Claude Lefort
Encyclopedia
Claude Lefort was a French philosopher and activist.
He was politically active by 1942 under the influence of his tutor, the phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty
(whose posthumous publications Lefort later edited ). By 1943 he was organising a faction of the Trotskyist Parti Communiste Internationaliste at the Lycée Henri IV
in Paris
.
Lefort was impressed by Cornelius Castoriadis
when he first met him. From 1946 he collaborated with him in the Chaulieu–Montal Tendency, so called from their pseudonyms Pierre Chaulieu (Castoriadis) and Claude Montal (Lefort). They published On the Regime and Against the Defence of the USSR, a critique of both the Soviet Union
and its Trotskyist supporters. They suggested that the USSR was dominated by a social layer of bureaucrats, and that it consisted of a new kind of society as aggressive as Western European societies. By 1948, having tried to persuade other Trotskyists of their viewpoint, they broke away with about a dozen others and founded the libertarian socialist group Socialisme ou Barbarie
. Lefort's text L'Expérience prolétarienne was important in shifting the group's focus towards forms of self-organisation.
For a time Lefort wrote for both the Socialisme ou Barbarie journal and for Les Temps Modernes
. His involvement in the latter journal ended after a published debate during 1952-4 over Sartre's article The Communists and Peace.
Lefort was for a long time uncomfortable with Socialisme ou Barbarie's "organisationalist" tendencies. In 1958 he, Henri Simon and others left and formed Informations et Liaison Ouvrières.
In his academic career, Lefort taught at the University of São Paulo
, at the Sorbonne
and at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
, being affiliated to the Centre de recherches politiques Raymond Aron
. He has written on the early political writers Niccolò Machiavelli
and Étienne de La Boétie
and explored "the Totalitarian enterprise" in its "denial of social division... [and] of the difference between the order of power, the order of law and the order of knowledge" .
He was politically active by 1942 under the influence of his tutor, the phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
Maurice Merleau-Ponty was a French phenomenological philosopher, strongly influenced by Karl Marx, Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger in addition to being closely associated with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir...
(whose posthumous publications Lefort later edited ). By 1943 he was organising a faction of the Trotskyist Parti Communiste Internationaliste at the Lycée Henri IV
Lycée Henri IV
The Lycée Henri-IV is a public secondary school located in Paris. Along with Louis-le-Grand it is widely regarded as one of the most demanding sixth-form colleges in France....
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
Lefort was impressed by Cornelius Castoriadis
Cornelius Castoriadis
Cornelius Castoriadis was a Greek philosopher, social critic, economist, psychoanalyst, author of The Imaginary Institution of Society, and co-founder of the Socialisme ou Barbarie group.-Early life in Athens:...
when he first met him. From 1946 he collaborated with him in the Chaulieu–Montal Tendency, so called from their pseudonyms Pierre Chaulieu (Castoriadis) and Claude Montal (Lefort). They published On the Regime and Against the Defence of the USSR, a critique of both the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and its Trotskyist supporters. They suggested that the USSR was dominated by a social layer of bureaucrats, and that it consisted of a new kind of society as aggressive as Western European societies. By 1948, having tried to persuade other Trotskyists of their viewpoint, they broke away with about a dozen others and founded the libertarian socialist group Socialisme ou Barbarie
Socialisme ou Barbarie
Socialisme ou Barbarie was a French-based radical libertarian socialist group of the post-World War II period . It existed from 1948 until 1965...
. Lefort's text L'Expérience prolétarienne was important in shifting the group's focus towards forms of self-organisation.
For a time Lefort wrote for both the Socialisme ou Barbarie journal and for Les Temps Modernes
Les Temps modernes
The first issue of Les Temps modernes , the most important cultural review of the period after World War II, appeared in October 1945. It was known as the review of Jean-Paul Sartre. It was named for a film by Charlie Chaplin...
. His involvement in the latter journal ended after a published debate during 1952-4 over Sartre's article The Communists and Peace.
Lefort was for a long time uncomfortable with Socialisme ou Barbarie's "organisationalist" tendencies. In 1958 he, Henri Simon and others left and formed Informations et Liaison Ouvrières.
In his academic career, Lefort taught at the University of São Paulo
University of São Paulo
Universidade de São Paulo is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian university and one of the country's most prestigious...
, at the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
and at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
The École des hautes études en sciences sociales is a leading French institution for research and higher education, a Grand Établissement. Its mission is research and research training in the social sciences, including the relationship these latter maintain with the natural and life sciences...
, being affiliated to the Centre de recherches politiques Raymond Aron
Centre de recherches politiques Raymond Aron
The Centre de recherche politiques Raymond Aron is the research center of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales that specializes in political philosophy....
. He has written on the early political writers Niccolò Machiavelli
Niccolò Machiavelli
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was an Italian historian, philosopher, humanist, and writer based in Florence during the Renaissance. He is one of the main founders of modern political science. He was a diplomat, political philosopher, playwright, and a civil servant of the Florentine Republic...
and Étienne de La Boétie
Étienne de La Boétie
Étienne de La Boétie was a French judge, writer, anarchist, and "a founder of modern political philosophy in France." He "has been best remembered as the great and close friend of the eminent essayist Michel de Montaigne, in one of history's most notable friendships."-Life:"La Boétie was born in...
and explored "the Totalitarian enterprise" in its "denial of social division... [and] of the difference between the order of power, the order of law and the order of knowledge" .
Publications
- La Brèche, en collaboration avec Edgar MorinEdgar MorinEdgar Morin is a French philosopher and sociologist born Edgar Nahoum in Paris on July 8, 1921. He is of Judeo-Spanish origin. He is known for the transdisciplinarity of his works.- Biography :...
, P. Coudray (pseudonyme de Cornelius CastoriadisCornelius CastoriadisCornelius Castoriadis was a Greek philosopher, social critic, economist, psychoanalyst, author of The Imaginary Institution of Society, and co-founder of the Socialisme ou Barbarie group.-Early life in Athens:...
), Fayard, Paris, 1968. - Éléments d'une critique de la bureaucratie, Droz, Genève, 1971. 2nd edition with Gallimard, Paris, 1979.
- The Age of Novelty. Telos 29 (Fall 1976). Telos Press, New York..
- Le Travail de l'œuvre, Machiavel, Gallimard, Paris, 1972 (republié coll. « Tel », 1986).
- Un Homme en trop. Essai sur l'archipel du goulag de Soljénitsyne, Le Seuil, Paris, 1975 (republié, Le Seuil poche - 1986).
- Les Formes de l'histoire, Gallimard, Paris, 1978.
- Sur une colonne absente. Autour de Merleau-Ponty, Gallimard, Paris, 1978.
- L'Invention démocratique. Les Limites de la domination totalitaire, Fayard, Paris, 1981.
- Essais sur le politique : XIXe et XXe siècles, Seuil, Paris, 1986.
- Écrire à l'épreuve du politique, Calmann-Lévy, Paris, 1992.
- La Complication, Fayard, Paris, 1999.
- Les Formes de l'histoire. Essais d'anthropologie politique, Gallimard, Paris, «Folio Essais», 2000.
- Le Temps présent, Belin, Paris,2007.
English translations
- The Political Forms of Modern Society: Bureaucracy, Democracy, Totalitarianism (MIT Press, 1986)
- Democracy and Political Theory (MIT Press, 1989)
- Writing: The Political Test (Duke University Press, 2000)
- Complications: Communism and the Dilemmas of Democracy (Columbia University Press, 2007)