At 11:42 9/11/98 -0500, Doug Henwood wrote: >Ajit Sinha wrote: > >>At 17:08 6/11/98 -0500, Doug Henwood wrote: >> Bad Subjects >>><http://english-www.hss.cmu.edu/bs/>, which she was a co-founder, even >>>takes its name from that good Stalinist, Althusser! >>__________ >> >>What a cheap shot this is! Could you explain why do you call Althusser a >>Stalinist? > >Actually I meant it partly as a joke, and partly as a provocation to see if >any PEN-Lers would take exception. But he *was* a member of the PCF, which >was intensely loyal to the USSR. Quoting from David Macey's The Lives of >Michel Foucault, p. 37: ____________ Doug, I thought it might be half a joke. But this kind of remarks are dangerous because Althusser already had very bad press, and might I add extremely unjustifiably. One reason why some people like to associate Althusser with Stalin is because he refused to accept the 'cult of personality' thesis for the historical event known as Stalinism. Whether Althusser's position was right or wrong is a separate matter, but it definitely was a more of a theoretically Marxist position than a Freudian one. To understand Althusser's relationship with PCF, and his personality in general, I would urge you to read his autobiography. It reads like a great novel. It's a great read, unlike his philosophical works. Cheers, ajit sinha _______ > ><quote> >Foucault approached the final hurdle of the agrégation in spring 1950. This >was also the year in which he finally joined the PCF. The Parti Communiste >Français had emerged from the war as the single most important political >grouping in France, and was able to win five million votes in 1945. By the >middle of 1947, its membership reached a high point of 900,000. >Authoritarian, highly centralised and disciplined, the Party was a classic >Stalinist formation, complete with a somewhat absurd personality cult >dedicated to its secretary-general, Maurice Thorez. It was also highly >patriotic and still enjoyed and exploited the reputation it had won in the >wartime Resistance; this was le parti des fusillés - the party which had >lost more members than any other to German repression. From 1944 to 1947, >the PCF was involved directly in government and cooperated in an unstable >coalition with the SFIO (Section Française de I'lnternationale Ouvrière, >the ancestor of the modern Socialist Party) and the social-democratic >Mouvement Républicain Populaire. Tripartism lasted until May 1947, when >Prime Minister Paul Ramadier dismissed the remaining Communist ministers. >In March, the USA had adopted the Truman Doctrine of 'communist >containment'. Later the same year, Andrei Zhdanov, Stalinism's principal >ideologue proclaimed the symmetrical doctrine which divided the world into >imperialist and anti-imperialist camps. The Cold War had begun. The PCF >adopted a resolutely pro-Soviet policy and gradually retreated into a siege >mentality. Membership began to decline, and continued to do so, with some >fluctuations, for the next two decades. > This was the party which Foucault chose to join in 1950. He took out his >Party card at the urging of Althusser... ></quote> > > >
