Daniel Bensaïd (25 March 1946 – 12 January 2010) was a

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

and a leader of the

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...

movement in France. He became a leading figure in the student revolt of 1968, while studying at the University of Paris X: Nanterre.

Life and career

Bensaïd was born in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

, France, to a father who was a

Sephardic Jew Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefar ...

from

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

, and who had moved from

Oran Oran ( ar, وَهران, Wahrān) is a major coastal city located in the north-west of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria after the capital Algiers, due to its population and commercial, industrial, and cultural ...

, where he met Bensaïd's mother, to

Vichy Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais. It is a Spa town, spa and resort town and in World ...

Toulouse. In response to the 8 February 1962 Charonne massacre of Algerians in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, Bensaïd joined the

Union of Communist Students The Union of Communist Students (french: Union des étudiants communistes, UEC) is a French student political organization, part of the '' Mouvement Jeunes Communistes de France'' (MJCF, Young Communists Movement of France). It was founded in 1939 ...

. Irritated by the party orthodoxy he swiftly became part of a left opposition within the union, and was among the dissidents expelled from the party in 1966. In 1966, Bensaïd began studying at the

École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Sav ...

, where he helped found the ''Jeunesse Communiste Révolutionnaire'', which became the

Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire The Revolutionary Communist League (french: Ligue communiste révolutionnaire, ''LCR'') was a Trotskyist political party in France. It was the French section of the Fourth International (Post-Reunification). It published the weekly newspaper ''R ...

(LCR). With

Daniel Cohn-Bendit Daniel Marc Cohn-Bendit (; ; born 4 April 1945) is a French-German politician of Jewish descent. He was a student leader during the unrest of May 1968 in France and was also known during that time as ''Dany le Rouge'' (French for "Danny the Red" ...

he helped to found the Mouvement du 22 Mars (Movement of 22 March), which was involved in the protests of

May 1968 in France Beginning in May 1968, a period of civil unrest occurred throughout France, lasting some seven weeks and punctuated by demonstrations, general strikes, as well as the occupation of universities and factories. At the height of events, which ha ...

.Tariq Ali
"Daniel Bensaïd obituary"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 14 January 2010. Bensaïd became a leading theorist of the LCR and the

United Secretariat of the Fourth International The Fourth International (FI), founded in 1938, is a Trotskyist international. In 1963, following a ten-year schism, the majorities of the two public factions of the Fourth International, the International Secretariat and the International Comm ...

, and a professor of philosophy at the

University of Paris-VIII Paris 8 University Vincennes-Saint-Denis (french: Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis) is a public university in Paris, France. Once part of the historic University of Paris, it is now an autonomous public institution. It is one of the th ...

. He was also a Fellow at the

International Institute for Research and Education The International Institute for Research and Education (IIRE) is a research and educational centre based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It conducts training and publishes research for and by progressive activists around the world. The institute was e ...

. Upon his death,

Tariq Ali Tariq Ali (; born 21 October 1943) is a Pakistani-British political activist, writer, journalist, historian, filmmaker, and public intellectual. He is a member of the editorial committee of the ''New Left Review'' and ''Sin Permiso'', and con ...

described him as "France's leading Marxist public intellectual, much in demand on talkshows and writing essays and reviews in ''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

'' and ''

Libération ''Libération'' (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Initially positioned on the far-left of France's ...

''." Bensaïd was known for his studies of

Walter Benjamin Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin (; ; 15 July 1892 – 26 September 1940) was a German Jewish philosopher, cultural critic and essayist. An eclectic thinker, combining elements of German idealism, Romanticism, Western Marxism, and Jewish mys ...

and

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

, and a recent analysis of French

postmodernism Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or Rhetorical modes, mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by philosophical skepticism, skepticis ...

. He died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

on 12 January 2010 at the age of 63, arising from the side effects of drugs used to treat

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

, which he had had for the previous 16 years.

Criticism and debate

Bensaïd and the current of Trotskyism represented by the Unified Secretariat of the Fourth International have come under attack from more orthodox Trotskyists for the strategy they have advanced of entering the "new social movements"; in particular, for seeing reform and revolution as a

false dichotomy A false dilemma, also referred to as false dichotomy or false binary, is an informal fallacy based on a premise that erroneously limits what options are available. The source of the fallacy lies not in an invalid form of inference but in a false ...

, and proposing the formation of "broad parties," rather than forming parties of the traditional Leninist type. In one such critique, Luke Cooper criticised Bensaïd for arguing that—in certain specific circumstances—it maybe permissible to enter a capitalist government, and seek to use the existing state as an instrument of revolutionary transformation. Bensaïd also debated revolutionary strategy with other Fourth International members, and the British Socialist Workers Party's International Secretary

Alex Callinicos Alexander Theodore Callinicos (born 24 July 1950) is a Rhodesian-born British political theorist and activist. An adherent of Trotskyism, he is a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and serves as its Internatio ...

."Hegemony and the United Front""The Return of Strategy".
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Bibliography

* with

Henri Weber Henri Weber (23 June 1944 – 26 April 2020) was a French politician and Member of the European Parliament for the north-west of France. He was a member of the Socialist Party (PS), which is part of the Party of European Socialists, and sat on ...

: ''Mai 1968: Une répétition générale'' (

François Maspero François Maspero (19 January 1932, in Paris – 11 April 2015, in Paris) was a French author and journalist, best known as a publisher of leftist books in the 1970s. He also worked as a translator, translating the works of Joseph Conrad, Mehdi B ...

, 1968
online edition
* ''La revolution et le pouvoir'' (Penser, 1976, ) * "In Memory of a Rebel". ''Telos'' 44, Summer 1980 (). * ''Walter Benjamin: sentinelle messianique'' (Plon, 1990, ) * ''La discordance des temps: essais sur les crises, les classes, l'histoire'' (Editions de la Passion, 1995, ) * ''Marx l'intempestif: Grandeurs et misères d'une aventure critique'' (Fayard, 1995, ); English translation: ''A Marx for Our Times: Adventures and Misadventures of a Critique'' (Verso, 2002, ) * ''Le pari mélancolique'' (Fayard, 1997, ) * ''Qui est le juge?'' (Fayard, 1999, ) * ''Contes et légendes de la guerre éthique'' (Textuel, 1999, ) * ''Eloge de la résistance à l'air du temps'' (Textuel, 1999, ) * ''Le sourire du spectre'' (Michalon, 2000, ) * ''Les irréductibles'' (Textuel, 2001, ) * ''Une lente impatience'' (Stock, 2004, ) - his autobiography; English translation: ''An Impatient Life: A Memoir'' (Verso, 2014, ) * ''Fragments mécréants. Mythes identitaires et république imaginaire'' (2005, )

References

External links

Daniel Bensaïd website - Multilingual website with articles, books, audio and video recordings by and of Daniel Bensaïd

* ttp://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?auteur14 Daniel Bensaïd's articles in International Viewpoint* *

"Daniel Bensaïd obituary"
''The Guardian'', 14 January 2010 *

"Daniel Bensaid Obituary"
SWP Online, 12 January 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bensaid, Daniel 1946 births 2010 deaths Deaths from cancer in France AIDS-related deaths in France Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery Critics of postmodernism ENS Fontenay-Saint-Cloud-Lyon alumni 20th-century French Sephardi Jews French male writers French Marxists French people of Algerian-Jewish descent 20th-century French philosophers Atheist philosophers Jewish atheists Jewish philosophers Jewish socialists Marxist theorists Marxist writers May 1968 events in France New Anticapitalist Party politicians Politicians from Toulouse Revolutionary Communist League (France) politicians Academic staff of Paris 8 University Vincennes-Saint-Denis