FOR ADOLFO SÁNCHEZ VÁZQUEZ AT HIS 110th BIRTHDAY-Reflections on the live and intellectual development of the precursor for a Critical theory from the Americas

Abstract

110 years after his year of birth, we want to remember one of the most important Marxist philosophers in Latin America: Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez, who has contributed central elements to the development of an independent and critical Marxism on this continent and in the Spanish language. With this, he is the most important precursor of a Critical Theory from the Americas. Sánchez Vázquez was one of the Spaniards that spontaneously threw themselves into opposition against Franco's coup d’état, and prevented the Francoite invasion of significant sections of Spain for almost three years. He did this as a member of the Unified Socialist Youth (JSU). In the same year he was invited to the Second International Congress of Antifascist Writers in Madrid where he meets Marinello, Aragon, Seghers, Malraux, Ehrenberg, and Paz. After the defeat of the Civil War in February 1939 Sánchez Vázquez crosses the border to France. In May he headed with the first ship sent by the Mexican Government toward Mexico. The 1959 Cuban Revolution, and the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia were two historical events that changed Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez’s theoretical perspective. In 1965, his first book appeared: Las ideas estéticas de Marx and 1967 his book Filosofía de la praxis: his definitive rupture with the dogmatic interpretation of Marx´s writings. He wrote more than 20 books and was teaching in the UNAM. In 1996 Sánchez Vázquez was invited as an advisor to 마르크스주의 연구영어 논문FOR ADOLFO SÁNCHEZ VÁZQUEZ AT HIS 110th BIRTHDAY Reflections on the live and intellectual development of the precursor for a Critical theory from the Americas Stefan Gandler1 1 )* * Profesor, Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, México, stefan.gandler@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.26587/m arx.19.4.202211.005 154 2025년 제22권 제2호the Special Forum for State Reform 1996 by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), and he participated by sending a contribution. In 1998, the UNAM honoured him with an honoris causa doctorate. Until he was alive, Sánchez Vázquez taught postgraduate seminars in Philosophy at the UNAM and struggled in various settings for a world free of exploitation and oppression, as well as for the theoretical understanding necessary to bring it about, setting the foundations for a Critical theory from the Americas.