The (GP) was a French

Maoist Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Ch ...

political party which existed from 1968 to 1974. As

Christophe Bourseiller Christophe Bourseiller (; born Christophe Gintzburger; born 27 September 1957 in Paris) is a French actor, writer, freemason and journalist. He began as a child actor and starred in Yves Robert's '' War of the Buttons'' (''La Guerre des boutons'') ...

has put it, "Of all the Maoist organizations after

May 1968 The following events occurred in May 1968: May 1, 1968 (Wednesday) * CARIFTA, the Caribbean Free Trade Association, was formally created as an agreement between Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago. * RAF Strike ...

, the most important numerically as well as in cultural influence was without question the Gauche prolétarienne".

History

The GP was formed in October 1968. After a split in the (UJC-ML), several members - including

Olivier Rolin Olivier Rolin (born 14 May 1947, in Boulogne-Billancourt) is a French writer. He won the Prix Femina in 1994, for his novel ''Port-Soudan''. His brother Jean Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean ( ...

Jean-Pierre Le Dantec Jean-Pierre or Jean Pierre may refer to: People * Karine Jean-Pierre b.1977, White House Deputy Press Secretary for President Joe Biden 2021- * Jean-Pierre, Count of Montalivet (1766–1823), French statesman and Peer of France * Eugenia Pierre ...

, Jean-Claude Vernier, the brothers Tony and

Benny Lévy Benny Lévy (also Pierre Victor; 1945–2003) was a philosopher, political activist and author. A political figure of May 1968 in France, he was the disciple and last personal secretary of Jean-Paul Sartre from 1974 to 1980. Along with him, he he ...

, Jean Schiavo, Maurice Brover and Jean-Claude Zancarini - formed the new party. In 1969 the former student union leaders

Alain Geismar Alain Geismar (, born 17 July 1939 in Paris) is a French politician, physicist, and Honorary Inspector General of Education. He was one of the student leaders during the unrest of May 1968 in France. Biography Geismar was born in the 16th arrond ...

and

Serge July Serge July (born 27 December 1942) is a French journalist, founder of the daily '' Libération'', and a prominent figure in French politics from the 1970s through the 1990s. In recent times, he has been active in French organizations working in s ...

joined the group. Several members of the group were involved with the founding of the French daily which evolved into a

centre left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The ce ...

mainstream mass circulation daily newspaper. The group was also known as "

Mao-Spontex Revolutionary spontaneity, also known as spontaneism, is a revolutionary socialist tendency that believes the social revolution can and should occur spontaneously from below by the working class itself, without the aid or guidance of a vanguar ...

", or Maoist-spontaneists. The connection to Spontex, a cleaning sponge brand, was intended as a pejorative to disparage the GP's antiauthoritarianism approach to revolution. Prominent people who were at one point members of the GP include

, Frédéric H. Fajardie,

Gérard Miller Gérard (French: ) is a French masculine given name and surname of Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constitue ...

Jean-Claude Milner Jean-Claude Milner (; born 3 January 1941) is a linguist, philosopher and essayist. His specialist fields of endeavour are linguistics (which he studied with Roland Barthes) and psychoanalysis (through the teaching and friendship of Jacques Lacan ...

Marin Karmitz Marin Karmitz (born 7 October 1938) is a Romanian-French businessman whose career has spanned the French film industry, including director, producer, film distributor, and operator of a chain of cinemas. Karmitz attended film school at IDHE ...

André Glucksmann André Glucksmann (; 19 June 1937 – 10 November 2015) was a French philosopher, activist and writer. He was a leading figure of the new philosophers. Glucksmann began his career as a Marxist, but went on to reject communism in the popular bo ...

, Gilles Susong,

Christian Jambet Christian Jambet (born 23 April 1949, Algiers, French Algeria) is a French philosopher and Islamologist. Publications Essais *1976: ''Apologie de Platon, Essais de métaphysique'', coll. « Théoriciens », Éditions Grasset, 249 p. *: Wit ...

, Guy Lardreau,

Daniel Rondeau Daniel Rondeau (born 7 May 1948) is a French writer, editor, and diplomat. Born in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, he studied law at Panthéon-Assas where the spirit of May 68 saw him embrace Maoism and join the proletariat by working from 1970 to 1974 i ...

, Olivier Roy,

Judith Miller Judith Miller (born January 2, 1948) is an American journalist and commentator known for her coverage of Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) program both before and after the 2003 invasion, which was later discovered to have been based on ...

Dominique Grange "Dominique" is a 1963 French language popular song, written and performed by the Belgian female singer Jeannine Deckers, better known as Sœur Sourire ("Sister Smile" in French) or The Singing Nun. The song is about Saint Dominic, a Spanish-bo ...

and Gilles Millet. A group of former members became core members of the New Philosophers in the 1970s.

References

External links

Maoism in France in the 1970′s

History of the Gauche prolétarienne
1968 establishments in France 1974 disestablishments in France Communist parties in France Defunct political parties in France Maoist organizations in France New Philosophers Political parties established in 1968 Political parties disestablished in 1974 {{France-party-stub

History

See also

References

External links