The Long Twilight of French Marxism

Beginning from Keith Reader’s diagnosis that the political decline of the French Communist Party (PCF) was accompanied by a drift away from Marxism, this article agrees that this intellectual movement peaked in France in the early 1980s and became less fashionable as other movements dominated the public forums. Nevertheless, it continued to be espoused by several groups of intellectuals, including groups close to the PCF and groups that were critical of it. The article explores the long twilight of French Marxism, examining some of the ways intellectuals have adapted its ideas and insights to try to understand the world as it has changed since the end of the Cold War. They include communist, structuralist, non-communist and existentialist varieties of Marxism, some of which have been influential in the English-speaking world

Art · Art history · Astronomy · Physics · Twilight · French Historical and Cultural Studies · History