Bruno Bosteels

The Speculative Left

Connunisn is loi us not a state of aairs which is to
le estallished, an ideal to which ieality [will| have to
adust itsell. We call connunisn the real novenent
which alolishes the piesent state ol things.
Kail Maix and Fiiediich Engels, The German Ideol-
ogy, ed.[tians. C. ]. Aithui
Communism without Marxism?
A liiend ol nine once piovocatively desciiled
Alain Badiou as a philosophei who is ist and
loienost a connunist leloie leing, oi peihaps
even without leing, a Maixist. A passage lion
Of an Obscure Disaster: On the End of the Truth
of State, which is Badious take on the collapse
ol the Soviet Union, night seen to conin
this lold assessnent. Thus, in an otheiwise
unsuipiising ieluttal against all nostalgic and[oi
posthistoiical udgnents iegaiding the death
ol connunisn, Badiou all ol a sudden ains
the invaiiant and seeningly eteinal natuie ol a
ceitain connunist sulectivity:
Fion Spaitacus to Mao (not the Mao ol the
State, who also exists, lut the ielellious ex-
tiene, conplicated Mao), lion the Gieek
The South Atlantic Quarterly oq:q, Fall zoo.
Copyiight _ zoo ly Duke Univeisity Piess.
752 Bruno Bosteels
denociatic insuiiections to the woildwide decade 66;6, it is and
has leen, in this sense, a question ol connunisn. It will always le a
question ol connunisn, even il the woid, soiled, is ieplaced ly sone
othei designation ol the concept that it coveis, the philosophical and
thus eteinal concept ol ielellious sulectivity.
1
Badious aination ol an invaiiant loin ol connunisn in need ol an
audacious iesuiiection would seen to put hin in the conpany ol a snall
lut signicant nunlei ol iadical thinkeis in the late 8os and eaily os
who likewise seek to salvage a ceitain connunist notion lionthe sinulta-
neous collapse ol so-called totalitaiianisn and ol the ievolutionaiy pioect
that the vaiious state iegines ol ieally existing socialisn had long ceased
to stand loi. The pioect: to iescue connunisn lion its own disiepute,
Flix Guattaii and Antonio Negii wiite in the opening lines ol Communists
Like Us, leloie explaining what they nean ly such an opeiation: We need
to save the gloiious diean ol connunisn lion ]acolin nystications and
Stalinist nightnaies alike, lets give it lack this powei ol aiticulation: an
alliance, letween the lileiation ol woik and the lileiation ol sulectivity.
2
Guattaii and Negii even seen to anticipate Badious veiy own style when
they uxtapose the diean ol connunisn with a notion ol denociacy
that sinilaily would have to le saved lion its disiepute:
At this unctuie the woid denociacy legs iedenition. The woid
connunisn has cleaily leen delaced, lut the woid denociacy itsell
has leen tiashed and nutilated. Fion the Gieek polis to the populai
upiisings ol the Renaissance and Reloination, lion the pioletaiian
ielellions that coexisted with the gieat lileial ievolutions, denociacy
has always leen synonynous with the legitination ol powei thiough
the people.
3
Like denociacy when piopeily undeistood, connunisn would nane this
invaiiant piocess wheiely the people constitute thenselves as people oi,
conveisely, people constitute thenselves as the people in a novenent ol
innanent sell-legitination.
We can also nd a delense ol connunisn in an otheiwise veiy dieient
philosophical tiadition, one noie indelted to ]acques Deiiida and Maitin
Heideggei than to Gilles Deleuze oi Benedict Spinoza. Communism, with-
out doult, is the aichaic nane ol a thinking which is still entiiely to cone,
]ean-Luc Nancy thus suggests inThe Compearance: Whenit will have cone,
The Speculative Left 753
it will not caiiy this nanein lact, it will not le thought in the sense that
this is undeistood. It will le a thing. And this thing, peihaps, is alieady heie
and does not let us go. But peihaps it is heie in a nannei that we aie unalle
to iecognize.
4
Eailiei, in The Inoperative Community, Nancy had alieady
ventuied out into the vast expanses ol this unpiedictalle lutuie: The con-
nunity ol the inteiiupted nyth, that is, the connunity that in a sense is
without connunity, oi connunisn without connunity, is oui destina-
tion. In othei woids, it is that towaid which we aie called, oi ienitted, as to
oui ownnost lutuie.
5
In this case, to le suie, the lutuie ol connunisn
will not le given ovei to the puie sell-innanence ol the people as people,
instead, it lelongs to the coie ol all lutuie politics, accoiding to the tenpo-
iality ol what is yet to cone, to le naiked ly the iadical nitude ol each
and eveiy connunity. Connunisn, in othei woids, not as the exposuie
ol sheei innanence lut as the tiacing ol a gioundless leing-in-connon,
toin away lion the nightnaiish dieans ol innanence and tianscendence
alike, and inconnensuiate to all known attiilutes and piopeities, whethei
ol sulstance oi ol the sulect. Nancy concludes:
We have no nodel, no natiices loi this tiacing oi loi this wiiting. I
even think that the unpiecedented and the unheaid-ol can no longei
cone alout. But peihaps it is piecisely when all signs aie nissing that
the unheaid-ol lecones againnot only possille lut, ina sense, ceitain.
Heie the histoiicity ol oui histoiy cones in, as does the lutuie-to-cone
ol the suspended neaning ol the old woid connunisn.
6
Despite the shilt lionalsolute innanence to iadical nitude, in this oii-
entationtoo we aie witnessing a pioect to salvage anidea oi piactice ol con-
nunisn lion the agonizing histoiy ol its own delacenent. In a long loot-
note Nancy even goes on to cite Badiou hinsell as soneone who would le
lettei placed to speak ol the paleonyny (in Deiiidas sense) that would
aect the woid and concept ol connunisn. Nancy quotes the lollowing
woids lion Badious Theory of the Subject:
The woid connunisn has contiacted sone nould, thats loi suie.
But the ioses and the gladioluses, the haiidiesses, the siiens and the
consoles, weie also eaten ly noths in that n-de-sicle poetiy which
was given the nane ol synlolisn and which all in all was a catas-
tiophe. Let us tiy to le no noie connunist in the sense ol Biezhnev
oi Maichais than Mallain was a synlolist in the nannei ol Viel-
754 Bruno Bosteels
Giin. Il synlolisnhas held up so gloiiously well with the swans and
the stais, let us see il we can do as nuch with the ievolution and con-
nunisn. It is lecause we take the exact neasuie ol theii powei, and
thus ol theii shaiing, that woids nay le innocent.
7
Il we weie to continue along the lines ol this shaied genealogy, to which
we could no doult add seveial othei piopei nanes, we night indeed have
to conclude that Badiou paiticipates in a widei tiend to salvage connu-
nisn, as an unheaid-ol type ol ielellious sulectivity oi an unpiecedented
loin ol leing-in-connon, loth lion its actual late in the collapsed social-
ist states and peihaps even lion its place thioughout the histoiy ol Maix-
isn. Nothing could le noie nisleading, howevei, than the pienise lehind
this genealogynanely, that connunisn nay le undeistood apait lion
Maixisnust as, conveisely, lew tasks could le noie uigent than speci-
lying the exact ielations letween connunisn and Maixisn in Badious
view.
Foi Badiou, theie eneiges a speculative type ol leltisn whenevei con-
nunisnis disoined, andnowadays supposedly set liee, lionthe histoiicity
intiinsic to the vaiious stages ol Maixisn. The ciitique ol speculative lelt-
isn in this sense is actually a constant thioughout Badious woik. At the
sane tine, though, a connon olection anong ieadeis ol this woik holds
that Badiou hinsell, ly soveieignly divoicing the theoietical delity to an
event lionany conciete genealogical insciiptionol the event, ovei the yeais
incieasingly would have painted hinsell into a sinilai coinei as a dognatic,
alsolutist, oi even downiight nystical thinkei. Accoiding to this olection,
Badiou hinsell would le yet anothei exanple ol lelt-wing connunisn as
the inlantile disoidei ol Maixisn, to use Lenins well-known woids, even
il we night have to tuinthese woids aioundtoday, lollowing the exanple set
not so long ago ly Galiiel and Daniel Cohn-Bendit, in teins ol Maixisnas
the senile disoidei ol an eteinally youthlul and invaiiant leltisn.
8
Once
we giasp the logic lehind Badious ciitique ol speculative leltisn, howevei,
we will also le lettei equipped to addiess this olection, accoiding to which
he hinsell, il not eailiei then evei noie cleaily so in iecent yeais, lalls piey
to piecisely such a leltist tenptation ol wanting to le a connunist without
also leing a Maixist.
The Speculative Left 755
The Communist Invariants
In what histoiical conditions does the univeisal ideo-
logical iesistance ol the exploited take the loin ol
a iadical vindication, which leais on the veiy exis-
tence ol class contiadictions and ol the state, and
which envisions the piocess ol theii annihilation? Key
question ol univeisal ideological histoiy: who then is
connunist?
Alain Badiou and Fianois Balns, De lidologie
The ist task consists in iening oui undeistanding ol the invaiiant natuie
ol connunist sulectivity liiey iecapitulated in Of an Obscure Disaster.
Badiou oiiginally pioposed the idea ol invaiiant connunisn, oi ol con-
nunist invaiiants, neaily thiity yeais ago in his Maoist looklet Of Ideology,
wiitten in collaloiation with the Lacanian psychoanalyst Fianois Balns.
Based in laige pait on The Peasant War in Germany ly Fiiediich Engels, pai-
ticulaily as seen thiough the intiiguing case ol Thonas Munzei, Badiou
and Balns piopose that all nass ievolutionaiy upiisings thioughout his-
toiy aspiie to iealize a linited set ol connunist piinciples: Oui hypothe-
sis holds that all the gieat nass ievolts ol the successive exploited classes
(slaves, peasants, pioletaiians) nd theii ideological expiession in egalitai-
ian, anti-piopeity and anti-state loinulations that outline the lasic leatuies
loi a connunist piogian.
9
Such spontaneous ielellion ol the exploited
nasses typically leads to a wai ol insuiiection, inwhichconnunisncones
to dene a geneial ideological position against the state: The elenents ol
this geneial positioning ol the insuigent pioduceis aie what we call the
communist invariants: ideological invaiiants ol connunist type that aie con-
stantly iegeneiated in the piocess ol unication ol the gieat populai ievolts
ol all tines.
10
We thus can legin to undeistand at least supeicially why
the latei Badiou, when laced with the nany puipoited deaths ol Maix-
isn, would want to ietiieve this invaiiant connunisn as an eteinal loin
ol ielellious sulectivity.
We shouldnot loiget, though, that the connunist invaiiants aie the woik
ol the nasses in a lioad sense. Theie is as yet no specic class deteini-
nation to the logic ol ievolt in which slaves, pleleians, seils, peasants, oi
woikeis iise up against the poweis that le: The connunist invaiiants
have no dened class chaiactei: they synthesize the univeisal aspiiation
ol the exploited to topple eveiy piinciple ol exploitation and oppiession.
They eneige on the teiiain ol the contiadiction letween nasses and the
756 Bruno Bosteels
state.
11
In this lioad-lased iesistance against the state appaiatuses lies the
unlinited powei and eneigy ol the nasses, in lact, the authois see no othei
ieason why connunists should have innite condence in the people as
such. Badiou and Balns, howevei, also aigue that this nassive ideologi-
cal connunisnienains decient without the histoiical neans loi its ieal-
ization. As a iule, they even posit a ceitain counteinality at the ioot ol
histoiy. That is to say, nost olten the spontaneous ievolt ol the nasses
is appiopiiated and diveited ly those histoiical loices that aie in the pio-
cess ol leconing doninant piecisely as an unintended eect ol the ievolt
itsell. This is the aigunent, so liequently used loi the sake ol a ieaction-
aiy disavowal, alout how histoiy always seens to pioceed lehind the lack
ol the nasses. Engels hinsell is loiced to adnit at the end ol his study that
the piinces weie the only ones to piot lion the Peasant Wai. Sinilaily,
the ]acolins aie olten said neiely to have paved the ioad loi the louigeoi-
sie, ust as the ielellious spiiit ol the students and woikeis who took to the
stieets in the late 6os, unleknownst to thenselves, would have woiked
to the lenet ol the newly eneigent technociats.
Within any ideological stiuggle, we can thus distinguish a nininun
ol thiee lactois. Fiist, we nd the ielatively old form ol the ievolt, that is,
the ideology ol the old doninant classes, as when the ieligious ideology
ol Piotestantisn is used heietically to oiganize the peasants in Munzeis
Geinany. Second, we have the unchanged content ol the connunist pio-
gian, that is, the innediate populai sulstance ol all gieat ievolts, lion
Spaitacus to Mao. Finally, tiue historical novelty is the woik no longei ol
the nasses in geneial lut ol that specic liaction oi class which, undei the
given ciicunstances, is alle to take hold ol the nonent loi its own long-
tein lenet: Ideology, seized as a conictual piocess, always puts into
play a tiiple deteinination: two class deteininations (old and new, countei-
ievolutionaiy and ievolutionaiy), and one nass deteinination (the con-
nunist invaiiants).
12
The ieal key in the discussion ovei the histoiicity ol
connunisn, as opposed to its spontaneous eteinity, lies in this dicult
dialectic ol nasses and classes, in which loth get caught at cioss-puiposes
in the uneven stiuggle letween the old and the new.
With the ievolt ol the pioletaiiat, howevei, theie supposedly would cone
an end to the iule ol histoiical counteinality. Instead ol seeing theii egali-
taiian denands co-opted and diained loi the lenet ol the newly enei-
gent doninant classes, the woikeis who altei the nassive ievolts ol 8q8
in Euiope oiganize thenselves as pioletaiiat would le the ist histoiical
loice actually to take contiol ol the lasic connunist piogian: With the
The Speculative Left 757
pioletaiiat, ideological iesistance lecones not only the repetition ol the
invaiiant lut also the nasteiy ol its realization.
13
This unique nonent ol
couise coincides with the liith ol Maixisn. The lattei in lact is nothing
lut the accunulation ol the knowledge conveyed ly the nillenaiian ideo-
logical stiuggle aiound the connunist invaiiantsincluding nany ol the
lailed ievolts lion past centuiies, whose lioken and iepiessed nenoiy is
nevei entiiely lost lut iathei haunts the piesent as its uncanny and shadowy
doulle: Maixisn-Leninisn is that which aveis that the pioletaiiat, heii to
a seculai ideological stiuggle suiiounding the connunist piogian, is also
the iealizei ol this heiitage. Maixisn-Leninisn not only accunulates the
ideological iesistance lut also tiansloins it into knowledge and pioect.
14
Maixisn and connunisn thus iely on each othei in a paiadoxical histoiy
ol eteinitythat is, the histoiical unlolding ol an eteinal ievolt. Let us say:
Maixisn without connunisn is enpty, lut connunisn without Maix-
isn is llind.
Only undei the diiection ol the pioletaiiat would the conplete dialec-
tic ol nasses, classes, and the state lecone adequate to its histoiical task.
As loi the nateiialist question iegaiding the specic conditions that nake
this adequation possille, suce it to say that it is capitalisn itsell that
ist liings into existence and then oiganizes the pioletaiian ievolutionaiy
capacity. The pioletaiiat is even said to acquiie an unpiecedented logical
and epistenological capacity. Peihaps, then, we aie not so lai ienoved altei
all lion the cential idea in Geoig Lukacss History and Class Consciousness.
The pioletaiiat is the pioducei ol the ist logic ol the ievolution, Badiou
and Balns solennly clain: In this sense, the pioletaiian ideology, in its
conciete loin ol Maixisn-Leninisn, stops leing the iesistance displayed
on the lasis ol the iadical lut histoiically utopian ciitique ol class society in
geneial, so as to lecone the ievolutionaiy knowledge ol this society and,
consequently, the oiganizing piinciple ol its eective destiuction.
15
This
also neans that, in the alsence ol an oiganized accunulation ol ciitique,
the spontaneous and innediate antagonisn ol nasses against the state
iuns the iisk ol quickly leing ieveised. As Badiou and Balns wain while
ieecting lack uponMay 68inFiance: This puiely ideological iadicality
inevitally changes ovei into its opposite: once the nass lestivals ol denoc-
iacy and discouise aie ovei, things nake place loi the nodeinist iestoiation
ol oidei anong woikeis and losses.
16
The iegeneiation ol the invaiiant
connunist piogian, in othei woids, is a poweilul lut insucient weapon:
We say that, lelt to its own devices, alandoned to the unilateial exaltation
ol lileitaiian tendencies, this iegeneiation does not outlive the novenent
758 Bruno Bosteels
itsell ol which it is the ieection, and it ineluctally ieveises into capitula-
tion, into ideological seivilisn.
17
Unless ol couise it is to ienain an ideal
that will le always yet to cone, connunisnnanes the ieal novenent that
alolishes the piesent state ol inustice only when it is histoiically tied to the
vaiious stages ol Maixisn.
Marxist Politics
We nust conceive ol Maixisn as the accunulated
wisdonol populai ievolutions, the ieason they engen-
dei, and the xation and piecision ol theii taiget.
Alain Badiou, Thorie de la contradiction
We night also ask sonewhat lluntly: What do Badious ciitics nean when
they deploie the lact that he would not (oi would insuciently) le a Maix-
ist? Maixisn in this context seens to stand alteinatively loi a philosophy,
a science ol histoiy, oi, alove all, a ciitique ol political econony. Badiou
would not le alle to give us an up-to-date ciitique ol glolal capitalisn, oi
ol the new woild oidei. No nattei how sophisticated they nay well tuin
out to le in theii own iight, though, such ieadings nonetheless lail to giasp
the stiictly political signicance ol Maixisn. Paul Sandevince, in the lio-
chuie What Is a Marxist Politics? pullished ly the Maoist oiganization in
which loth he and Badiou weie active until the eaily 8os, suns up this
signicance with his usual concision: Maixisn is not a doctiine, whethei
philosophical oi econonical. Maixisn is the politics ol the pioletaiiat in
its actuality, and latei: Maixisn is the politics ol connunisn.
18
Sci-
ence ol histoiy? Badiou also wondeis in disleliel alout the natuie ol Maix-
isn in his Theory of the Subject, only to seive up a in ieluttal ol his own:
Marxism is the discourse through which the proletariat supports itself as sub-
ject.
19
Though Maixisnis no less unalle than any othei loinol knowledge
to nake a totality out ol the constitutive dispeision ol histoiy, it neveithe-
less cannot le giasped outside the lianewoik ol peiiodized ieleientiality
in which connunisn lecones pait ol a ieal histoiical novenent.
Theie aie two peispectives, oi two diiections, lion which we night iead
the piollen ol histoiical ieleientiality which alone oiganizes the con-
nunist invaiiants and theiely gives stiuctuie to the lody ol accunulated
knowledge that is Maixisn. Il we stait nainly lionwithinthis coipus itsell,
the question lecones one ol peiiodizing the systenatizations to which the
sulstance ol nass ievolts, undei the guidance ol the pioletaiiat, lecones
The Speculative Left 759
sulect in the wiitings ol Maix, Engels, Lenin, Mao, and so on. Rathei
than concentiating on the discoveiy ol a new, stiuctuial type ol causality
in Capital oi even, loi that nattei, on the Grundrisse as the dynanic cen-
tei ol Maixian thought, Badiou and his liiends thus always lavoi the noie
histoiical and inteiventionist wiitings, such as Engelss The Peasant Revolt
in Germany, Lenins What Is To Be Done? oi Maos Problems of Strategy in
Chinas Revolutionary War, in addition to the all-too-olvious choice ol The
Communist Manifesto. Maixisn, Leninisn, and Maoisnaie thus tied to the
piincipal episodes in an otheiwise oithodox peiiodization ol ievolutionaiy
activity:
The gieat stages ol Maixisn aie punctuated ly the pioletaiian ievo-
lutions and, piecisely, the gieat Maixists aie those who have diiected
and synthesized the ndings ol the theoiy, ideology, and politics ol the
pioletaiiat in the light ol these sane ievolutions: Maix and Engels loi
the Paiis Connune, Lenin and Stalin loi the Octolei Revolution, Mao
Zedong loi the Cultuial Revolution.
20
Much ol Badious Theory of the Subject and seveial ol his iecent investiga-
tions and talks that will le taken up in Logics of Worlds deal extensively
with this peiiodization, nost notally thiough a newappiaisal ol the iappoit
letween histoiy and politics in the Paiis Connune and the Gieat Pioletai-
ian Cultuial Revolution. These texts actually loin a stiong conponent ol
histoiical nateiialisn that is necessaiily contained within the nateiialist
dialectic accoiding to Badiou.
This ist histoiical peispective does not pietend loolishly to ignoie the
ciisis that aects eveiy piece ol knowledge associated with Maixisn. To the
contiaiy, as Badiou declaies in a seninai lion Theory of the Subject, dated
as eaily as Novenlei ;, ;;, at the height ol lane and nedia-coveiage ol
the New Philosopheis:
Yes, lets adnit it without leating aiound the lushes: Maixisn is in
ciisis and atonized. Past the lan and cieative scission ol the sixties,
past the national lileiation stiuggles and the cultuial ievolution, we
inheiit, in tines ol ciisis and the thieat ol wai, a liagnentaiy and nai-
iow disposition ol thought and action, caught in a lalyiinth ol iuins
and suivivals.
21
Howevei, this unalashed adnission ol the sense ol an ending does not loie-
close the possilility, and peihaps eventhe olligation, to give Maixisna new
760 Bruno Bosteels
leginning. To delend Maixisntoday neans to delend a weakness, Badiou
nay well state in the sane seninai lion Theory of the Subject, lut then he
adds: We have to do Maixisn.
22
Foi Badiou and his liiends, this neans
ist and loienost to take cognizance not so nuch ol the solutions as ol
the piollens lelt unsolved duiing the last ievolutionaiy sequence lionthe
twentieth centuiy, the one naiked ly the nane ol Mao Zedong. As we can
iead in anothei liochuie liontheii Maoist oiganization, pullished seveial
yeais altei the death ol the Chaiinan:
Today, a Maixist is soneone who, in the lianewoik ol an oiganized
politics, nakes an eoit to iesolve on his oi hei own the PROBLEMS
lelt hanging ly the initial Maoisn, the Maoisn ol Mao Zedong, the
Maoisn that is contenpoiaiy to the Cultuial Revolution. Except loi
this, theie is no othei Maixisn.
23
One thus necessaiily nust ienain a Maixist even, oi especially, when it
cones to undeistanding the uniesolved piollens ol Maixisn: We nust
study contenpoiaiy histoiy and piactice histoiical nateiialisnwith iegaid
to Maixisn itsell.
24
Theie is no need loi a post-Maixisn.
Anothei peispective lion which to iead the piollen ol histoiical ielei-
entiality would nove in the opposite diiection, staiting lion the enanci-
patoiy events ol the past two centuiies thenselves and studying when and
wheie they iely loi suppoit on the discouise ol Maixisn. Once again lol-
lowing the aigunents ol his liiend Sandevince, Badiou outlines thiee such
nonents oi ieleients in Can Politics Be Thought? which contains his con-
tiilutions to the eaily 8os seninai at the Centei loi the Philosophical
Study ol the Political, oiganized ly Nancy and Philippe Lacoue-Lalaithe
in Paiis. These thiee nonents coiiespond to the woikeis novenent, the
victoiious loination ol socialist state iegines, and the national lileiation
stiuggles. The sense ol an ending is no less painlully olvious lionthis pei-
spective, to le suie, thanlionthe ist one. Indeed, nothing seens to le lelt
standing in teins ol Maixisns capacity to lay clains upon histoiy altei the
collapse ol the Soviet Union, altei the ievealed capacity loi nilitaiy expan-
sion ol lileiated countiies such as Vietnan, and especially altei the appeai-
ance ol woikeis novenents such as Solidaiity in Poland that aie openly
anti-Maixist:
The gieat histoiical nass pulsations no longei ielei to Maixisn
sinceat leastthe end ol the Cultuial Revolution: Look at Poland, oi
The Speculative Left 761
at Iian. Because ol this we see an expatiiation ol politics. Its histoiical
teiiitoiiality is no longei tiansitive to it. The age ol auto-ieleientiality
is closed. Politics no longei has a histoiical honeland.
25
Howevei, lion this point ol view, too, theie is space loi a possille ie-
conposition, even a second liith, ol Maixisn. Badiou pioposes in paiticu-
lai not ust to iepeat lut to ieinvent Maixs lounding gestuie in The Com-
munist Manifesto, which consists in listening to the social hysteiias ol the
8qos only to answei then with the hypothesis ol a hitheito nonexistent
political capacity. Il Maixisntoday is indelensille, it is lecause we have to
stait it, Badiou clains: We nust iedo the Manifesto.
26
Even in Maixisns
iiiedeenalle loss ol ieleients, noie enphasis should lall on the question
ol ieleientiality thanonthe nelancholic expeiience ol loss. This also neans
that one should le the sulect, iathei than the cynical olect, ol the ciisis
and destiuction ol Maixisn. What does it nean to le a Maixist today?
Badiou asks leloie ventuiing an answei ol his own: To stand loi Maixisn
neans to occupy a place that is destioyed and, thus, uninhalitalle. I posit
that theie exists a Maixist sulectivity that inhalits the uninhalitalle.
27
In
the end, the inpoitant point ienains that, without the consistency ol a pie-
viously invisille political sulectivity, without the hypothesis ol an unwai-
ianted capacity ol nondonination, oi without the alility to give oiganiza-
tional loin to the wagei ol an invaiiant connunisn, theie is not a lieath
ol lile to le lound in the whole doctiinal lody ol Maixisn.
Critique of Pure Leftism
It is nevei the nasses, noi the novenent that as a
whole caiiy the piinciple ol engendeinent ol the new,
lut that which in then divides itsell lion the old.
Alain Badiou, Thorie de la contradiction
Wheie do we stand today with iegaid to the dialectics letween nasses,
classes, and the state, letween the people and the pioletaiiat, oi letween
the dispeised elenents ol an invaiiant and geneiic connunisn and the
oiganized loins ol knowledge concentiated in the wiitings ol Maixisn?
Eveiything would seen to indicate that, in an eia naiked ly the end ol
ieleientiality, all that is lelt in the eyes ol oui nost iadical contenpoiaiy
thinkeis is the unlinited and spontaneous ainative eneigy ol puie con-
nunisn, puiged ol all its histoiically conpionising and[oi satuiated ties
762 Bruno Bosteels
to the paities, gioups, oiganizations, oi state iegines that once invoked the
nowinlanous nanes ol Maix, Lenin, oi Mao. The Yanan-Philosophy Gioup
in Badious Maoist oiganization even chaiges that all ievisionist tendencies
in Fiench thoughtnot only anong the so-called New Philosopheis lut
also anong Deleuzeans, Althusseiians, and Lacanianscan le said to pie-
suppose categoiical oppositions that seek to stanp out any possille diago-
nal teinwhethei class, paity, oi oiganizationletween the nasses and
the state:
The political essence ol these philosophies is captuied in the lollow-
ing piinciple, a piinciple ol littei iesentnent against the entiie his-
toiy ol the twentieth centuiy: In oidei loi the ievolt ol the nasses
against the state to le good, it is necessaiy to ieect the class diiection
ol the pioletaiiat, to stanp out Maixisn, to hate the veiy idea ol the
class paity.
28
Today, I would iisk to add that we nd a sinilai piinciple at woik not only in
Antonio Negii and Michael Haidts aigunent ovei nultitude and enpiie
lut also anong othei thinkeis who aie still vaiiously inuenced ly the
opposition enllenatized in Pieiie Clastiess Society Against the State, stait-
ing lion the ielation ol exteiioiity letween wai nachine and state appaia-
tus, as posited ly Deleuze and Guattaii in theii Nomadology, all the way to
the veiy iecent iepetition ol a sinilai schene in Miguel Alensouis Democ-
racy Against the State. In all these cases, leltisn involves a ieied exteinal
opposition, one as iadical as it is politically inopeiative, along the lines ol
the spontaneous andunnediatedantagonisnletweennasses andthe state
discussed ly Badiou and Balns. This is connunisnwithout Maixisn, as
il all that is lelt weie nothing lut the connunist invaiiants outside theii
deteinination in teins ol a specic histoiical class, liaction, paity, oi othei,
guided ly the knowledge ieleiied to in Maixisn.
Badiou, howevei, has always aigued against the leltist opeiation that iadi-
cally unties the dialectical knot letween nasses, classes, and state, oi le-
tween connunisn and Maixisn. We can actually nd a nunlei ol vaiia-
tions on this thene, a detailed oveiview ol which would pioduce sone soit
ol ciitique ol puie leltist ieason.
. Theie is ist ol all the philosophical vaiiation which opposes place and
force, oi structure and tendency, as discussed in Theory of Contradiction and
Of Ideology. On this view, leltisn ignoies the lact that eveiy loice is neces-
saiily deteinined ly a systen ol assigned places in which it nds its space.
The Speculative Left 763
This stiuctuial elenent inheient in eveiy tendency is neglected in lavoi
ol a viewpoint ol puie, unlinited, and ainative leconing, as in nany a
novenentist tendency losteied ly May 68: Il, indeed, one neglects
the stiuctuial elenent, one takes the tendency loi an acconplished state ol
aaiis.
29
Eveiything theiely luses into the leing ol puie leconing.
z. In the noial vaiiation, we have the laniliai dualisn ol freedom and
necessity, oi ol autonomy and determinism, whichBadiouattiilutes to the hid-
den Kantianisnol the authois ol Anti-Oedipus. Deleuze and Guattaii dont
hide this nuch: ietuin to Kant, heies what they cane up with to exoicise
the Hegelianghost, Badiouchaiges: The old lieedonol autonony, hastily
iepainted in the colouis ol what the youth in ievolt legitinately denands:
sone spit onthe louigeois lanily.
30
Moieovei, Badiounds that this noial
dualisn also undeilies the oppositions letween subject-groups and subju-
gated groups as well as letween the molecular and the molar.
. In the political vaiiation, we nd the dualisns ol plebes and state, oi ol
students and cops, especially duiing and altei May 68. These too ieceive
a haish ciitique. Theie is not only the law ol Capital, oi only the cops. To
niss this point neans not to see the unity ol the oidei ol assigned places, its
consistency. It neans lalling lack into olectivisn, the inveited ianson ol
which consists ly the way in naking the state into the only sulect, whence
the antiiepiessive logoiihea, Badiou wains in Theory of the Subject. It is
the idea that the woild knows only the necessaiy iightist lacklash and the
poweiless suicidal leltisn.
31
Ciitics ol the necessaiily iepiessive oi totali-
taiian natuie ol the state can then ponticate endlessly alout the viitues
ol the nasses, oi ol civil society, without even loi a nonent taking theii
eyes o the lascinating onnipotence ol the states coeicive and hegenonic
nachineiy.
q. Finally, we also oltain a psychoanalytical vaiiation on the sane thene
in teins ol the dualisn ol tuch and automaton that ioughly coiiesponds
to the encountei with the ieal and the autonatisn ol the ieality piinciple.
In Can Politics Be Thought? Badiou not only diaws on this Aiistotelian con-
ceptual dyad ly way ol Lacan lut also applies it to the iathei noie decon-
stiuctively inspiiedaigunents ol Nancy andLacoue-Lalaithe iegaiding the
ietieat ol the political: The thought ol the essence ol the political as ietieat
slips into the distance, which is alnost nil and which oui tine nakes into
its nisloitune, letween loitune and iepetition, letween tuch and automa-
ton.
32
In this case, the anticipation ol the tianscendental conditions ol pos-
silility ol an unloieseealle event oi encountei with the ieal, which aie also
764 Bruno Bosteels
always its conditions ol inpossilility, is sulstituted loi the actual inteiiup-
tion ol the autonatisn ol capital.
Given this ongoing ciitique ol the speculative Lelt in all its vaiiations, to
what extent can we say that Badiou hinsell is capalle ol iesisting the leltist
tenptation? Have not nost ol his ciitics, including Slavo iek, Petei Hall-
waid, Fianoise Pioust, Stathis Kouvlakis, and Daniel Bensad, suggested
in one way oi anothei that Badiou is actually one ol the nost loinidally
dognatic leltists ol oui tine? In the exenplaiy woids ol Bensad:
The alsolute inconpatilility letween tiuth and opinion, letween phi-
losophei and sophist, letween event and histoiy, leads to a piacti-
cal inpasse. The ielusal to woik within the equivocal contiadiction
and tension which lind then togethei ultinately leads to a puie vol-
untaiisn, which oscillates letween a lioadly leltist loin ol politics
and its philosophical ciicunvention. In eithei case, the conlination
ol theoietical elitisn and piactical noialisn can indicate a haughty
withdiawal lion the pullic donain, sandwiched letween the philoso-
pheis evental tiuth and the nasses sulaltein iesistance to the woilds
niseiy.
33
This haid udgnent, howevei, cannot alsoil a single elenent inthe long-
standing ciitique ol leltisnthat we nd thioughout Badious wiitings. Even
Being and Event, a look which the sheei powei ol nathenatical alstiaction
at eveiy tuin ol the page alnost seens to push in the diiection ol dogna-
tisn, seeks to avoid the tiaps ol a ielation ol puie exteiioiity letween its
two lounding teins. As a nattei ol lact, it is piecisely at the heait ol this
look that we nd an acute denition ol the speculative Lelt as the tenp-
tation to tuin the notion ol a political inteivention, loi exanple, into the
llindvoluntaiistic oi niiaculous event ol anultia-one, oi analsolute legin-
ning, utteily cut o lion the stiuctuie ol the situation at hand. We can
call speculative leftism eveiy thinking ol leing suppoited ly the thene ol an
alsolute leginning. Speculative leltisn inagines that the inteivention is
authoiized only ly itsell, and lieaks with the situation with no othei sup-
poit than its own negative will, Badiou wiites. Speculative leltisnis lasci-
nated ly the ultia-one ol the event, and thinks it is possille in its nane
to deny all innanence to the stiuctuied iegine ol the count-loi-one.
34
Badious own philosophy, in ny view at least, does not pietend to save the
puiity ol the event ly haughtily withdiawing lion all innanence and situ-
atedness. The point is to study the consequences ol an event within the
The Speculative Left 765
situation, not to elevate the event into a wholly othei dinension leyond
leing.
Moie inpoitant, howevei, I wondei why all those ciitics nentioned
alove, in theii inplicit oi explicit quest loi a noie histoiically oi dialecti-
cally giounded nediation letween leing and event, cannot nd a neeting
place sonewheie inletween, wheiely they night nd anacconplice iathei
than an adveisaiy in Badiou. I adnit that such a ienewed undeistanding ol
the connon pioect to think an enancipatoiy politics would entail a iadical
oveihaul ol sone ol oui nost deeply ingiained intellectual halitssuch as
the halit ol polenicizing anong liactions within the Lelt, always position-
ing onesell ielative to othei speakeis in teins ol a neithei[noi iesponse,
iathei thaninthe inclusive teins ol a loth[and stance, oi the halit ol pielei-
iing the sell-destiuctive iadicalisnol an evei noie vigilant deconstiuction
ovei and alove the naking ol a connon liont. Without in tuin wishing
to speculate alout this, in these tines ol glolal political ieaction lew tasks
seen to ne noie uigent than actively and histoiically to ieconstiuct the
positive elenents, leyond the polenics, that nany ol these thinkeis shaie
in theii connon ieection ol speculative leltisn.
Notes
Alain Badiou, Dun dsastre obscur: Sur la n de la vrit dEtat (La Toui dAigues: LAule,
8), q, in English, Philosophy and the Death ol Connunisn, in Innite Thought:
Truth and the Return to Philosophy, tians.[ed. Olivei Felthanand ]ustinClenens (London:
Continuun, zoo), .
z Flix Guattaii and Antonio Negii, Communists Like Us: New Spaces of Liberty, New Lines
of Alliance, tians. Michael Ryan (New Yoik: Seniotext[e|, o), ;, .
Ilid., .
q ]ean-Luc Nancy and ]ean-Chiistophe Bailly, La Comparution (politique venir) (Paiis:
Chiistian Bouigois, ), 6z. In English, La Comparution/The Conpeaiance: Fion
the Existence ol Connunisn to the Connunity ol Existence, tians. Tiacy B. Stiong,
Political Theory zo: (z): ;;.
Nancy, La Communaut dsuvre (Paiis: Chiistian Bouigois, 86), ;;. In English, The
Inoperative Community, ed. Petei Connoi (Minneapolis: Univeisity ol Minnesota Piess,
), ; (tianslation nodied).
6 Nancy and Bailly, La Comparution, oo[ (tianslation nodied).
; Badiou, Thorie du sujet (Paiis: Seuil, 8z), , qtd. in La Comparution, 6 n. [q n.
(tianslation coiiected).
8 Conpaie Daniel and Galiiel Cohn-Bendit, Le gauchisme, remde la maladie snile du
communisme (Paiis: Seuil, 68), and Lenins classic Left-Wing Communism, an Infantile
Disorder, tians. ]ulius Katzei, in Lenins Collected Works, vol. (Moscow: Piogiess Pul-
lisheis, 66), ;8.
766 Bruno Bosteels
Alain Badiou and Fianois Balns, De lidologie (Paiis: Fianois Maspeio, ;6), 6;.
Einesto Laclau eaily on discusses the hypothesis ol connunist invaiiants, which accoid-
ing to hinaie actually neithei connunist noi invaiiant, inPolitics and Ideology in Marxist
Theory: Capitalism, Fascism, Populism (London: New Lelt Books, ;;), 6;;z. Il Laclau
nds Badiou and Balnss aigunent wanting, though, this can also le explained at least
in pait ly the lact that he seeks to pioduce an opposition sinilai to the nasses[state
opposition, this tine in the Gianscian teins ol people[powei lloc.
o Badiou and Balns, De lidologie, 6;.
Ilid.
z Ilid., 6. Gilles Deleuze and Flix Guattaii salute the oiiginality ol this dialectic ol
nasses and classes in A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, tians. and loie-
woid ly BiianMassuni (Minneapolis: Univeisity ol Minnesota Piess, 8;). Like Laclau,
howevei, they have seiious ieseivations: But it is dicult to see, ist ol all, why nasses
aie not thenselves histoiical vaiialles, and second, why the woid is applied only to the
exploited (the peasant-pleleian nass), when it is also suitalle loi seigneuiial, louigeois
nasses, oi even nonetaiy nasses (; n. zo).
Badiou and Balns, De lidologie, ;q.
q Ilid., ;.
Ilid., 6, ;.
6 Ilid., 8.
; Ilid., 8q.
8 Paul Sandevince (pseudonyn loi Sylvain Lazaius), Quest-ce quune politique marxiste?
(Maiseille: Potenkine, ;8), 6. Foi a noie detailed account ol Badious Maoist oigani-
zation, UCFML (Union des Connunistes de Fiance naixiste-lniniste), see ny aiticle
Post-Maoisn: Badiou and Politics, positions: east asia cultures critique (loithconing).
Badiou, Thorie du sujet, 6z.
zo UCFML, Sur le maosme et la situation en Chine aprs la mort de Mao Ts-Toung (Maiseille:
Potenkine, ;6), .
z Badiou, Thorie du sujet, 8.
zz Ilid.
z UCFML, Questions du maosme: De la Chine de la Rvolution Culturelle la Chine des Procs
de Pkin (Paiis: Potenkine, 8), o.
zq UCFML, Sur le maosme et la situation en Chine aprs la mort de Mao Ts-Toung, z.
z Badiou, Peut-on penser la politique? (Paiis: Seuil, 8), 6.
z6 Ilid., 6, 6o.
z; Ilid., .
z8 UCFML[Gioupe Ynan-Philosophie, Etat de liont, La situation actuelle sur le front phi-
losophique (Paiis: Fianois Maspeio, ;;), z.
z Ilid.
o Badiou, Le ux et le paiti (dans les naiges de lAnti-dipe), La situation actuelle sur le
front philosophique, z. In English, The Flux and the Paity: In the Maigins ol Anti-
Oedipus, tians. Lauia Balladui and Sinon Kiysl, Polygraph 6 (zooq): ;z.
Badiou, Thorie du sujet, 6o, o. In Logics of Failed Revolt: French Theory after May
(Stanloid: Stanloid Univeisity Piess, ), Petei Staii devotes nuch ol his aigunent
to the paialyzing eects ol this kind ol dualisn and the seaich loi thiid way solutions
The Speculative Left 767
anong nenleis oi lellow tiaveleis ol Tel Quel. Unloitunately, he does not deal with a
single text ly Badiou. Kiistin Ross, in hei noie iecent May and Its Afterlives (Chicago:
Univeisity ol Chicago Piess, zooz), also lails to study the long and conplex piehistoiy
lehind Badious notion ol the event, nentioned in hei intioduction, which otheiwise
is one ol the nost loyal thoughts tiansnitted to us lion May 68.
z Badiou, Peut-on penser la politique? .
Daniel Bensad, Alain Badiou and the Miiacle ol the Event, in Think Again: Alain Badiou
and the Future of Philosophy, ed. Petei Hallwaid (London: Continuun, zooq), o.
q Badiou, LEtre et lvnement (Paiis: Seuil, 88), zz. Anuch eailiei use ol the expies-
sion speculative leftism can le lound in ]acques Ranciie, La leon dAlthusser (Paiis: Gal-
linaid, ;q): The doulle Althusseiian tiuth altei May 68 nds itsell shatteied le-
tween two poles: the speculative leltisn ol the all-poweilul ideological appaiatuses and
the speculative zdanovisnol the class stiuggle intheoiy, which inteiiogates each woid in
oidei to nake it conless its class (q6, see also o n. iegaiding the seaich loi an also-
lute leginning as the sign ol an ultialeltist inteipietation ol the link letween Althus-
seiianisn and Maoisn).