Abul-Qasim Lahuti and the Structure of Contradiction: A Typology of Antagonism in the Path of Praxis

Informed by Marxist theorists and critical philosophy, the present article analyzes the contradictions in Abul-Qasim Lahuti’s poetry. It also aims to examine the ways concepts such as revolution, decolonization, social contradictions, and revolutionary praxis are represented in Lahuti’s poetry. This study explores contradictions such as class, ideological, formal-linguistic, ontological, and the decolonizing contradiction and its role in conceptualizing praxis. The findings reveal that Lahuti expresses anti-colonial, liberatory, and revolutionary ideas through his poetic language. He also addresses various social and political contradictions within the historico-cultural context of Iran. The article emphasizes that Lahuti’s poetry promotes class consciousness and the struggle against colonial and autocratic domination. Ultimately, it views Lahuti as a pioneer of revolutionary and decolonizing thought in Iran’s cultural and political sphere, whose poetry holds great significance in interdisciplinary research.
 
Extended Abstract
1. Introduction
The present article seeks to examine Lahuti’s poetry both as an expression of revolutionary sentiments and as a field for the production and organization of ideological contradictions. In the sphere of twentieth-century revolutionary discourses, literature and ideology are not reflections of history but rather arenas for the production and struggle of historical forces. For Lahuti, as one of the prominent figures of Persian revolutionary poetry, contradiction is the mechanism for the formation of meaning at the juncture of the transition from the old order to new political and social horizons. The research hypothesis is that in Lahuti’s poetry, we can speak of a “Structure of Contradiction,” that is, a network of discursive, historical, and aesthetic contrasts through which the revolutionary subject is constructed. These contradictions do not remain only at the level of political content, but also operate at the level of language, image, rhythm, and ontological horizon of the poem. From this perspective, one can consider Lahuti’s poetry at the crossroads of class, colonial, hegemonic, and existential conflict.
2. Methodology
This qualitative-analytical research employs critical discourse analysis and philosophical hermeneutics to investigate the complete anthology of Lahuti’s poems. In the first step, semantic units related to confrontation, conflict, antagonism, demarcation, and liberation are extracted; in the second step, these units are classified in accordance with the theoretical models of antagonism.
3. Theoretical Framework
The theoretical framework of the research is organized around Marxist and post-Marxist traditions. From Marx and Engels, the concept of praxis as historical action arising from material conditions is selected. From Lenin, the idea of ​​the organization of revolutionary consciousness and from Gramsci, the concept of hegemony and the role of the organic intellectual in the production of consent and resistance are employed.
At the post-Marxist level, Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory is used to analyze antagonism as a discursive formulation of the “us/them” boundary. From Lukács, the concept of class consciousness and totality, from Bakhtin, the polyphony and dialogicity of the text, from Rancière, the politics of aesthetics and the distribution of the sensible, and from Foucault, the idea of ​​the network of power and disciplinary mechanisms are drawn upon.
Also, to analyze the colonial dimensions, Fanon is used to explain violence and the decolonized subject, and Ducelle and Mignolo to criticize the centrality of modernity and to project the horizon of liberation from the margin. On the ontological level, Heideggerian concepts of being-in-the-world and the encounter with death are used to analyze the existential tone of some poems. This theoretical synthesis allows the “structure of contradiction” in Lahuti’s poetry to be reconstructed at different levels.
4. Discussion and Analysis
An analysis of Lahuti’s poetry reveals that antagonism in his poetry can be categorized into four main types:
Class antagonism: The opposition of worker/capitalist, inferior/superior, people/exploiter, which is in accordance with a Marxian reading of history. This type of antagonism is the main pillar of the semantic system of Lahuti’s poetry and is often expressed in mobilizing and oratorical language.
Colonial and anti-imperialist antagonism: At this level, the enemy is not only the internal ruling class but also the external dominating force. Poetry becomes a field for redefining national identity in opposition to colonial power and calls for a resistant subject.
Hegemonic-discursive antagonism: At this level, the boundary between “us” and “them” is not only economic but also discursive. Through language, metaphor, and collective discourse, Lahuti constructs a chain of equivalences that articulates plural forces under a common name (creation, liberation, revolution).
Existential antagonism: Some of Lahuti’s poems represent a tension between death and life, despair and hope, and failure and possibility that goes beyond the purely political level. This level shows that the conflict in his poetry is not only external, but also operates within the subject.
5. Conclusion
The findings reveal that Lahuti expresses anti-colonial, liberatory, and revolutionary ideas through his poetic language. He also addresses various social and political contradictions within the historico-cultural context of Iran. The article emphasizes that Lahuti’s poetry promotes class consciousness and the struggle against colonial and autocratic domination. Ultimately, it views Lahuti as a pioneer of revolutionary and decolonizing thought in Iran’s cultural and political sphere, whose poetry holds great significance in interdisciplinary research.
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