Aretaic Marxism and the Sorelian Myth

"The proletariat must acquire the qualities of a great conquering army."

I've not read Georges Sorel since I was a young man developing an understanding of the revolutionary syndicalist tradition I sought to revitalize. At the time, while critical of Sorel's revisionist abandonment of value theory and materialist dialectics, I was nonetheless sympathetic to some of the Bergsonian components of his thinking. I have since rejected much of the non-rational and voluntarist presuppositions Sorel espoused, as well as his syndicalist political philosophy more generally. Nearly two decades later, Sorel came to mind while researching for my project on aretaic Marxism. Despite his controversial history in influencing aspects of right-wing thought, of all of the 20th century theoreticians of the radical left, Sorel was among the only figures to take seriously virtue theory as an element of revolutionary praxis and socialist reconstruction–particularly the roles of discipline, sacrifice, and heroism. Similarly innovative and, in my estimation, of enduring relevance is Sorel's theory of symbols and images ("myths") energizing social action. I will be re-reading Reflections on Violence and From Georges Sorel: Essays in Socialism and Philosophy over the summer in an effort to see if aspects of Sorel's theory might be salvageable and integrated into my work on revolutionary consciousness.