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Foucault’s anti-socialism

Summary:
It is not difficult to discern Foucault’s animosity toward the post-war left project. Obviously he was very hostile to Marxism … For Foucault in 1977, “the return of the revolution, that’s our problem (…) You know it very well: it’s the desire itself of the revolution that is a problem” … Foucault’s non-vote for Mitterrand in 1981 was about more than just a vote; it revealed his deep suspicion of the whole project of the left after 1945, with its strong state, universal rights, and public services. The new philosopher Andre Glucksman summarized this sensibility in “The Master Thinkers” – a book that Foucault endorsed in a long review and characterized as “brilliant”: “what have we won in replacing a capitalist with a functionary?” In his view, “in the long run,

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Foucault’s anti-socialismIt is not difficult to discern Foucault’s animosity toward the post-war left project. Obviously he was very hostile to Marxism … For Foucault in 1977, “the return of the revolution, that’s our problem (…) You know it very well: it’s the desire itself of the revolution that is a problem”

Foucault’s non-vote for Mitterrand in 1981 was about more than just a vote; it revealed his deep suspicion of the whole project of the left after 1945, with its strong state, universal rights, and public services. The new philosopher Andre Glucksman summarized this sensibility in “The Master Thinkers” – a book that Foucault endorsed in a long review and characterized as “brilliant”: “what have we won in replacing a capitalist with a functionary?” In his view, “in the long run, nationalization is domination” …

Let’s not forget that at that moment, he thought that the French left had no proper “governmentality” … Neoliberalism was thus attractive for a rethinking of the left … it was a rethinking that would put aside all his ideas of revolution and of socializing the means of production. Rather than creating a serious social alternative to the post-war left, Foucault did legitimize in many ways, the idea that there was no alternative to the market.

Daniel Zamora

Lars Pålsson Syll
Professor at Malmö University. Primary research interest - the philosophy, history and methodology of economics.

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