Daniel Bensaïd, the French revolutionary Marxist, was a party man, a founder of the Communist League in 1969 and one of the principle architects of what would become the New Anti-Capitalist Party in 2009.
He became an essential reference point for the French and European radical left. He was trained in the youth radicalisation of the mid-1960s and was a leading figure in the May ’68 uprising. A witness to the decline in working class struggle during the 1980s and 1990s, Bensaïd became a link between two generations of intellectuals and militants.
With the social and political defeats, Bensaïd returned to fundamentals to breathe life into Marx’s thought by interrogating it in light of the present. As Stathis Kouvelakis wrote:
 “The originality of his reading of Marx, and of his theoretical work more generally, is not simply the fruit of a long and intense personal research. It is a theoretical proposal whose stakes are political. Whilst situating himself within a continuity on his political and organisational plane, he was able to provide a new ensemble of references, a kind of new grammar of theory that marked a considerable renovation and in many regards, even a rupture with the intellectual universe – the common sense of the revolutionary left in theoretical matters – including that of his own political current.”
Bensaïd helped renovate Marxism. From the past to the present, from philosophy to politics, we can find in Bensaïd a “footbridge” between the traditions of “classical Marxism”, “Western Marxism” and a Marxism that can call itself “open” – open to the extent that it takes into account the challenges put forward by contemporary critical theory.
Through his fidelity to Marxism and an anti-capitalist perspective, against an “enemy who has not ceased to be victorious” and by underlining the relative autonomy of theoretical reflection in relation to political practice, Bensaïd has left us an inventory to update critical thought.
[Daniel Bensaïd’s writings are being translated into English. Visit <a href="http://www.danielbensaid.org">www.danielbensaid.org</a> for more information.]

The value of Daniel Bensaïd

Other Media

Shop

Manage Your Subscription

Contact Us