The Castoriadis Reader (Blackwell Readers)

The Castoriadis Reader

BLACKWELL READERS In a numb er of disciplines, across a number of decades, and in a number of languages, writers and texts have emerged which require the attention of students and scholars around the world. United only by a concern with radical ideas, Blackwell Readers collect and introduce the works of pre-eminent theorists. Often translating works for the first time (Levinas, Irigaray, Lyotard, Blanchot, Kristeva) or presenting material previously inaccessible (C. L. R. James, Fanon, Elias) each volume in the series introduces and represents work which is now fundamental to study in the humanities and social sciences. (See also Blackwell Critical Readers. )

Already published The Lyotard Reader

Edited by Andrew Benjamin

The lrigaray Reader Edited by Margaret Whitford

The Kn"steva Reader Edited by Toril Moi

The Levinas Reader Edited by Sean Hand

The CLR James Reader Edited by Anna Grimshaw

The Wiugenslein Reader Edited by Sir Anthony Kenny

The Blanchot Reader Edited by Michael Holland

The Guattan" Reader Edited by Gary Genesko

The Cavell Reader Edited by Stephen Mulhall

The CaslOriadis Reader Edited by David Ames Curtis

The Lukacs Reader Edited by Arpad Kadarkay

Forthcoming

The Benjamin Reader Edited by Drew Milne

The Fanon Reader Edited by Homi Bhabha

a

s

o

Cornelius Castoriadis

Translated and Edited by

David Ames Curtis

1I1���nlllrllI1�11I�lInril�1 39001105238086

BlACI<WEll

�

Copyright © Blackwell Publishers Ltd 1 997 First published 1 997 2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1

Blackwell Publishers Inc. 350 Main Street Malden, MA 02 1 48 USA All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechan­ ical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's priorconsent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Castoriadis, Cornelius. [Selections. English. 1 997] The Castoriadis reader / Cornelius Castoriadis. Translated and edited by David Ames Curtis. p. cm. - (Blackwell readers) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1 -55786-703-8 (alk. paper) . - ISBN 1 -557 86-704-6 (pbk. alk. paper) 1 . Social sciences. 2. Political science. 3. Communism. 4. Socialism. I. Title. II. Series. H61 .C332 1 3 1 997 300-dc20 96-1 2037 CIP

This book is printed on acid-free paper

Contents

o����W�s� li�I���il!�II�!�I�1 KUTUPHANESI

0918317

Foreword

vii

Acknowledgements

xvi

Abbreviations

xviii

'The Only Way to Find Out If You Can Swim Is to Get into the Water': An Introductory Interview ( 1 974) 2

Presentation of Socialisme ou Barbarz"e. An Organ of Critique and Revolutionary Orientation ( 1 949)

35

3

On the Content of Socialism ( 1 9 5 5-1 9 5 7) : Excerpts From the Critique of Bureaucracy to the Idea of the Proletariat's Autonomy ( 1 -9 55) On the Content of Socialism, II ( 1 957)

40 40 49

4

Recommencing the Revolution ( 1 964)

1 06

5

Marxism and Revolutionary Theory ( 1 964-1 965) : Excerpts Marxism: A Provisional Assessment Theory and Revolutionary Project

1 39 1 39 1 46

6

The Social Imaginary and the Institution ( 1 975) : Excerpt The Social-Historical

1 96

7

The Social Regime in Russia ( 1 978)

218

8

From Ecology to Autonomy ( 1 9 80)

239

9

The Crisis of Western Societies ( 1 982)

253

vi

Contents

10

The Greek Polis and the Creation o f Democracy ( 1 983)

267

11

The Logic of Magmas and the Question of Autonomy ( 1 983)

290

12

Radical Imagination and the Social Instituting Imaginary ( 1 994)

319

13

Culture in a Democrat�c Society ( 1 994)

338

14

Psychoanalysis and Philosophy ( 1 996)

349

15

Done and To Be Done ( 1 989)

36 1

Index

418

Foreword

Cornelius Castoriadis was born in

1 922 in what was then known as

Constantinople and would soon become Istanbul. In the troubled times

surrounding the birth of the modern Turkish State, Castoriadis's father, a Voltairean Francophile of Greek extraction, removed the family to Athens. There the young Castoriadis grew up during the turbulent years leading up to the Metaxas dictatorship, the Second World War, the Nazi occupation, Greece's liberation, and the Greek Communists' December

d'etat attempt. In December

1 944 coup 1 945, under threat of death from both Fascists

and Stalinists, Castoriadis, who had joined the Greek Communist Youth only to enter soon thereafter into opposition and then join the Trotskyists,

departed from Piraeus for Paris. In Paris he founded with Claude Lefort the now legendary revolutionary journal Socialisme ou Barbarie

( 1 949-65), to

which Jean-Fran�ois Lyotard also once belonged. The group by the same name is now generally credited with inspiring the May

1 968 student-worker

rebellion; French student leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit, for example, who appears in the Reader as Castoriadis's cospeaker at a

ference, proudly proclaimed in Castoriadis's and S. ou

B. 's

1 980 ecology con­ 1 968 that he had largely 'plagiarized'

views. Today Castoriadis - renowned

'Sovietologist', retired OECD economist, practising psychoanalyst, and

innovative philosopher - is considered one of Europe's foremost social

thinkers. He still lives in Paris, where he continues to develop his political 'project of autonomy' and his philosophical ideas on the 'imaginary

institution of society' .

I shall not offer the reader of this Foreword an in-depth analysis of

Castoriadis's views or a detailed biography of this author. The Castoriadis Reader has itself been designed to acquaint readers new and old with both

him and his work. Rather, I shall briefly explain here my choices for this Reader as a way of introducing its contents and highlighting its potential significance. A Reader, as I conceive it, should serve a variety of purposes. With the author's assistance, I have endeavoured to respond to these multiple require­ ments and I hope to have fulfilled them as editor of this Reader.

A first purpose is to provide a general overview of the author's work

Vlll

Foreword

instead of concentrating on just one or a few topics or periods. The texts presented here start, after the introductory interview in Chapter 1 , with the 1 949 'Presentation' of the first issue of Socialisme ou Barbarie and end with some of Castoriadis's most recent writings. The Reader's fifteen chapters also encompass most of the major themes of his life's work, induding: workers' management and people's potential for creative and autonomous self-activity; the early, radical, and ever relentless critique of the erstwhile 'Union of Soviet Socialist Republics' (,four words, four lies', Milan Kundera once quoted Castoriadis as quipping); the 'positive content of socialism' and the economics of a self-managed society; the critique of the conservative and capitalist elements found in Marxism and the development of the idea of the 'imaginary institution of society'; ecology and the present dangers of an out-of-control, autonomized ' technoscience'; the 'crisis of Western societies' and the current waning of contestation on the levels of both philo­ sophical thought and political action; the inspiration the author has drawn from ancient Greece in general and the Greek polis's simultaneous creation of philosophy and politics in particular; the elucidation of an alternative logic to the traditional 'ensemblistic-identitary' one that has ruled Western 'inherited thought' for the past twenty-five centuries; the role of cultural creation in the process of democratic social transformation; and the contri­ bution a properly understood and practised psychoanalysis can make to both philosophy and the project of autonomy. A Reader must also offer, in some way; a series of 'greatest hits' if readers are to familiarize themselves with the author's major works. In Castoriadis's case, not all the classic texts could be presented in their entirety in a one­ volume Reader. We therefore had to make choices among them and provide only excerpts from some we did eventually choose. A reader already familiar with Castoriadis's work will note, and perhaps lament, the absence of such key writings as 'Socialism or Barbarism' ( 1 949) and 'Modern Capitalism and Revolution' ( 1 960- 1 ) , which could not be included; but in these two cases other classic texts - the Presentation to Socialisme ou Barban'e, 'From the Critique of Bureaucracy to the Idea of the Proletariat's Autonomy' ( 1 955), and 'Recommencing the Revolution' ( 1 964) - serve to summarize many of the absent articles' main points. Also, the reader may be heartened to learn that other classics -. such as the second part of 'On the Content of Socialism' ( 1 957), The Imaginary Institution of Society ( 1 964-5; 1 97 5) , and 'The Greek Polis and the Creation of Democracy' ( 1 983) - have at least been presented in the form of excerpts. First-time readers will thus be able to familiarize themselves with the author's main ideas by reading some of his most important and best-known writings. A Reader can also present hard-to-find texts for the benefit of both the first-time reader and 'old timers', those who have followed Castoriadis's contributions to the revolutionizing of thought and society over the past five

Foreword

IX

decades. We have thus also selected a number of lesser-known pieces that were previously published in English only in small academic, political, literary, or arts journals. These texts include 'The Social Regime in Russia' ( 1 978), 'From Ecology to Autonomy' ( 1 9 80) , 'The Logic of Magmas and the Question of Autonomy' ( 1 983), ' Culture in a Democratic Society' ( 1 994), and 'Psychoanalysis and Philosophy' ( 1 996) . Many people, however, pick up a Reader in order to familiarize themselves quickly with the basics of an author's thought. Several chapters of this Reader offer programmatic accounts of Castoriadis's main topics of discussion: 'Recommencing the Revolution', 'The Social Regime in Russia', and 'The Logic of Magmas and the Question of Autonomy' respond to this desire for succinct thematic statements by presenting his views in the compact and ordered form of numbered theses. These three summary texts, along with many of the others, also refer the reader to additional writings by the author where his arguments were developed for the first time or in greater detail. This last point suggests one further purpose a Reader can and, indeed, should serve: to provide a historical overview of the evolution of the author's views. Theses presented in summary, or even canonical, form, and without additional reference to where these ideas were first developed and were subsequently refined, revised, or altered in response to criticism, would provide the reader with a skewed and contextless idea of the author's in­ tellectual and politi cal life . Therefore, with the exceptions of the introductory first chapter and the final one (which features responses to critics), the texts have been organized in chronological order. This chrono­ logical ordering, along with the addition of a myriad of abbreviated references in most texts, goes far toward eliminating for readers this poten­ tial danger. A guide to the abbreviations used appears directly after this Foreword and the Acknowledgements page. But even when a Reader answers to these varied purposes and avoids the above-mentioned danger, the reader might not yet get a clear sense of what the author really has wanted to say. Indeed, when one reads a Reader of some no longer living author one may still, even with the sense of closure afforded by that author's death, lack a sense of the whole, an understanding of what the author lived for and was willing to die for. As the present Reader is a collection of texts by a writer who is still very much alive, still very active, and still developing and deepening his thought, we are fortunate to have 'Done and To Be Done' ( 1 989), a recent example of Castoriadis debating with his critics, extending his thinking, returning to previously covered ground in order to work it over once again. This final chapter contains the author's forceful and thoughtful replies to thirty discussions of his life's work which were written by an international collection of scholars. I Here we witness Castoriadis at his polemical and critical best, responding to ob­ jections, clarifying his positions, exposing misinformed or misguided

x

Foreword

assumptions held by critics, and developing his ideas and projects even further in a variety of directions while making frequent reference to his own past writings, including many of the texts presented here unabridged or in excerpts. No doubt 'Done and To Be Done' will whet the appetite of many a reader who will then desire to read other writings by the author. I believe the present volume provides readers with the necessary background for such further explorations and the necessary basis to make something meaningful of them. I do not wish to prescribe in advance for readers the ways in which they are to evaluate and judge the innovative ideas contained in this last chapter, or the Reader as a whole; I hope - indeed, I am sure - that some readers will invent fresh responses and insights of their own, ones that no one has thought of before. Let me, in anticipation of the reader's own work, focus merely on one recent notion from 'Done and To Be Done' which I consider particularly fecund. I wish to highlight this notion also because Castoriadis makes specific reference there to 'On the Content of Socialism, II', a text I was determined to include in this selection from his fifty years of political, social, and philosophical writings. As Castoriadis's English-language translator/editor, I am often asked by the more politically minded of his readers whether he still holds to the vision of a self-managed society as outlined in this 1 957 article. In contrast, others interested less in his radical political positions than in the more recent devel­ opments in his social, psychoanalytical, or philosophical thought might simply view this forty-year-old text as outdated and perhaps not worth the bother of including in the present Reader. There are, however, as I have argued elsewhere,2 a continuity and coherency to his life's work that autho­ rize and, indeed, enable one to present his writings as a still relevant and evolving whole. In 'Done and To Be Done' Castoriadis states his conviction that the spirit and principles of CS II remain valid, except for its (relatively) exclusive workerism and the obsolete notion of the 'dictatorship of the proletariat' . For him, socialism - or what he now calls the 'autonomous society' - must involve the socialization and democratization of the management of the economy (as opposed to its mere 'nationalization', with exclusive control over 'production' and 'planning' delegated to a separate stratum of bureau­ cratic managers), but also the socialization and democratization of society itself.3 In contrast to all major schools of Western political thought with the sole exception of anarchism - from the libertarian 'minimal State' to Communism's extreme inflation of the State's role (on the factual, if not ideological, level) - Castoriadis argued in CS II, and still argues today, for the elimination of any stratum of rulers separated from the real life of society, any party or other instituted group that would claim responsibility, in

Foreword

xi

society's absence, for society's overall orientation as well as for its specific doings and expressions. As he has stated many times, such a project is in head-on contradiction with totalitarian pretensions to eliminate the private and civil spheres of action or to absorb these spheres entirely into the State, or with other attempts to limit or circumscribe, from the outside or through extrasocial representations of society, people's freedom to contribute to the making and remaking of society - just as the direct democratic inspirations of this proj ect stand in stark contrast to modern liberal-oligarchical compromises and to the not-even-half measures most post-totalitarian 'political philosophers' today are falling back on. In 'Done and To Be Done' C astoriadis returns to the question of the State, civil society, and private conduct or initiative, but he does so in a new way that, inspired by his thinking on dle polis in ancient Greece as well as by his elucidation of the simultaneously individual and social project of autonomy in Modem Times, leaves far behind the traditional conceptions and usages of these terms. In contrast to what he labels the 'private/private' (domestic) sphere - or oikos - as well as to the (explicitly political) 'public/public' sphere - or ekklesia - Castoriadis designates and describes a third sphere of social action: the 'public/private' sphere - or agora - which is only implicitly political, but which also goes beyond the private concerns of individual and family. 4 As an analytical concept, he explains, this 'public/private' sphere may be applied to any society. It is a free agora open to all, one in which everybody would have an equal effective possibility of participation, whose instaura­ tionS Castoriadis would be aiming at achieving.6 This would be an agora that has emerged from the oikosJ as occurred for the first time in ancient Greece - Hannah Arendt, too, identifies Greece as the birthplace of a 'public space' - but which would not be so identified with the public/public sphere, or so far removed from it, that it would have ceased to be an independent and genuinely private/public entity. Castoriadis is thus developing a conceptu­ alization of social and p olitical organization that clarifies, but also challenges, the binary civil society/State distinction now being much heralded again by formerly radical critical thinkers from both the West and the ex-dissident East who have decided to make their peace with a State whose existence they no longer challenge politically or even on the level of thought. Today, we should recognize, the agora as commercial market is becoming little more than a privately owned and operated shopping mall,7 or perhaps a home shopping network for the world's plugged-in agoraphobes. And, as financial market, it is b eing transformed more and more into a 'planetary casino' , Castoriadis has remarked, where the amounts placed into worldwide electronic speculation every few days equal the US GNP. The classical sovereign nation-State is thus itself becoming irrelevant and

XlI

Foreword

impotent as the world rapidly coalesces into supranational, superregional trading blocs whose main purpose and passion are neither to foster direct democratic input nor to address the festering and even worsening problems of environmental degradation. Nor do either the traditional nation-States or these new superregional groupings appear particularly adept at facing up to the rise of religious fanaticisms and various deadly forms of separatist nation­ alism, communitarianism, and ethnic mania, their responses being mostly half-hearted, reactive, belated, and often counterproductive in the long run for lack of any meaningful and mobilizatory project of their own. This 'public/private' sphere, or agora, is at present, in the absence of active contestation of the established disorder, rapidly atrophying through its thor­ oughgoing privatization (while the 'private/private' sphere is rapidly being oversocialized for commercial, financial, and advertising/media purposes) . We should not, for all that, cease to fix as our implicitly political objective the emergence of this sphere. We should continue to work for this agora's development - first of all by the exemplary means of making it exist through our actions - even though we recognize that the prospects for implicitly politial ('civil') action are at this time little more encouraging than the prospects for vigorously explicit political action and the establishment of a true ekklesia (that is, democratic decision-making in properly political matters, as defined by general public assembly and by intermediate organs of all those involved at the various levels of social activity) . 8 Nevertheless, in aiming at the creation of the conditions under which this public/private sphere might emerge,9 independently from and in solidarity with the two other spheres Castoriadis is describing, a problem immediately arises. 'The first condition for the existence of an autonomous society - of a democratic society - is that the public/public sphere become effectively public, become an ekklesia and not an object of private appropriation by particular groups,' Castoriadis argues in 'Done and To Be Done'. In the contrary case, one would end up with neither the private/public sphere nor the private/private sphere being free and independent; both would be mere objects of publicity, of mystification, of manipulation and brute force, and/or the expression of a generalized conformism toward fashion and authority, as is presently the case to a very high degree. But if such is the 'first con­ dition', and if this condition is to such an extent absent in the present state of society (which does not mean that we should cease to favour its imple­ mentation or that we should believe people collectively incapable of launching an effort, even today, toward its realization), why then aim at the creation of any other conditions for the eventual emergence of the public/private sphere as part of a future autonomous society? An initial response may be found in another statement Castoriadis makes in this same text concerning these three spheres: 'The freedom of the private sphere, like the freedom of the agora, is a sine qua non condition for the

Foreword

xiii

freedom of the ekklesia and for the becoming public of the public/public sphere. ' But how can we harmonize this affirmation about 'sine qua non' conditions for the emergence of the ekklesia with the even more weighty, prior affirmation concerning the ekklesia itself as the 'first condition' for a

society in which each of these three. spheres would be free and each would exist in social solidarity with the others? Why make any other efforts when the primary goal would appear to be the realization of this 'first condition', a free ekklesia? (In classical Marxist terms, the establishment of a 'dictator­ ship of the proletariat' becomes the be-all and end-all of all revolutionary political activity.) To wait for the first condition to be duly and completely fulfilled before doing anything else would be equivalent to renouncing all present efforts toward encouraging reflection and self-responsibility; all liberatory educa­ tional endeavours, whether formal or informal; any attempts by people, inspired by psychoanalytic practice or just mutual discussion and reflected experience, to engage in criticism/self-criticism and to confront lucidly their present problems or oppression as they come to define them. It would amount, in short, to an abandonment of all not explicitly political forms of praxis, in the sense Castoriadis intends the latter term: activities that aim at the autonomy of the other and of oneself (see 'Marxism and Revolutionary

Theory' and 'Done and To Be Done'). Despite the fact that such renunci­ ation seems in our day to be the prevailing 'norm', we ought to refuse to give in on this point. Furthermore, to concentrate exclusively and unilaterally on this first condition relating to the ekklesia in such. a way as to prevent oneself from undertaking any action or reflection whatsoever in the other two spheres

would be equivalent to ignoring the solidarity and the mutual implications among these three spheres of social life, their circle of continued creation.

This is equally the reason we ought not to aim merely at reinforcing a 'civil society', or building a 'civic forum', alongside a State apparatus that is left

standing - even a 'democratized' and now 'lustrated' one, as in the case of the Czech Republic. 10 In taking as our goal an autonomous society - whose 'first condition' remains the instauration of a genuinely public ekklesia - the

emancipation of the agora and the development of the capacity for critical reflection and deliberate action in the private/private sphere become indis­

pensable co-aims. Indeed, 'to guarantee the greatest freedom possible'

among these three spheres, all the while expressing and emphasizing their mutual solidarity and reciprocal responsibility, becomes the key imperative

for such a society, Castoriadis says in 'Done and To Be Done'. Still, we are immediately confronted with innumerable questions. We

ought, for our part, to reject all forms of nationalism as an inappropriate biological figure for an autonomous social collectivity that should come to

know itself as such and in its various social articulations; that is, we ought

xiv

Foreword

to reject nationalism as the allegedly natural (or even 'naturalized') self­ substitute for the properly social sphere. But how can we aim at an international or transnational (or, better: forthrighdy non-national) agora in the absence of an international demos and in the face of today's widespread and growing nationalist and religious motivations and sentiments of internal exclusiveness and external exclusion? The whole question of revolutionary social organization,ll as well as that of the struggle against all forms of mystification - both of which are addressed in the

1 974 introductory inter­

view - arises anew; and this in a persistent and radical way. Faced with such questions, those who wish to engage in finding responses can take their shared activity of posing these questions and of seeking answers to them as a common field for creative reflection and action. In this work, originality, relevancy, exemplariness,12 and a desire to share and scrutinize personal and collective experiences without essentializing these experiences or placing them somehow beyond the reach of criticism can become watchwords. It is my hope that this Reader will aid those still attracted by such aspirations to give them concrete expression.

Notes

2 3

4

5

6

I am guest editing a special issue of Thesis Eleven, which will present additional critical appreciations of Castoriadis's work, along with new texts by Castoriadis himself, on the occasion of his seventy-fifth birthday in 1 997 : See my Foreword to the first volume of Castoriadis's Political and Social Writings and, espe­ cially, my Foreword to his recent book, World in Fragments. To speak of the 'socialization . . . of society' might appear redundant to some - and im­ p ossible to others. But Castoriadis has been highlighting the phenomenon of the privatization of society since the 1 960s (see MeR) while also endeavouring to show that there is no incoherency or impossibility in the goal of encouraging 'instituting society' to have a conscious, concened, and continuing effect upon 'instituted society' (see MRT [ 1 964-5] ) . Note, too, that I did not say 'socialization and democratization of the State'. A few years ago, at a Paris lecture given by Richard Rorty for which Castoriadis served as respondent, Chantal Mouffe called for a 'debureaucratization of the State'; Castoriadis aptly quipped that this would be like calling for a 'demilitarization of the army'. Not that the latter should be considered sacrosanct, or even a 'haven'. Castoriadis develops further his ideas on the three spheres of social and political life in a recent text, 'Democracy as Procedure and Democracy as Regime', fonhcoming in Constellations, the successor review to Praxis International. As I noted in the Glossary to the first volume of Castoriadis's Political and Social Writings and in World in Fragments's'A Note on the Translation', I have revived the original meaning in English of 'instauration', which is to establish something anew or for the first time. I have not developed another glossary or translator's note for the Reader; instead, I have, more frequently than in my other volumes of translations of Castoriadis's writings, indicated in brackets the original French word or phrases whenever some ambiguity might be allevi­ ated or a meaning might be clarified. In some cities in ancient Greece, Aristotle notes in the Politics, the agora not as market­ place but as site of discussion, reflection, and deliberation - was reserved for only a portion of the polis'S citizens, others being excluded therefrom. -

Foreword

xv

7 Characteristic in this regard is the US Supreme Court ruling that refused to guarantee the exercise of First Amendment rights in privately owned shopping malls across the country. So much for the alleged compatibility or mutual implications between democracy and capi­ talism whose mutual incompatibility we already recognized clearly in the capitalist workplace. 8 As I noted in the Foreword to Cleisthenes the Athenian (Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey: Humanities, 1 996), my translation of Pierre Leveque and Pierre Vidal-Naquet's classic 1 963 essay on the reforms that led to the birth of democracy in Athens (Castoriadis appears there as a participant in a subsequent discussion that was printed as a supplement), a curious new phenomenon is the call by the 1 992 presidential candidates William Jefferson Clinton and H. Ross Perot for a revival of the town meeting format, whether televised or 'electronic' - and this, in the absence of any widespread demand on the part of the popu­ lace for the use of such organs of public policy formation or ratification! In view of the lack of serious thought given to the formulation of these proposals and in the light of the char­ acter of the politicians advancing the idea, we should certainly avoid concluding that elite leadership groups or individuals have suddenly become gripped with a passion for direct democratic participation. Rather, as I argued in that Foreword, extending Castoriadis's ideas on the 'bureaucratic-capitalist project' (with its simultaneous need to exclude people from participation and to encourage such participation), we should see these proposals for what they really are: rather desperate and ill-thought-out attempts to come to terms with the ongoing depoliticization and privatization of society, where people's absence of involve­ ment, itself mandated by the present system, inevitably leads to dysfunctions in the operation of that system which the system is obliged to address. Were we to borrow medical or psychoanalytical language to describe it, we would call this social and political phenom­ enon - like that of 'quality circles' - a significant symptom of something that clearly goes far beyond its explicit content and certainly bears further examination. 9 Its emergence, of course, could in no way be merely an illustration of any particular person's ideas. There is not, and I trust there never will be, any 'Castoriadianism'. 10 'Civic Forum' was the name of Vaclav Havel's opposition group which led to the over­ throw of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia. A forum is not an agora. 11 Recently I read that Jacques Derrida, in his book on the 'spectres of Marx' after the fall of Communism, calls for the creation of a 'new International' - one that would not be burdened, however, with any 'institutions', these presumably being intrinsically bad and, apparently, perfectly avoidable for an earnest cynic like Derrida. Inspired in great part by Castoriadis's work, Vassilis Lambropoulos in the third and fmal chapter of his book The Rise ofEurocentn·sm: Anatomy ofInterpretation (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1 993) has developed many of the elements for a coherent and consequential critique of Derrida's deconstructionist errings. 1 2 There is a constant - and ineliminable - tension between excellence and commonality in a democratic society, fraught with risks but also pregnant with inspirations and hopes.

Acknowledgements

As C astoriadis has always emphasized, the work represented by his Socialisme ou Barbarie writings is collective in nature . Each text was discussed, dissected, and debated by the S. ou B. group before its publica­ tion. On the author's behalf, those who participated in these exchanges and proposed improvements are thanked here once again for their inestimable contributions. The contributions to the making of this Reader are also of a collective nature. Thanks to the efforts of London and Philadelphia Solidarity, and then Telos at a certain stage in its existence, the Australian social theory journal Thesis Eleven, and other reviews and p1!blish�rs, Castoriadis's writings have been available in English translation continuously for more than a third of a century. I dedicate this Reader to Maurice Brinton, some of whose fine London Solidarity translations appear here in slightly edited form, as an 'emerged part' of this collective experience and endeavour - of which I am but the latest participant. The editor and publishers gratefully acknowledge the following for per­ mission to reproduce copyright material: Christian Bourgois Editeur, Editions 1 0/ 1 8, E ditions du Seuil, MIT Press, Oxford University Press, Inc., Polity Press, University of Minnesota Press, and Cornelius Castoriadis. Chapters 1 , 1 2, and 1 4 © 1 974, © 1 994, © 1 996 Cornelius Castoriadis. Chapter 2 © 1 990 Christian Bourgois E diteur. Chapter 3 © 1 988 University of Minnesota Press. Chapter 4 © 1 993 University of Minnesota Press. Chapters 5 and 6 © 1 987 MIT Press and Polity Press. Chapters 7 and 1 1 © 1 986 Editions du Seuil. Chapter 8 © 1 98 1 E ditions du Seuil. Chapters 9 and 1 3 © 1 996 E ditions du Seuil.

Acknowledgements

xvii

Chapter 1 0 Excerpted from Philosophy, Politics, Autonomy: Essays in Political Philosophy by Cornelius Caston'adis. © 1 99 1 Oxford University Press, Inc. Reprinted by permission. Chapter 15 © 1 98 9 Librairie Droz. -

The publishers apologize for any errors or omissions in the above list and would be grateful to be notified of any corrections that should be in­ corporated in the next edition or reprint of this book. The translations were made possible, in part, with a grant from the French Ministry of Culture.

Abbreviations

The dates provided below are always the dates of first publication, whether in French, English, or another language, except in the case of lectures or previously unpublished manuscripts, where the original date is given . Unless otherwise noted in the volume or text sections, all English-language trans­ lations published in book form are by David Ames Curtis, all French translations by Cornelius Castoriadis. The original-language version is always listed first, the translation thereafter. (Both in this section and in the body of the Reader, E = English-language version; F = French-language version.) The reader is invited to consult the publication notes to individual articles for previous appearances of texts listed as 'now in' volumes written by Castoriadis. However, I have always noted the original appearance of texts published in Socialisme ou Barbarie (S. ou B. ) , the revolutionary journal Castoriadis edited and contributed to, from its inception in 1 949 until its last issue in 1 965. Since this list of abbreviations of volumes and other texts written by Cornelius Castoriadis is based upon the texts he cites in the Castoriadis Reader, it may be considered a handy 'abbreviated' bibliography of what, in addition to the chapters published in the Castoriadis Reader, the author considers to be his key writings. More complete bibliographies may be found in the appendices to volumes 1 and 3 of Castoriadis's Political and Social Writings and in World in Fragments. Supplements may be obtained through the Translator/Editor (hereafter: T/E) : D avid Ames Curtis, c/o Agora International, 27 rue Froidevaux, 7 5 0 1 4 Paris, France or by E-mail . A web page is under construction.

Abbreviations for Volumes Written by Cornelius Castoriadis CL

Les Carrefours du labyrinthe. Paris: Seuil, 1 97 8 . Crossroads in the Labyrinth. Trans. Martin H . Ryle and Kate Soper. Brighton: Harvester, and C ambridge, Mass.: MIT, 1 984.

Abbreviations CL5 CMR1 CMR 2 CR CS DG DH EM0 1

EM0 2 IIS

MI MM PPA

PSW1

PSW 2

PSW 3

SB 1 SB 2

xix

Les Carrefours du labyrinthe V (provisional title) . Paris: Seuil (forthcoming) . Capitalisme moderne et revolution, 1: L 'Imperialisme et la guerre. Paris: 1 0/ 1 8, 1 979. Capitalisme moderne et revolution, 2: Le Mouvement revolu­ tionnnaire sous .Ie capitalisme moderne. Paris: 1 0/ 1 8, 1 979. The Castoriadis Reader. Oxford, England and Cambridge, Mass . : Blackwell, 1 997. Le Contenu du socialisme. Paris: 1 0/ 1 8, 1 979. Devant la guerre. Vol. 1: Les Realites. Paris: Fayard, 1 980. 2nd rev. edn 1 98 1 . Domaines de l'homme. Les Carrefours du labyrinthe II. Paris: Seuil, 1 986. L 'Experience du mouvement ouvrier, 1: Comment Luter. Paris: 1 0/ 1 8, 1 974. L 'Expen·ence du mouvement ouvn·er, 2: Proletariat et organ­ isation. Paris: 1 0/ 1 8, 1 974. L 'Institution imaginaire de la societe. Paris: Seuil, 1 97 5 . The Imaginary Institution of Society. Trans. Kathleen Blarney. Oxford, England: Polity and Cambridge, Mass. : MIT, 1 987 . lIS consists of MRT I-V and SI!. Excerpts from both parts appear in CR. La Montee de l'insignifiance. Les Carrefours du labyrinthe IV. Paris: Seuil, 1 996. Le Monde morcele. Les Carrefours du labyn·nthe III. Paris: Seuil, 1 996. Philosophy, Politics, Autonomy. Ed. David Ames Curtis. New York and Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1 99 1 . Political and Social Writings. Vol. 1 : 19 46 -1955: From the Cn·tique of Bureaucracy to the Positive Content of Socialism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1 988. Political and Social Writings. Vol. 2: 1955-1960: From the Workers ' Struggle Against Bureaucracy to Revolution in the Age of Modern Capitalism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1 988. Political and Social Writings. Vol . 3 : 1961-1979: Recommencing the Revolution: From Socialism to the A utonomous Society. Minneap olis : University of Minnesota Press, 1 993. La Societe bureaucratique, 1: Les Rapports de production en Russie. Paris: 1 0/ 1 8, 1 973. La Societe bureaucratique, 2: La Revolution contre la

A bbreviations

xx

SB* SF WIF

bureaucratie. Paris: 1 0/ 1 8, 1 973. La Societe bureaucratique (nouvelle edition) . Pari s : Christian Bourgois, 1 990. La Societefranfaise. Paris: 1 0/ 1 8, 1 979. World in Fragments. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1 997.

Abbreviations for Texts Written by Cornelius Castoriadis AR [ 1 968]

ASE [ 1 9 5 6]

BPT [ 1 9 57] CCS [ 1 986] CFP [ 1 948] CMS [ 1 965] CP [ 1 960] CS 1 [ 1 9 5 5] CS II [ 1 9 57]

CS III [ 1 958]

C WS [1 982]

DC 1 [ 1 9 5 3] DC II [ 1 954]

'La Revolution anticipee' : La Breche (Paris: Fayard, 1 968) . 2nd edn. Brussels: Complexe, 1 988. Now in SF. 'The Anticipated Revolution' , trans. Basil Druitt. PSW 3. 'Les Greves de l'automation en Angleterre', S. ou B. , 2 1 (March 1 957) . Reprinted in EMO1 . 'Automation Strikes in England' . PSW 2. 'Bilan, perspectives, taches', S. ou B. , 21 (March 1 957) . Reprinted in EM0 1 . 'The Crisis o f Culture and the State' ( 1 986 lecture) . Now in PPA. 'La Concentration des forces productives' (March 1 948 manuscript) . SBI. Reprinted in SB*. The Crisis ofModern Society ( 1 965 lecture). Now in PSW 3. 'La Crise de la societe m oderne'. CMR 2. ' Conceptions et programme de Socialisme ou Barbarie' . Now in SB 2 and SB*. 'Sur Ie Contenu du socialisme', S. ou B., 1 7 Guly 1 95 5 ) . Reprinted i n CS. ' On the Content o f Socialism, I ' . PSW 1 . Excerpts in CR. 'Sur Ie Contenu du socialisme', S. ou B., 2 2 Guly 1 957) . Reprinted in CS. ' On the Content of Socialism, II' . Based on the translation of Maurice Brinton. Now in PSW 2. Excerpts in CR. 'Sur Ie Contenu du socialisme', S. ou B. , 23 Ganuary 1 9 58) . Reprinted in EMO 2. ' On the C ontent of Socialism, III ' . PSW 2. 'La Crise des societes occidentales' . Abridged version now in MI. 'The Crisis of Western Societies'. Abridged version now in CR. 'Sur Ia dynamique du capitalisme', S. ou B. , 1 2 (August 1 953). 'Sur la dynamique du capitalisme', S. ou B., 13 Ganuary 1 954) .

Abbreviations DE? [1 987] DI [ 1 978] DRR [ 1 958] DT [ 1 9 8 1 ]

D W [ 1 99 1 ]

EP? [ 1 988] EPBC [ 1 949]

ETS [ 1 968]

FISSI [ 1 985]

GDA [1956] GI [ 1 973] GPCD [ 1 983]

HS [ 1 976] HWI [ 1 974] HWM [ 1 974]

ICSHD [ 1 98 1 ]

xxi

'Voie sans issue?' Now in MM. 'Dead End?' PPA . 'La Decouverte de l'imagination ' . Now in DH. 'The Discovery of the Imagination' . Now in WIF. 'Sur la degenerescence de la revolution russe' . Now in SB 2 and SB*. ' Destinies of Totalitarianism' ( 1 98 1 lecture). Salmagundi, 60 (Spring-Summer 1 9 83), pp. 1 07-22. 'Destinees du totalitarisme', DH. 'Le Delabrement de l'Occident' ( 1 99 1 interview) . Now in MI. 'The Dilapidation of the West. An Interview with Cornelius Castoriadis', Thesis Eleven, 4 1 ( 1 995) . 'The "End of Philosophy"?' ( 1 988 lecture) . Now in PPA . 'La "Fin de la philosophie"?' MM. 'L'Exploitation de la paysannerie sous Ie capitalisme bureaucratique', S. ou B. , 4 (October 1 949) . Reprinted in SB 1 and SB*. 'The Exploitation of the Peasantry under Bureaucratic Capitalism' . PSW 1. ' E pilegomenes it une theorie de l'ame que l 'on a pu presenter comme science'. Now in CL (F) . 'Epilegomena to a Theory of the Soul Which Has Been Presented as a Science'. CL (E) . 'Institution premiere de la societe et institutions secondes' ( 1 98 5 lecture). Y a-t-il une theorie de l'institution? Paris: Centre d' Etude et de la famille Association, 1 986. 'The Firs t Institution of Society and S econd-Order Institutions', Free Associations, 1 2 ( 1 988) . 'Les Greves des dockers anglais', S. ou B., 18 Ganuary 1 95 6) . Reprinted in EMO 1. 'Introduction generale'. SB 1 . Reprinted in SB*. 'General Introduction'. PSW 1 . 'The Greek Polis and the Creation of Democracy' . Now in PPA. Excerpts in CR. 'La Polis grecque et la creation de la democratie'. Now in DH. 'The Hungarian S ource'. Now in PS W 3. 'La Source hongroise', trans. Maurice Luciani. CS. 'La Hierarchie des salaires et des revenus' . Now in EMO 2. ' Hierarchy of Wages and Incomes' . Now in PSW 3. 'Introduction: La Question de l'histoire du mouvement ouvrier'. EMO 1. 'The Question of the History of the Workers' Movement' . Now in PS W 3. 'The Im aginary: Creation in the Social-Historical Domain' ( 1 98 1 lecture) . Now in WIF. 'L'Imaginaire: la creation dans Ie domaine social-historique'. DH.

xxii

Abbreviations

'L'Institution de la societe et religion' . Now in DH. 'Institution of Society and Religion ' . Now in WIF. 'Individu, societe, rationalite, histoire' . Now in MM. ISRH [ 1 988] 'Individual, Society, Rationality, History'. Now in PPA. KDBI [ 1 956] 'Khrouchtchev et la decomposition de l'ideologie bureau­ cratique', S. ou B., 1 9 Guly 1 956). Reprinted in SB 2 and SB*. ' Khrushchev and the D e compo sition of Bureaucratic Ideology'. PSW 2. LIR [ 1 99 1 ] 'Logique, imagination, reflexion' . Now i n CL 5 . 'Logic, Imagination, Reflection ' . Now in WIF. LMQA [ 1 9 83] 'La Logique des magmas et la question de l'autonomie'. Now in DH. 'The Logic of Magmas and the Question of Autonomy' . Now in CR. MCR I [ 1 960] ' Le Mouvement revolutionnaire sous Ie capitalisme moderne' , S. ou B. , 3 1 (December 1 960) . Reprinted in CMR 2. 'Modern Capitalism and Revolution', Part l. Based on the translation of Maurice Brinton. Now in PSW 2. MCR II [ 1 96 1 ] ' Le Mouvement revolutionna ire sous I e capitalisme moderne', S. ou B. , 32 (April 1 96 1 ) . Reprinted in CMR 2. 'Modern Capitalism and Revolution', Part 2 . Based on the translation of Maurice Brinton. Now in PSW 2. MCR III [ 1 96 1 ] 'Le Mouvemeilt revolutionnaire sous Ie capitalisme mod­ erne', S. ou B. , 33 (December 1961) . Reprinted in CMR 2. 'Modern Capitalism and Revolution', Part 3 . Based on the translation of Maurice Brinton. Now in PSW 2. MP [ 1 986] 'Merleau-Ponty et Ie poids de l'heritage ontologique' . CL 5. 'Merleau-Ponty and the Weight of the Ontological Tradition' . Now in WIF. MRT 1 [1 964] 'Marxisme et theorie revolutionnaire' , S. ou B. , 36 (April 1 964) . Reprinted in lIS (F) . 'Marxism and Revolutionary Theory'. Now in the first part of lIS (E) . Excerpts in CR. MRT II [ 1 964] 'Marxisme et theorie revolutionnaire', S. ou B. , 37 Guly 1 964) . Reprinted in lIS (F) . 'Marxism and Revolutionary Theory'. Now in the first part of IIS (E) . MRT III [ 1 964] 'Marxisme et theorie revolutionnaire ' , S. ou B. , 3 8 (October 1 964) . Reprinted i n lIS (F) . 'Marxism and Revolutionary Theory' . Now in the first part of IIS (E) . Excerpts in CR. MRT IV [ 1 965] ' Marxisme et theorie revolutionnaire ' , S. ou B. , 3 9 (March 1 9 6 5 ) . Reprinted in lIS (F) . ' Marxism and Revolutionary Theory'. Now in the first part of IIS (E) . Excerpts in CR.

ISR [ 1 982]

Abbreviations MRT V [ 1 965]

MSPI [ 1 973]

OIHS [ 1 986] ORAD [ 1 946]

PA [ 1 986] PL [ 1 9 5 1 ] PO I [ 1 959]

PO II [ 1 959] PoPA [ 1 988]

PPE [ 1 977] PRAB [ 1 956]

PsyPo [ 1 987] PUSSR [ 1 947]

QURSS [ 1 947] RA [ 1 989]

RBI [ 1 964]

xxiii

'Marxisme et theorie n!volutionnaire', S. ou B. , 40 Gune 1 9 6 5 ) . Reprinted in lIS (F) . 'Marxism and Revolutionary Theory'. Now in the first part of /IS (E) . 'Science moderne et interrogation philosophique'. Now in CL (F) . ' Mo dern S cience and Philosophical Interrogation'. In CL (E) . 'Portee ontologique de l'histoire de la science'. DH. 'The Ontological Import of the History of Science'. WIF. 'Sur Ie regime et contre la defense de l'URSS'. Now in SB 1 and SB*. 'On the Regime and Against the Defense of the USSR' . PSW 1 . 'Phusis, creation, autonomie' ( 1 9 8 6 lecture) . CL 5. 'Phusis and Autonomy' . Now in WIF. 'La Direction proletarienne', S. o u B. , 1 0 Guly 1 95 2) . Reprinted in EMO 1 . 'Proletarian Leadership' . PSW 1 . 'Proletariat et organisation', S. ou B. , 27 (April 1 959). Reprinted in EMO 2. 'Proletariat and Organization, !,. Based on the translation of Maurice Brinton. PSW 2. 'Proletariat et organisation', S. ou B. , 28 Guly 1 9 5 9). Reprinted in EMO 2. 'Pouvoir, politique, autonomie' . Now in MM. 'Power, Politics, Autonomy', trans. by Cornelius Castoriadis. Now in PPA . 'Psychanalyse, projet et elucidation' . Now in CL (F) . 'Psychoanalysis: Project and Elucidation' . CL (E) . 'La Revolution proletarienne contre la bureaucratie', S. ou B. , 20 (December 1 956) . Reprinted in SB 2 and SB*. 'The Proletarian Revolution Against the Bureaucracy' . PSW 2. 'Psychoanalysis and Politics' ( 1 987 lecture) . Now in WIF. 'Psychanalyse et politique'. Now in MM. 'Le Probleme de l'URSS et la possibilite d'une troisieme solution historique' . Now in SB 1 and SB*. 'The Problem of the USSR and the Possibility of a Third Historical Solution'. PSW 1 . 'Sur la question de l'URSS et du stalinisme mondiale'. Now in SB 1 and SB*. 'The Retreat from Autonomy: Postmodernism as Generalized Conformism' ( 1 989 lecture) . Now in WIF. 'L'E poque du conformisme generalise' . MM. 'Le Role de l'ideologie bo1chevique dans la naissance de la bureaucratie', S. ou B. , 35 Ganuary 1 964) . Reprinted in EMO 2. 'The Role of Bolshevik Ideology in the Birth

.

xxiv

ReRa [ 1 987] RPR [ 1 949]

RR [ 1 964]

RRD [ 1 974]

SAS [ 1 979]

SB [ 1 949]

SR [ 1 99 1 ] SII [ 1 975]

SMR [ 1 974] SP [ 1 967]

SRR [ 1 978] SST [ 1 986]

STCC [ 1 979]

SU [ 1 97 1 ] SY [ 1 963] T [ 1 973] VEJP [ 1 975]

Abbreviations of the Bureaucracy'. Based on the translation of Maurice Brinton. Now in PSW 3. 'Reflexions sur Ie racisme' . Now in MM. 'Reflections on Racism'. Now in WIF. 'Les Rapports de production en Russie', S. ou B. , 2 (May 1 949). Reprinted in SB 1 and SB*. 'The Relations of Production in Russia' . PSW 1. 'Recommencer la revolution', S. ou B. , 35 Oanuary 1 964) . Reprinted in EMO 2. ' Recommencing the Revolution' . Based on the translation of Maurice Brinton. Now in PSW 3. 'Reflections on "Rationality" and "Development'" ( 1 974 lecture) . Now in PPA . 'Reflexions sur Ie "developpement" et la "rationalite"', trans. Mme de Venoge. Now in DR. 'Introduction: Socialisme et societe autonome ' . CS. 'Socialism and Autonomous Society'. Now in PSW 3. 'Socialisme ou B arbarie', S. ou B. , 1 (March 1 949). Reprinted in SB 1 and SB*. 'Socialism or Barbarism'. Now in PSW 1. 'The Social-Historical: Mode of Being, Problems of Knowledge' . PPA . 'L'Imaginaire social et l'institution' . Published as the second part of JIS (F) . 'The Social Imaginary and the Institution'. Published as the second part of lIS (E) . Excerpts in CR. 'Autogestion et hierarchie ' . Now in CS. ' S elf­ Management and Hierarchy'. PSW 3. 'La Suspension de la publication de Socialisme ou Barbarie' . Now in EMO 2. 'The Suspension of Publication of Socialisme ou Barbarie' . PSW 3. 'Le Regime social de la Russie'. Now in DR. 'The Social Regime in Russia'. Now in CR. 'L'Etat du sujet aujourd'hui'. Now in MM. 'The State of the Subject Today'. Now in WIF. 'Transformation sociale et creation culturelle'. Now in CS. 'Social Transformation and Cultural Creation' . PSW 3. 'Le dicible et l'indicible' . Now in CL (F). 'The Sayable and the U nsayable'. CL (E) . 'La Jeunesse etudiante', S. ou B. , 34 (March 1 963). Reprinted in CMR 2. 'Student Youth'. PSW 3. 'Technique' . Now in CL (F). 'Technique'. CL (E) . 'Valeur, egalite, justice, politique: de Marx a Aristote et

Abbreviations

VPB [ 1 957] WSAAI [ 1 956]

xxv

d 'Aristote a nous' . Now in CL (F) . 'Value, Equality, Justice, Politics : From Marx to Aristo tle and from Aristotle to Ourselves'. Now in CL (E) . 'La voie polonaise de la bureaucratisation', S. ou B. , 2 1 (March 1 957) . Reprinted i n SB 2 and SB*. 'Les Greves sauvages de l'industrie automobile ameri­ caine', S. ou B. , 1 8 Ganuary 1 956). Reprinted in EMO 1. 'Wildcat Strikes in the American Automobile Industry'. PSW 2.

1 'The Only Way to Find Out If You Can Swim Is to Get into the Water': An Introductory Interview (1974) *

History of Socialisme ou Barbarie Socialisme ou Barbarie grew out of a tendency established during the summer of 1 946 inside the Parti Communiste Internationaliste (PCI) , the French Trotskyist Party. For my part, I had been developing a critique of the Trotskyist conception of Stalinism since late 1 944/early 1 945 on the basis of my experience of the December 1 944/January 1 94 5 Stalinist coup d'etat in Greece. For Trotsky and the Trotskyists, the Stalinist parties in the capitalist countries had lined up definitively on the side of the bourgeois order (at least since the period of the Popular Fronts and the Spanish Civil War). These parties no longer represented, for Trotsky and the Trotskyists, anything but a repeat of reformism, and with regard to them one simply resumed the b asics of the Leninist analysis and critique of classical reformism. From this perspective, if the Stalinists were ever to participate in a government, they could do so only in the manner and with the objectives of the reformist parties: that is, in order to save the bourgeois regime during a difficult phase of its existence. Now, it was obvious in Greece in 1 944 that it was not a matter of that, but really and fully an attempt by the CP to seize power and to instaurate its own dictatorship (a dictatorship it was already exercising, during the last phase of the Occupation, over almost the entire country) . The insurrection at Athens in December 1 944 failed, but we know what happened during the same period in Yugoslavia and then, as the months passed, in the other countries of Eastern Europe. ' Le Projet f