Gilles Dauvé (

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

Jean Barrot; born 1947) is a French ultra-left political theorist, school teacher, and

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

, associated with the development of communization theory.

Biography

In collaboration with other left communists such as François Martin and Karl Nesic, Dauvé has attempted to fuse, critique, and develop different left communist currents, most notably the Italian movement associated with Amadeo Bordiga (and its heretical journal '' Invariance''), German-Dutch

council communism Council communism or councilism is a current of communism, communist thought that emerged in the 1920s. Inspired by the German Revolution of 1918–1919, November Revolution, council communism was opposed to state socialism and advocated wor ...

, and the French perspectives associated with '' Socialisme ou Barbarie'' and the

Situationist International The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists. It was prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution ...

. He has focused on theoretical discussions of economic issues concerning the controversial failure of

Second International The Second International, also called the Socialist International, was a political international of Labour movement, socialist and labour parties and Trade union, trade unions which existed from 1889 to 1916. It included representatives from mo ...

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

(including both

Social Democracy Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

and

Leninist Leninism (, ) is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the Dictatorship of the proletariat#Vladimir Lenin, dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary Vangu ...

Communism), the global revolutionary upsurge of the 1960s and its subsequent dissolution, and on developments in global capitalist accumulation and class struggle. Among English-speaking communists and anarchists, Dauvé is best known for hi
''Eclipse and Re-emergence of the Communist Movement''
first published by Black & Red Press (

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

) in 1974 an
Critique of the Situationist International
first published in Red Eye,

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

. An essay from the first pamphlet, and the whole of the second article, were reprinted by Unpopular Books in London as ''What is Communism'' (1983) and ''What is Situationism'' respectively, in 1987. The first pamphlet was reprinted with a new foreword in 1997 by Antagonism (

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

). It includes Dauvé's own translations of two of his articles and one by François Martin, both originally published in (Paris: Champ Libre, 1972). These articles develop Bordiga's critique of

productivism Productivism or growthism is the belief that measurable productivity and growth are the purpose of human organization (e.g., work), and that "more production is necessarily good". Critiques of productivism center primarily on the limits to ...

in light of Marx's writings on formal and real subsumption and the global uprisings of 1968, and theory of

communization Communization theory (or communisation theory in British English) refers to a tendency on the ultra-left that understands communism as a process that, in a social revolution, immediately begins to replace all capitalist social relations with ...

by drawing on council communist and Situationist traditions. Dauvé also participated in the journal ''La Banquise'', which he edited with Karl Nesic and others from 1983 to 1986. This sought to develop the new communist program suggested in ''Le Mouvement Communiste'' through a critical appraisal of post-1968 radical politics, including Situationist and

autonomist Autonomism or ''autonomismo'', also known as autonomist Marxism or autonomous Marxism, is an anti-capitalist Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and Political movement, movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose ...

experiments. It also developed the theory of society's real subsumption into capital. The editors describe their aims and influences in (''La Banquise'', 2, 1983). More recently, Dauvé, along with Nesic and others, has published the irregular journal ''Troploin'', featuring articles on the collapse of both

and

Keynesian Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output an ...

regimes of accumulation and the transition to "globalized"

neoliberal Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pej ...

expansion, the Middle Eastern conflicts, September 11, and the rhetoric and logic of the War on Terrorism. Many have been translated into English by Dauvé himself and are archived on th
Troploin
website.

Bibliography

In English

''Eclipse and Re-emergence of the Communist Movement''
Jean Barrot et François Martin (alias de François Cerutti), Black & Red Press (Detroit, Michigan), 1974 * , 1979 *
''and the S.I.?''
(originally published in ''La Banquise'', no. 4, 1986)
''The Perplexities of the Middle Eastern Conflict''

''Grey September''
(on the issues raised after September 11, 2001, with Carasso and Nesic)
''Back to the Situationist International''
* ''From Crisis to Communisation'' (PM Press, 2019)

In French

* Jean Barrot, , Champ Libre, 1972 * Jean Barrot, , La Tête de feuilles, 1972 * Jean Barrot, , Payot, 1976 * Jean Barrot, , Paris, U.G.E. 10/18, 1979 ( téléchargeable cf. liens externes) * Collectif, , préf. Gilles Perrault, ill. Tony Johannot, contributions de Pierre Rabcor, François-Georges Lavacquerie, Serge Quadruppani, Gilles Dauvé, en annexe : '' Les Ennemis de nos ennemis ne sont pas forcément nos amis'' (mai 1992), Paris, Réflex, 1996 * Gilles Dauvé, , HB Éditions, 1997 * Gilles Dauvé, , ADEL, 1999 * Denis Authier, Gilles Dauvé, , Les Nuits rouges, 2003 * Gilles Dauvé, Karl Nesic, , L'Harmattan, 2009

References

External links