패배한 마르크스주의자들의 ‘인공낙원’: 진통과 환각, 그리고 아편

Abstract

The image of a socialist who chose ‘conversion’ in short or long novels in the late 1930s was presented as a stable job and happy family. On the other hand, the losers of history who persistently retain their beliefs by delaying conversion were often reproduced as addicts who lost their jobs and families. They were addicted to cigarettes, alcohol, opium, morphine, and sexual pleasure, although they were different in kind and degree. Some of them indulge in this and consume their possibilities and lives to the end. Among the objects of addiction, opium and morphine have been pointed out as the most fatal ills for individuals and society. In most studies focusing on opiates, drug addiction was interpreted as a pursuit of individual unrestrained pleasure or a self-destructive refuge. However, there is a bias in understanding the meaning of life only in a way of stability and positivity. No attention was paid to how drugs affect the human mind and psychology, and despite the clear consequences of social and physical destruction, they strongly seduced and immersed humans. Because most of the time drug addicts were the losers of history. Socially and ethically, this type of exploration may be meaningful, but I think it gives only half the understanding of the full inside and psychology of the slowly-destroying losers of history indulging drugs such as opium. This article aims to explore ‘artificial paradises’ in the Baudelaire sense, which was built by the losers of history, especially Marxist intellectuals who chose to convert, relying on drugs.