We never saw the reference to Trotskyism as a way to shut ourselves off from others. For us, it was more like a polemical challenge. We accepted the Trotskyist tag in our conflict with the Stalinists — but without building a neurotic identity out of it or, conversely, downplaying the importance of this heritage.
Notes on recent developments in the European radical left
31 December 2009, byThe recent elections in Germany and Portugal have confirmed the emergence of a new radical Left in a number of countries across Europe. In Germany, Die Linke won 11.9 percent of the vote and 76 seats in the Bundestag. In Portugal, the Left Bloc received 9.86 percent of the vote and doubled its number of seats to 16.
“It is time to define the strategy”
11 October 2009, byThe French philosopher Daniel Bensaïd, a revolutionary of ideas from the anti-capitalist left, has just published his In Praise of Profane Politics, a dense and complex work through which this thinker hopes to contribute to a counter attack by the transformative left which can take ordinary people out of a never ending crisis.
Hegemony and United Front
13 November 2007, byHow is the issue of the united front and the fight for working hegemony posed today - the the era of increased differentiation inside the working class and the existence of dozens of radical social movements?
Thirty years after: A critical introduction to the Marxism of Ernest Mandel
3 September 2007, byErnest Mandel’s Introduction to Marxism has been and remains a reference book for many activists. Thirty years after its first publication, in 1974, Daniel Bensaïd looks back at one of Mandel’s most widely read works.
The French elections and our strategic project
28 April 2007, byA long interview on the political project of revolutionary marxists, with an introduction reflecting on the outcome of the first round of the French presidential elections on 20 April 2007.
“The Presidential campaign is rotting French political life”
11 February 2007, byThe failure of the anti-neoliberal left in France to agree a united candidate for the coming presidential elections has caused great controversy. For some leftists the LCR shares the blame, for refusing to back any candidate who is equivocal about participation in a ’left’ government with the neoliberal Socialist Party. Daniel Bensaïd explains the LCR’s intransigence on this point - and the damage being done to the French body politic by the campaign.
The Return of Strategy
2 February 2007, byIn the light of developments in Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil, Italy and France, a new debate is developing. According to Bensaid the ’utopian moment’ of the Global Justice Movement in the early part of the decade is being replaced with a more hard-headed grappling with political strategy.
Twelve comments plus one more, to continue the debate with John Holloway
16 September 2006, byDaniel Bensaid continues the debate on whether the left can change the world without taking power.
The Mole and the Locomotive
8 September 2006, byDaniel Bensaid reflects on the persistance of resistance and revolution at times when the power of capitalism seems unstoppable and overwhelming.