Couverture / Jaquette

Examining the emergence and subsequent demise of intellectual identification with the French Communist Party between 1945 and 1989, Sudhir Hazareesingh argues that, after 1978, political conflicts between the Communist leadership and party intellectuals led to an erosion of support. These conflicts were sharpened by the party's institutional decline during the 1980s.Dr Hazareesingh links these internal factors with wider ideological changes during the 1970s and 1980s: the decreasing relevance of class-based politics, the explosion of the myth of radical change, the reconsideration of the goals of political commitment, and, finally, the rejection of the Soviet model, all contributed significantly to an altered political climate.Based on a critical examination of the available literature, in both French and English, this systematic exploration of the role of intellectuals in French politics also explains why this social group has been so prominent in public life throughout the modern era.

Table des matières

Introduction: The withering away of Communist intellectuals; Intellectuals and politics in France; French intellectuals and the Communist party: roots of affiliation; The unity and diversity of Communist intellectuals; The crisis of 1978-1980 in historical perspective; The limits of subjectivity: Communist intellectuals and the working class; A party like all others?; The undermining of allegiances; Communist internationalism revisited; The changing ideological context of the 1980s; Conclusion: The bounds of optimism; Appendix: Table of main events 1945-1989

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