Marxism for Hiroshi Mizuta

Abstract

Although Hiroshi Mizuta is best known as a leading scholar of Thomas Hobbes and Adam Smith, the best seller of his books was Introduction to Marxism（1966）. It was an impartial commentary on Marxism for the general public at that time. What, then, was Marxism for Mizuta? His understanding of Marx/Marxism changed slightly with the times, and can be divided into three periods.The first period is from the late 1930s to the mid-1950s. Mizuta read several books by the “Koza school” Marxists and became to be a Marxist, rather conformist. The second is until the 1960s, when Mizuta’s original Marxism is established through stay in Scotland during 1954-1956 and in 1959. There he became acquainted with many Marxist historians and economists, followed the internal debate within the British Communist Party, and witnessed the birth of the New Left. Thereby he became keenly aware of the importance of individual subjectivity and democracy.The third is the 1970s and thereafter. In the 1970s, Mizuta was closest to the “Civil Society Marxism” and often made homage to “civil society” in Europe. However, his “civil society” statements gradually came to be apologetic. Nevertheless, he remained a Marxian socialist and a radical democrat until the end of his life.