Intellectuals and the French Communist Party: Disillusion and Decline

ISBN-13: 9780198278702 / Angielski / Twarda / 1992 / 376 str.

Sudhir Hazareesingh

Opis

In this work, the author examines the emergence and demise of intellectual identification with the French Communist Party between 1945 to 1989. He argues that, after 1978 political conflicts between the party leadership and intellectuals led to an erosion of support, sharpened by wider ideological changes. 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.

Recenzje

The product of lengthy and careful research ... Bell and Criddle's general line of argument is persuasive, and their style of presentation is quite clear ... this book represents an important contribution to our understanding of the French Communist Party, its functioning during the Fifth Republic, and the reasons why it has declined.

Spis treści

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