Socialism And The Experience Of Time: Idealism And The Present In Modern France
by Julian Wright /
2017 / English / PDF
1.3 MB Download
How do we make social democracy? Should we seize the unknown
possibilities offered by the future, or does real change develop
when we focus our attention on the immediate present? The modern
tradition of social revolution suggested that the present is
precisely the time that needs to be surpassed, but can society
change without an intimate focus on today's experience of social
injustice?
How do we make social democracy? Should we seize the unknown
possibilities offered by the future, or does real change develop
when we focus our attention on the immediate present? The modern
tradition of social revolution suggested that the present is
precisely the time that needs to be surpassed, but can society
change without an intimate focus on today's experience of social
injustice?
In
InSocialism and the Experience of Time
Socialism and the Experience of Time, Julian Wright
asks how socialists in France from the mid-nineteenth to the
mid-twentieth century tried to follow a democratic commitment to
the present. The debate about time that emerged in French socialism
lay beneath the surface of political arguments within the left. But
how did this focus on the present relate to the tradition of
revolution in France? What did socialism have to say about social
experience in the present, and how did this discussion shape
socialism as a movement?
, Julian Wright
asks how socialists in France from the mid-nineteenth to the
mid-twentieth century tried to follow a democratic commitment to
the present. The debate about time that emerged in French socialism
lay beneath the surface of political arguments within the left. But
how did this focus on the present relate to the tradition of
revolution in France? What did socialism have to say about social
experience in the present, and how did this discussion shape
socialism as a movement?
Wright examines French socialism's fascination with modern history,
through a new reading of Jean Jaurès' multi-authored project to
write a "socialist history" of France since 1789. Then, in four
interlocking biographical essays, he analyses the reformist and
idealist socialism of the Third Republic, long side-lined in the
historical literature. With a sometimes emotional focus on the
present times of Benoît Malon, Georges Renard, Marcel Sembat, and
Léon Blum, a personal history unfolds that allows us to revisit the
traditional narrative of French socialism. This is not so much a
story of the future hope for revolution, as an intimate account of
socialism, intellectual engagement, and the human present.
Wright examines French socialism's fascination with modern history,
through a new reading of Jean Jaurès' multi-authored project to
write a "socialist history" of France since 1789. Then, in four
interlocking biographical essays, he analyses the reformist and
idealist socialism of the Third Republic, long side-lined in the
historical literature. With a sometimes emotional focus on the
present times of Benoît Malon, Georges Renard, Marcel Sembat, and
Léon Blum, a personal history unfolds that allows us to revisit the
traditional narrative of French socialism. This is not so much a
story of the future hope for revolution, as an intimate account of
socialism, intellectual engagement, and the human present.
