Editing Louis Althusser (section)

===May 1968, Eurocommunism debates, and auto-critique: 1968–1978===
During [[May 68]], the tumultuous events of May 1968 in France, Althusser was hospitalized because of a depressive breakdown and was absent from the [[Latin Quarter, Paris|Latin Quarter]]. Many of his students participated in the events, and [[Régis Debray]] in particular became an international celebrity revolutionary.{{sfn|Jay|1984|p=395}} Althusser's initial silence{{sfn|Jay|1984|p=395}} was met with criticism by the protesters, who wrote on walls: "Of what use is Althusser?" ("A quoi sert Althusser?").{{sfn|Majumdar|1995|p=22}} Later, Althusser was ambivalent about it; on the one hand, he was not supportive of the movement{{sfn|Stolze|2013|p=8}} and he criticized the movement as an "ideological revolt of the mass",{{sfn|Balibar|2005b|p=270}} adopting the PCF official argument that an "infantile disorder" of anarchistic utopianism that had infiltrated the student movement.{{sfn|Jay|1984|pp=395–396}} On the other hand, he called it "the most significant event in Western history since the Resistance and the victory over Nazism" and wanted to reconcile the students and the PCF.{{sfn|Jay|1984|pp=395–396, note 44}} Nevertheless, the Maoist journal ''La Cause du peuple'' called him a [[Revisionism (Marxism)|revisionist]],{{sfn|Balibar|2005b|p=270}} and he was condemned by former students, mainly by [[Jacques Rancière]].{{sfn|Stolze|2013|p=8}} After it, Althusser went through a phase of "self-criticism" that resulted in the book ''[[Essays in Self-criticism]]'' (''Éléments d'autocritique'', 1974) in which he revisited some of his old positions, including his support of [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia|the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia]].{{sfnm|1a1=Jay|1y=1984|1p=397|2a1=Balibar|2y=2005a|2p=XII|3a1=Stolze|3y=2013|3p=8}}

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| footer = While Althusser was criticized in France by his former students, such as [[Jacques Rancière]] (''right''), his influence in Latin America grew, as exemplified by [[Marta Harnecker]] (''left'').
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In 1969, Althusser started an unfinished work{{efn|Balibar referred to it as "L'Etat, le Droit, la Superstructure" ("The State, the Law, the Superstructure"),{{sfn|Balibar|2005b|p=270}} while Elliott cited it as "De la superstructure (Droit-État-Idéologie)" ("On the Superstructure (Law-State-Ideology)").{{sfn|Elliott|2006|p=204, 395}} The IMEC archives report the existence of "De la superstructure", latter called "Qu'est-ce que la philosophie marxiste-léniniste?" ("What is the Marxist-Lenist philosophy?") and reworked as "La reproduction des rapports de production" ("The reproduction of relations of production"), but that ultimately returned to its first title.{{sfn|IMEC|1997|p=44–46}} }} that was only released in 1995 as ''Sur la reproduction'' ("On the Reproduction").<!--{{sfn|Balibar|2005b|p=270}} --> However, from these early manuscripts, he developed "[[Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses]]", which was published in the journal ''La Pensée'' in 1970,{{sfnm|1a1=IMEC|1y=1997|1p=44|2a1=Balibar|2y=2005b|2p=270|3a1=Elliott|3y=2006|3p=204}} and became very influential on ideology discussions.{{sfn|Elliott|2006|pp=203; 310, note 16}} In the same year, Althusser wrote "Marxism and Class Struggle" ("Marxisme et lutte de classe") that would be the foreword to the book ''The Basic Concepts of Historical Materialism'' of his former student, the Chilean Marxist sociologist [[Marta Harnecker]].{{sfnm|1a1=Balibar|1y=2005a|1p=XII|2a1=Balibar|2y=2005b|2p=270}} By this time, Althusser was very popular in Latin America: some leftist activists and intellectuals saw him almost as a new Marx, although his work has been the subject of heated debates and sharp criticism.{{sfn|Balibar|2005b|p=270}} As an example of this popularity, some of his works were first translated to Spanish than into English, and others were released in book format first in Spanish and then in French.{{efn|For example, "Théorie, pratique théorique et formation théorique. Idéologie et lutte idéologique" was published in ''Casa de las Americas'' (Havana), no. 34, 1966, pp. 5–31, but was only translated into English in 1990.{{sfn|Elliott|2006|p=391}} The same article was first published in book-form as ''La filosofía como arma de la revolución'' in 1968.{{sfn|Anderson|1989|p=84}} Some of his articles on the debate over humanism were also only published in Spanish as ''Polemica sobre Marxismo y Humanismo'' that same year.{{sfn|Elliott|2006|p=395}} }} At the turn from the 1960s to the 1970s, Althusser's major works were translated into English—''For Marx'', in 1969, and ''Reading Capital'' in 1970—disseminating his ideas among the English-speaking Marxists.{{sfn|Levine|1981|p=243}}

In the early 1970s, the PCF was, as most of European Communist parties, in a period of internal conflicts on strategic orientation that occurred against the backdrop of the emergence of [[Eurocommunism]].<!--{{sfn|Benton|1984|p=152}} --> In this context, Althusserian structuralist Marxism was one of the more or less defined strategic lines.{{sfn|Benton|1984|p=152}} Althusser participated in various public events of the PCF, most notably the public debate "Communists, Intellectuals and Culture" ("Les communistes, les intellectuels et la culture") in 1973.{{sfn|Balibar|2005b|p=271}} He and his supporters contested the party's leadership over its decision to abandon the notion of the "[[dictatorship of the proletariat]]" during its twenty-second congress in 1976.{{sfnm|1a1=Benton|1y=1984|1p=153|2a1=Stolze|2y=2013|2p=8}} The PCF considered that in the European context it was possible to have a peaceful transition to socialism,{{sfn|Benton|1984|p=153}} which Althusser saw as "a new opportunistic version of Marxist Humanism".{{sfn|Jay|1984|p=420}} In a lecture given to the [[Union of Communist Students]] in the same year, he criticized above all the form in which this decision was taken. According to Althusser—echoing his notion of "French misery" exposed on ''For Marx''—the party demonstrated a contempt for the materialist theory when it suppressed a "scientific concept".{{sfn|Balibar|2005b|pp=271–272}} This struggle ultimately resulted in the debacle of the fraction "Union of the Left" and an open letter written by Althusser and five other intellectuals in which they asked for "a real political discussion in the PCF".{{sfnm|1a1=Jay|1y=1984|1pp=420–421|2a1=Balibar|2y=2005b|2p=273}} That same year, Althusser also published a series of articles in the newspaper ''[[Le Monde]]'' under the title of "What Must Change in the Party".{{sfnm|1a1=Balibar|1y=2005b|1p=273|2a1=Stolze|2y=2013|2p=8}} Published between 25 and 28 April, they were expanded and reprinted in May 1978 by [[François Maspero]] as the book ''Ce qui ne peut plus durer dans le parti communiste''.{{sfn|Elliott|2006|p=401}} Between 1977 and 1978, Althusser mainly elaborated texts criticizing Eurocommunism and the PCF. "Marx in his Limits" ("Marx dans ses limits"), an abandoned manuscript written in 1978, argued that there was no Marxist theory of the state; it was only published in 1994 in the ''Écrits philosophiques et politiques I''.{{sfnm|1a1=Elliott|1y=2006|1pp=366, 401|2a1=Diefenbach et al.|2y=2013|2p=193}} The Italian Communist newspaper ''[[Il manifesto]]'' allowed Althusser to develop new ideas on a conference held in Venice about "Power and Opposition in Post-Revolutionary Societies" in 1977.{{sfn|Callinicos|1982|p=5}} His speeches resulted into the articles "The [[Crisis of Marxism]]" ("La crisi del marxismo") and "Marxism as a 'finite' theory" in which he stressed "something vital and alive can be liberated by this crisis": the perception of Marxism as a theory that originally only reflected Marx's time and then needed to be completed by a state theory.{{sfn|Diefenbach et al.|2013|pp=193–194}} The former was published as "Marxism Today" ("Marxismo oggi") in the 1978 Italian ''Enciclopedia Europea''.{{sfnm|1a1=Lazarus|1y=1993|1p=179|2a1=Balibar|2y=2005b|2p=272|3a1=Elliott|3y=2006|3p=366|4a1=Lewis|4y=2016|4p=39}} The latter text was included in a book published in Italy, ''Discutere lo Stato'', and he criticized the notion of "government party" and defended the notion of a revolutionary party "out of state".{{sfnm|1a1=Lazarus|1y=1993|1p=179|2a1=Balibar|2y=2005b|2p=272}}

During the 1970s, Althusser's institutional roles at the ENS increased but he still edited and published his and other works in the series ''Théorie'', with François Maspero.{{sfn|Lewis|2014}} Among the essays published, there was "Response to John Lewis", a 1973 reply of an English Communist's defence of Marxist Humanism.{{sfnm|1a1=Jay|1y=1984|1p=397|2a1=Balibar|2y=2005b|2pp=270–271}} Two years later, he concluded his ''[[Doctorat d'État]]'' (State doctorate) in the [[University of Picardie Jules Verne]] and acquired the right to direct research on the basis of his previously published work.{{sfnm|1a1=Balibar|1y=2005b|1p=271|2a1=Schrift|2y=2006|2pp=86–87|3a1=Lewis|3y=2014}} Some time after this recognition, Althusser married Hélène Rytmann.{{sfn|Lewis|2014}} In 1976, he compiled several of his essays written between 1964 and 1975 to publish ''Positions''.{{sfnm|1a1=Balibar|1y=2005a|1p=XII|2a1=Elliott|2y=2006|2p=398}} These years would be a period in which his work was very intermittent;{{sfn|Balibar|2005b|p=272}} he gave a conference titled "The Transformation of Philosophy" ("La transformation de la philosophie") in two Spanish cities, first [[Granada]] and then in [[Madrid]], in March 1976.{{sfnm|1a1=Corpet|1y=1994|1p=10|2a1=Lewis|2y=2014}} The same year he gave a lecture in Catalonia titled "Quelques questions de la crise de la théorie marxiste et du mouvement communiste international" ("Some Questions on the Crisis of Marxist Theory and the International Communist Movement") in which Althusser outlined [[empiricism]] as the main enemy of class struggle.{{sfnm|1a1=Balibar|1y=2005b|1p=272|2a1=Elliott|2y=2006|2p=398}} He also started a rereading of Machiavelli that would influence his later work;{{sfn|Lewis|2016|p=29}} he worked between 1975 and 1976 on "Machiavel et nous" ("Machiavelli and Us"), a draft, only published posthumously, based on a 1972 lecture,{{sfnm|1a1=Elliott|1y=2001|1p=xi|2a1=Diefenbach et al.|2y=2013|2p=61}} and also wrote for the [[Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques|National Foundation of Political Science]] a piece titled "Machiavelli's Solitude" ("Solitude de Machiavel", 1977).{{sfn|Balibar|2005b|p=273}} In Spring 1976, requested by [[Léon Chertok]] to write for the International Symposium on the Unconscious at [[Tbilisi]], he drafted a presentation titled "The Discovery of Dr. Freud" ("La découverte du docteur Freud").{{sfnm|1a1=Balibar|1y=2005b|1p=273|2a1=Corpet|2y=2005|2p=79}} After sending it to Chertok and some friends, he was unsettled by the requested criticism he received by Jacques Nassif and Roudinesco, and then, by December, he wrote a new essay, "On Marx and Freud".{{sfn|Corpet|2005|p=80}} He could not attend the event in 1979 and asked Chertok to replace the texts, but Chertok published the first without his consent.{{sfnm|1a1=Balibar|1y=2005b|1p=273|2a1=Corpet|2y=2005|2pp=80–81}} This would become a public "affair" in 1984 when Althusser finally noticed it by the time Chertok republished it in a book titled ''Dialogue franco-soviétique, sur la psychanalyse''.{{sfnm|1a1=Balibar|1y=2005b|1p=273|2a1=Corpet|2y=2005|2p=81}}