I am very sorry to hear of Castoriadis' death. I did not follow his work in psychoanalysis, and did not particularly agree with some of his writings in Telos during the 80s -- particularly his identification of the Soviet Union as a more dangerous threat to human liberation than the threat posed by modern capitalism in the US and Europe. I thought he went overboard there as many Maoists did at one point, and somehow lost sight of the evils and power in western capitalism that his earlier writings had helped me understand. But I would like to say he had a significant influence on my own political and economic thinking during the 70s. I am staring right now at a copy of "Workers' Councils and the Economics of a Self-Managed Society" that was first published under the name of Paul Cardan by London Solidarity in 1972, and reprinted in the US by Philadelphia Solidarity in 1974. Perhaps because I had not read Edward Bellamy or William Morris' utopian novels, or Kropotkin or Pannecock, prior to thinking out the first version of what Mike Albert and I first called "decentralized socialist planning" back in the mid 70s I was powerfully influenced by Castoriadis' pamphlet. I considered it at that time the best thought out version of workers' self management through planning that I had ever seen. Although I think it had some critical flaws, I still think it is a remarkable intellectual tour de force -- published as a pamphlet for activists with terrific cartoons interspersed. I still consider it much more ingenious than many of Castoriadis' articles in Telos that were adorned with more elaborate academic and intellectual sophistication. In any case, I wanted to express my gratitude for the genius and courage that marked Castoriadis' life. I think there were times when he was right on the money with insights that were unpopular with most progressives at the time. He had the genius to see some things clearly long before others could, and the courage to shout his insights from the roof tops. I don't think he was always right. I do think his initial critiques of the Soviet System, his belief in and dedication to the goal of true workers' self-management, and his contributions regarding how councils of workers could coordinate and plan their inter related activities without resort to markets were truly ingenius and will withstand the only test that matters -- the test of time.
