Socialism or Barbarism Socialisme ou Barbarie | |
|---|---|
 Copies of the journalSocialisme ou Barbarie | |
| Abbreviation | SouB |
| Leader | Cornelius Castoriadis |
| Founders | Cornelius Castoriadis Claude Lefort Jean Laplanche |
| Founded | 1948 (1948) |
| Dissolved | June 1967 (1967-06) |
| Split from | Internationalist Communist Party |
| Newspaper | Socialisme ou Barbarie |
| Membership(1960) | 100 |
| Ideology | Libertarian socialism Council communism |
| Political position | Far-left |
| British sister organisation | Solidarity |
Socialisme ou Barbarie (SouB; "Socialism or Barbarism") was a French-based radicallibertarian socialist group of the post-World War II period whose name comes from a phrase which was misattributed toFriedrich Engels byRosa Luxemburg in theJunius Pamphlet, but which probably was most likely first used byKarl Kautsky.[1][2] It existed from 1948 until 1967.[3] The animating personality wasCornelius Castoriadis, also known as "Pierre Chaulieu" or "Paul Cardan."[4]Socialisme ou Barbarie (S ou B) is also the name of the group's journal.
The group was defined as an "enterprise of revolutionary critique and orientation" and was occupied with "combattingexploitation andalienation."[5]
The group originated in theTrotskyistFourth International, where Castoriadis andClaude Lefort constituted aChaulieu–Montal tendency – so called after their pseudonyms "Pierre Chaulieu" (Castoriadis) and "Claude Montal" (Lefort) – in the FrenchParti Communiste Internationaliste in 1946. Castoriadis had links with the group known as theJohnson–Forest Tendency (a 1945–1962 Trotskyisttendency in the United States associated with theSoviet-critical theoristsC. L. R. James andRaya Dunayevskaya).[6]
In 1948, the group experienced their "final disenchantment with Trotskyism",[7] leading them to break away to form Socialisme ou Barbarie, whose journal began appearing in March 1949. Castoriadis later said of this period that "the main audience of the group and of the journal was formed by groups of the old, radical left:Bordigists,council communists, someanarchists and some offspring of the German 'left' of the 1920s."[8]
SouB developed parallel to, and were in dialogue with, the Johnson–Forest Tendency, which developed as a body of ideas within American Trotskyist organisations; one faction of this group later formedFacing Reality (1962–1970). The early days also brought debate withAnton Pannekoek and an influx of ex-Bordigists into the group.[citation needed]
The group was composed of both intellectuals and workers, and agreed with the idea that the main enemies of society were the bureaucracies which governed modern capitalism. They documented and analysed the struggle against that bureaucracy in the group's journal. The thirteenth issue (January–March 1954), as an example, was devoted to theEast German revolt of June 1953 and the strikes which erupted amongst several sectors of French workers that summer. Following from the belief that what the working class was addressing in their daily struggles was the real content of socialism, the intellectuals encouraged the workers in the group to report on every aspect of their working lives.[citation needed]
Socialisme ou Barbarie was critical ofLeninism, rejecting the idea of a revolutionary party,[9] and placing an emphasis on the importance ofworkers' councils. While some members left to form other groups, those remaining became more and more critical ofMarxism over time.Jean Laplanche, one of the group's founding members, recalls the early days of the organization:
the atmosphere soon became impossible. Castoriadis exerted hegemony over the journal (he wrote the main articles) and his central idea in the mid-1950s was that athird world war was inevitable. This was very hard for people in the group to stand: to continue our lives, while thinking there would be an atomic explosion in a few years' time. It was an apocalyptic vision.[10]
TheHungarian Revolution and other events of the mid-1950s led to a further influx into the group. By this time, they were proposing the fundamental point as
the necessity for capitalism on the one hand to reduce workers to simple executors of tasks, and on the other hand, in its impossibility to continue functioning if it succeeds in so doing. Capitalism needs to achieve mutually incompatible objectives: the participation and the exclusion of the worker in production – as of all citizens in relation to politics.[11]
This became characterised as a distinction between thedirigeant andexécutant in French, usually translated asorder-givers andorder-takers. This perspective enabled the group to extend its understanding to the new forms of social conflict emerging outside the realm of production as such. That was also the case for the1960–1961 Winter General Strike inWallonia.[citation needed]
After theMay 1958 crisis and an influx of new meeting attendees, disagreements on the organisational role of a political group led to the departure of some prominent members including Claude Lefort andHenri Simon to formInformations et Liaison Ouvrières ILO ("Workers' Information and Liaison"; 1958–1960); after Lefort's departure in 1960, that group becameInformations et Correspondance Ouvrières – ICO ("Workers' Information and Correspondence"; 1960–1973).[12]
By 1960, SouB had grown to around 100 members and had developed new international links, primarily in the emergence of a sister organisation in Britain calledSolidarity.[13]
In June 1963, disputes within the group around Castoriadis' increasing rejection of Marxism led to the departure of the group around thePouvoir Ouvrier (PO;Worker Power) journal; the group of the same name (whose members includedJean-François Lyotard) existed from 1963 to 1969 and believed that a revolutionary organisation was necessary to help bring about the establishment of workers' councils.[citation needed]
TheSouB journal continued publishing until a final edition in 1965, after which the group became dormant and announced its indefinite suspension in June 1967.[3] An attempt by Castoriadis to revive it during theMay 1968 events failed.[citation needed]
TheSituationist International was influenced by Socialisme ou Barbarie throughGuy Debord (who was a member of both), as too was Socialisme ou Barbarie influenced by Debord and the Situationists.[14] The Italian social movement ofAutonomia was also influenced, but less directly.[citation needed] Castoriadis' ideas as expressed inSouB were a significant influence on participants in May 68 – a fact acknowledged byDaniel Cohn-Bendit.[15][16]
Members of Socialisme ou Barbarie included:
Source: Andrea Gabler:Arbeitsanalyse und Selbstbestimmung. Zur Bedeutung und Aktualität von "Socialisme ou Barbarie", Göttingen, 2006. This is a dissertation for theDoktor (Ph.D.) in social sciences from theGeorg-August-Universität Göttingen. Her many biographies are in Anhang C, pp. 210–223.
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