WALTER BENJAMIN’S MESSIANIC MATERIALISMThis work aimed to establish a look at the concept of historical materialism in the light of the Benjaminian approach present in the “Theses on the concept of history”. Starting from a certain “archaeology” of the concept of historical materialism in Marx’s early writings to its most classic expression in the 1859 preface to the “Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy” and through a careful reading of the “Theses”, we can see that Benjamin brings together elements of Jewish messianism, such as the concepts of remembrance and redemption, to establish a conception of theology as the “spark” that lights the revolutionary fire. It would be up to the oppressed, therefore, and not to a Messiah sent by heaven, to interrupt the destructive march of progress, to restore a classless society and, why not say, a messianic kingdom on the earthly plane.
KEYWORDS
Historical Materialism; Messianism; Walter Benjamin