic shell. To regain its revolutionary power, historical materialism must secretly enlist the hidden, "small and ugly" forces of theology—specifically, the messianic drive for redemption.
The Angel of History (Thesis IX)
Perhaps the most famous image in 20th-century critical theory is Benjamin’s interpretation of Paul Klee’s 1920 watercolor, Angelus Novus. Benjamin had purchased the painting in 1921 and viewed it as a depiction of the "Angel of History."[3]
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The Vision of the Past: The Angel’s face is turned toward the past. Where humans perceive a sequential chain of events, the Angel sees "one single catastrophe, which keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage and hurls it at his feet."[3:1]
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The Storm of Progress: The Angel wishes to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed (the Kabbalistic concept of tikkun). However, a violent storm blowing from Paradise catches in its wings, propelling the Angel backward into the future.
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The Meaning: This storm is what humanity calls "progress." Benjamin uses this image to completely dismantle the liberal and orthodox Marxist myth that history is a march of continuous improvement.
Key Philosophical Concepts
Historicism vs. Historical Materialism
Benjamin draws a sharp distinction between traditional "historicism" and his radicalized version of "historical materialism."
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Historicism: Seeks to depict history "the way it really was" (a phrase coined by Leopold von Ranke). Benjamin argues that historicism inevitably empathizes with the victors. It treats the past as a fixed, closed book and views time as a sequence of empty, homogenous moments.
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Historical Materialism: The true materialist views the past as fundamentally open and unsettled. It is the materialist's task to "brush history against the grain."[2:1] By doing so, the historian seizes a memory as it flashes up in a moment of danger, rescuing the struggles of the oppressed from historical oblivion.
"Homogenous, Empty Time" vs. Jetztzeit
Benjamin critiques the concept of "homogenous, empty time"—the clock-time of capitalism and the calendar of scientific progress. In this model, the present is merely a transitional point between the past and the future.[1:2]
In contrast, Benjamin introduces the concept of Jetztzeit (Now-Time). Jetztzeit is a present moment that is pregnant with revolutionary, messianic energy. It is a moment where the continuum of history is blasted open, allowing the present generation to connect directly with the unfulfilled hopes of past generations.
According to Benjamin, every generation is endowed with a "weak Messianic power." The past has a claim on the present; the current generation is responsible for redeeming the suffering of their ancestors, not just paving the way for future utopias.[2:2]
The State of Emergency (Thesis VIII)
Benjamin directly addresses the shock expressed by European liberals and leftists that fascism was possible in the 20th century. He notes that this shock is philosophically unfounded because it relies on the false premise of historical progress.
He writes that "the tradition of the oppressed teaches us that the 'state of emergency' in which we live is not the exception but the rule."[1:3] To defeat fascism, the left must stop viewing it as a historical anomaly and must instead actively bring about a "real state of emergency"—a revolutionary disruption of the capitalist historical continuum.
References
Wikipedia Contributors / Theses on the Philosophy of History / Wikipedia ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
The Collector / Walter Benjamin on the Philosophy of History (and the End of it) / thecollector.com ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
The Brooklyn Institute for Social Research / Walter Benjamin: On the Concept of History / thebrooklyninstitute.com ↩︎ ↩︎