SOCIALISTS believe that while art plays a central role in our lives as an expression of class relations and power, whether we know it or not, in the last 100 years, in the words of eminent Marxist art critic Hans Hess, “The goods have become the gods.”

On Saturday August 2, Manifesto Press will launch the third volume of Hans Hess’s writings, Art and Ideology, at the Marx Memorial Library & Workers School in Clerkenwell Green at a conference titled “Art in the Age of Degenerative Capitalism.”

Entry is free and street food will be provided. Those participating will receive a free “Hans Hess Toolbag” and in the conference will be encouraged to use its contents to produce a “guestbook” to set out their understanding of the role of art. Manifesto Press will later produce the guestbook as an e-publication. There will also be artists in residence.

You can join Communist Party activist Kenny Coyle, a leading figure in the Manifesto Press/Praxis Press Network, along with speakers such as Dr Leonardo Impett from the Max Planck Institute in Rome, Dr Annemarie Jaeggi of the Bauhaus Archiv and Dr Lucy Burke of Manchester Met University. They will make presentations, but also invite you to actively participate in the discussion.

This is going to be an event with a difference and an emphasis on dialogue and exchange of ideas.

How much do you need to know about “art” to take part? The conference is aimed at activists, trade unionists, those curious about art, those who make art or simply want to find out more.

Participants will also receive in their pack a series of “flash cards,” which will help to provoke discussion about art and ideology, including:

Who was Hans Hess (1908–1975)?

Hans was German, of Jewish heritage, an art historian, curator, and communist activist. He fled Nazi persecution, arriving in 1935 in England, co-founding the Free German League of Culture. Interned during WWII, he later became assistant keeper of art at Leicester Museum and Art Gallery. His Marxist scholarship challenged bourgeois aesthetics, but the sheer scale of his scholarship becomes clear in Art and Ideology (2025). A lifelong anti-fascist, Hess’s work bridged art, politics, and exile.

What is ‘degenerate art’?

The concept was appropriated by the Nazis to attack modernist art and artists, many of whom (but not all) happened also to be Jewish and/or left wing and thus deemed as politically or “racially” suspect. In 1937, the Nazis curated a massive exhibition of “degenerate art” in Munich. The huge crowds which flocked to view the exhibition is often considered a form of protest at the dead hand of fascism.

What did the exhibition in 1944 in Leicester aim to do?

An exhibition of Mid European Art held in Leicester in 1944, brought works by an array of modern German artists to the public’s attention — artists like Kandinsky, Kokoschka, Marc and Feininger among others. The exhibition took place just weeks before the turning point of D-Day. Simply showing these artworks represented a defiant response to the attacks on modern art and artists by the Nazis.

What were the Hess family guestbooks?

The Hess family, who owned some of the works exhibited by the Nazis, invited visitors to their home in Erfurt to record their visits in one of their guestbooks. Some visitors drew pictures or wrote poems, others recorded their name, some wrote under an alias. Many became world-renowned artists. The two guestbooks tell a story about early 20th century art and artists, life and social relationships in Weimar Germany, and the development of the Bauhaus as it begins to be eclipsed by the dark night of fascism.

Participants will be encouraged to participate in this special event, to use the contents of the Hans Hess Toolbag to produce a guestbook of the day. It’s a great opportunity to make art history.

Ticket numbers are strictly limited. Early-bird bonus: Book by August 1 to get 10 per cent off The Writings of Hans Hess, Volume 3. This launch event is a unique opportunity to analyse and discuss how art serves power—and how we might reclaim it. Reserve your place now at https://tinyurl.com/HansHessMML.