by Makasa Chinyata
1. Introduction
This
essay will argue that the idea of communism is potentially emancipatory. It
will therefore attempt to build on Alain Badiou’s claim that “the communist
hypothesis is the hypothesis of emancipation” (Badiou as cited in Ranciere,
2010:167). Communism has quite generally been thought of as an oppressive mode
of politics. This particular misconception is largely due to the fact that
communism generally tends to be conflated with the Soviet Union. As a result of
this, the failure of the Soviet Union (apparent long before its eventual
‘defeat’ in the Cold War) is generally thought to signify the failure of
communism – hence its relegation as a form of politics that is largely spurious.
This essay will therefore attempt to portray illegitimacy of claims that view
the Soviet Union as representative of communism and argue that the Soviet Union
was in fact contradictory to the idea of communism. Secondly this essay will
argue that communism is potentially emancipatory. In order to argue the latter,
this essay will be based on Sylvain Lazarus claim that “there is no politics in
general, only specific political sequences [and that] politics is not a
permanent instance of society” (Neocosmos, 2009:13). This claim renders
possible the argument that communism as a political idea, can be traced in
particular political sequences that have occurred over the course of history
with varying success. Alain Badiou’s concept of communism being above all else
the exemplification of an “egalitarian society which, acting under its own
impetus, brings down walls and barriers” (Badiou, 2010:60) will therefore be
applied to specific political sequences (or ‘events’ - in the philosophical
sense of the word): the Haitian revolution and the Paris Commune. In doing so,
this essay will attempt to postulate the validity of conceiving of the idea of
communism as potentially emancipatory.
2. Characteristics of Emancipatory Politics
It
would be remiss to even attempt to discuss the emancipatory value of communism
without first exploring the general characteristics of an emancipatory
politics. There are generally two core concepts that underlie emancipatory
politics: the practice of the latter at a distance from the state and the
assertion and exemplification of anyone and everyone’s capacity to think.
To
practice a politics at a distance from the state means that an emancipatory
politics must be conceived outside of statist parameters – political
consciousness must not be confined to state logic. The state refers, within
this argument, to “the system of constraints that limit the possibility of
possibilities” (Badiou, 2010:7). It then logically follows from this conception
that the system of restraints will not be identical in every political sequence.
For example, in Haiti, the institution of slavery as well as enlightenment
values prescribed what was possible; black slaves were therefore expected to
continue working under the harsh conditions of slavery in spite of the French
Revolution values of freedom, brotherhood and equality taking root in the
Western world (applicable only to those who were considered more human than
others due to the dominant ontological assumptions of the time). Similarly in
the Paris Commune, the French Government of National Defence with Adolphe
Thiers as Chief Executive prescribed what was possible i.e. the Surrender of
France to Germany (entailing French occupation) and the workers passively
accepting this occupation (James, 1946:1). The commonality here is that in each
case there was a limitation of what was considered possible. It is therefore
outside of these limitations that an emancipatory politics should be situated.
The character of Paula in Badiou’s L’Incident
d’Antioch (2010:28) articulates
the necessity for liberatory politics distancing itself from the state:
“For
such a long time, the impasse was that politics was centred on and represented
by
the
state alone, so I am telling you to get out of that impasse and to prove that
the political truth circulates endlessly in a people”.
Secondly,
an emancipatory politics must be founded on the basis of everyone’s capacity to
think. The ability to think politically should not be thought to be solely the sphere
of experts. Such a politics must conceive of “people who think becoming agents
through their engagements in politics” (Neocosmos, 2009:7). This can again be
applied to the two political events that shall be discussed as embodiments of
the emancipatory potential of communism in this essay. In the case of the
Haitian revolution, the slaves on Saint Domingue were thought incapable of
conceiving of an alternative to slavery; Trouillot (1995) demonstrates this in
citing La Barre, a French colonist, who wrote, just months prior to the
revolution, “there is no movement among our Negroes…They don’t even think of
it; revolt among them is impossible” (Trouillot 1995:15). Therefore an
emancipatory politics should be founded on this very capacity for thought; one
Abahlali BaseMjondolo activist, as quoted by Neocosmos (2009) captures this
notion quite succinctly: “We think. People must understand that we think”
(Neocosmos 2009:1).
Any potentially emancipatory politics must
therefore necessarily be founded on these two characteristics. The political
sequences through which the exemplification of the idea of communism will be
traced will therefore be shown to be moments in which political consciousness
was exercised beyond what was possible (as prescribed by the state).
3. The Soviet Union as a
Contradiction of the Idea of Communism
The
Soviet Union tends to be people’s primary source of reference as to what
communism entails, in part due to neoliberal political discourse largely
portraying it as such and also due to the fact that the Soviet Union
masqueraded under the label ‘communist’. However, the actual functioning of the
Soviet Union shows above all else that it was anything but communist – its
totalitarian nature is proof enough of this. If neoliberal discourse continues
to perpetuate the conflation of the Soviet Union and communism it is no wonder
that the latter is viewed as being in no way emancipatory. Thus there is a need
to expose the contradictions of the Soviet Union. In order to do so, we need to
conceive of the Bolshevik revolution as the origins of the Soviet Union and
understand the abandonment of the ideals of the former and the gradual
degeneration of the latter into unmasked authoritarianism.
3.1.1 The Bolshevik Revolution
The
Bolshevik revolution should be conceived of as a political sequence. We can
alternatively, refer to it as an ‘event’. An event is “what brings to pass
something other than the situation, opinions, instituted knowledges; the event
is hazardous […] and vanishes as soon as it appears” (Badiou, 2002:67). The
Bolshevik revolution was therefore an even in as much as it brought about
something other than Tsarist rule. In as far as it occurred at a distance from
the state and was an exemplification of operating outside of the modes of
thought that limit the possibility of possibilities, it could be said to have
been emancipatory. One could claim that while the Bolshevik revolution had
emancipatory potential, it was a lack of fidelity to this event (Badiou, 2002)
that resulted in the absolutism of the Soviet under Stalinist politics.
However, it seems necessary to call attention to the fact that it conceived of
the working class solely as a revolutionary force (thereby excluding peasants).
This is therefore inconsistent with the conception of emancipatory politics
outlined above.
Secondly,
the Bolshevik revolution appears to have been guided by the view that vanguards
were necessary if a revolution was to be at all successful. This violates the
second characteristic of emancipatory politics that is outlined above: the
capacity of anybody and everybody to think. As will be shown later in this essay,
this violation is also at odds with the idea of communism as posited in the
introduction of this essay: “an egalitarian society […] acting under its own
impetus” (Badiou, 2010:60).
3.1.2 The Soviet Union as Distinct
from the idea of Communism
The
Soviet Union itself functioned in a decidedly authoritarian manner that was
founded on Stalinism rather than communism. Trotsky (1995) in fact described
the Soviet Union as a Stalinist Bureaucracy. In light of this, the proletariat
dictatorship in fact became a party dictatorship merely reproducing state
structures of domination and exclusion. Workers remained workers under
particular power structures that they were largely excluded form. The
dictatorship of the proletariat thus turned into a party dictatorship. There
was no platform for political engagement, suggestions of alternatives to the
existing situation were constructed as illegitimate and criminal and were
treated as such. As a matter of fact, Badiou (2010) argues that the idea of
communism renders obsolete Leninism because via its focus on the party, it
“continues to subordinate politics to its statist deviation” (Badiou, 2010:69).
This again goes against the above stated nature of an emancipatory politics. It
therefore becomes necessary to distance the Soviet Union – to the greatest
possible extent – from communism.
4. The Idea of Communism
As has been stated in the introduction
of this essay, the idea of communism is being used to refer to an emancipatory
mode of politics that has as its foundation individuals asserting their
capacity to think politically and creating alternatives to the state’s
prescriptions of what is possible – “a reconfiguration of the universe of the
possible” (Ranciere, 2010:173). Therefore, as one of its main goals, the idea
of communism seeks to shatter established structures of domination and
exclusion. To be able to fully apprehend this, it is necessary to distance
communism from Marxist thought. Unlike the latter, class and the party are not
the main foci of communism. Rather, communism refers to popular politics
unimpeded by the social position one occupies.
If
we allow for the view that politics refers to “specific political sequences
[rather than] a permanent instance of society” (Lazarus, cited in Neocosmos,
2009:13), then we must tailor our notions of communism to fit this. Therefore,
rather than view communism as a ‘situation’ we must conceive of “communist
moments [constituted by] the disruption of state powers and state instituted
powers” (Ranciere, 2010:173). If communism is then taken to refer to moments,
it then logically follows that these moments vanish. We can conceive of these
moments as ‘events’ – they bring into existence something other than the
situation and vanish almost as soon as they appear. As such, the idea of
communism makes no claims as to the organisation of society in the aftermath of
the event but posits loyalty to the event itself. In accordance with this,
Ranciere (2010) poses the question as to how “the anarchical principle of
emancipation [can] become the principle of a social distribution of tasks,
positions and powers” (Ranciere, 2010:169).
In
light of the above, it is logical to conclude that communism operates outside
of state logic as it is entirely collectively autonomous. Thus, communism
should not be reduced purely and simply to free market capitalism. The focus
here is not merely a shift from private property to nationalised property (as
was one of the foundations of the Soviet Union) as this would not actually be
conceiving of a politics outside of state logic. This is particularly so if we
conceive of the state in Lockean terms (i.e. the state instituted solely for
the protection of private property) as the concept of property itself would
then be inherently statist. However, it is necessary to bear in mind the reign
of the market in the sense that it is this from this neoliberal logic that
communism is considered a reassembling of the possible. The latter is necessary
if we view communism as moments in which systems of power, domination and
exclusion are overcome.
There
are three particular aspects of the idea of communism that demonstrate its
emancipatory potential. These aspects are: equality as a departure point rather
than an end goal, people asserting themselves politically (thereby finding ways
out of situations in which they constitute a minority) and finally communism as
a political truth. These aspects will then be applied to the specific events
that have been mentioned in the introduction of this essay in an attempt to
show that these events, in as far as they were loyal to the ideals of the idea
communism were inherently emancipatory irrespective of what the aftermath of
these moments was.
4.1.1 The Element of Equality in the
idea Communism
Equality,
in every sense of the term is a core feature of communism; it is an intrinsic element
of the latter – necessarily so as it seeks to overturn particular power
dynamics. This manifests itself in the complete upheaval of society that characterises
communist moments. Ranciere (2010) argues that an egalitarian maxim underpins
the idea of communism. The first principle of this maxim is that equality is a
departure point and not an end goal. The second principle is that “intelligence
is one” (Ranciere, 2010:168) – in essence, this equates to a communism of
intelligence. The latter refers to the view that anyone and everyone have the
capacity to think politically – the capacity for intelligence is not determined
by the particular position that one holds in society. This latter conception is
fundamental to the idea of communism as it is through exercising this that an
individual begins to exist politically.
4.1.2 Communism and Political Agency
The
idea of communism allows individuals to fully exercise their political agency –
we can include popular political empowerment as one of the many facets of the
idea of communism. The exercise of political agency “leads individuals out of
situations of minority” (Ranciere, 2010:168) and this can, in itself, be seen
as emancipatory. Situations of minority can be defined as situations in which
individuals exist materially (in terms of their actual physicality) but not
politically (they are denied any political agency by their systematic exclusion
from political spheres within particular situations). Within communist moments,
the state no longer prescribes legitimate spheres of politics – therefore
within these moments, individuals assert themselves politically. Badiou claims
that communism as an emancipatory politics is essentially the politics of the “anonymous
masses […] of those who are held in a state of colossal insignificance by the
State” (Badiou, 2010:9).
This
recognition of the agency of everyone allows for another feature that further
distinguishes communism form Leninism – it ensures that a politics is irreducible
to individuals. In the case of the latter, these individuals were the
intellectuals. The idea of communism thus does not allow for vanguards because
there is no overseeing, directing authority – there is discipline but there is also a
demonstration of the capacity for self-management. In terms of the recognition
and exercise of political agency, we can add another dimension to the idea of
communism: moments in which “simple workers and ordinary men and women proved
their capacity to struggle for their rights and for the rights of everybody by
collectivising the power of equality of everyone with everyone” (Ranciere,
2010:173).
4.1.3 Communism as the
exemplification of emancipatory political sequences
As
has been expounded above, the word’s function “can no longer be that of an
adjective” (Badiou, 2010:13). It must be taken to refer to a moment, to be an
exemplification of active politics in which individuals assert and verify their
political agency; moments in which individuals refuse to be limited solely to
the possibilities prescribed by the state. For Badiou (2010) these instances
are only possible if individuals have an Idea as an Idea “asserts that a new
truth is historically possible” the Idea here would be that of communism (Badiou,
2010:12). Communism therefore, as an Idea, signifies “an operative mediation
between the real and the symbolic” (Badiou, 2010:8). This serves to reiterate
what has been stated above that communism refers to moments and not a
particular way of organising a society or a state.
4.1.4 Communism: the Idea, the Event,
the Truth and the facts
The
idea of communism as defined above then needs to be seized upon by individuals
in a particular situation. Badiou argues that the Idea exists between the event
and the fact. The fact here refers to the consequences of the existence of the
state (Badiou, 2010:5) – the fact could therefore be different in different
situations. In Haiti, the fact was slavery, in the Paris Commune the fact was the
repressive regime of the French Government of National Defence and German
occupation as a result of France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian of 1871. In
the case of Haiti, the event was the massive slave rebellion and the refusal to
be pacified. Likewise in the Paris Commune the event was simultaneously the
establishment of the Paris Commune and the refusal to be subordinated to state
logic. In both cases the events were
undoubtedly emancipatory regardless of the aftermath of these events.
Within
this conception, the truth refers to “an on-going organisation, in a given
situation, of the consequences of an event” (Badiou, 2010:7). The masses
involved in an event become part of this truth (constituting its material body)
and help in the creation of a new political truth. In Haiti, the material body
of truth was the black slaves the new political truth was the creation of a
reality that was diametrically opposed to the reality of their situation. In
the Paris Commune, the material body of truth was the working class joined by
soldiers who defected from the National Guard. In each case, these collective
bodies came to constitute a new collective Subject. This collective Subject
then comes to share in the creation of a new political truth. In line with the
concept of politics as sequences, a political truth here refers to: “a
concrete, time specific sequence in which a new thought and practice of
collective emancipation arise exist and eventually disappear” (Badiou, 2010:2).
To apply this concept to the two events
being used, the new political truths were the Haitian revolution (and the type
of political consciousness which surrounded it) and the Paris Commune.
5. The Idea of Communism and the Haitian Revolution
The Haitian revolution is generally
considered one of the most successful slave rebellions. It saw the
establishment of a state by individuals who were considered as lesser humans.
In order to appreciate the magnitude of this revolution and understand why it
constitutes an event, it is necessary to elucidate the manner in which slaves
on Saint Domingue were construed and the way in which they were politically
invisible prior to the revolution.
The
slaves on Saint Domingue were viewed as incapable of envisioning freedom (an
ironic view especially in light of the fact that freedom had formed one of the
core driving forces behind the French revolution) and incapable of organising
themselves into a rebellious group because while freedom was desirable for some
types of humans (hence the principles of the French revolution), it was not
desirable for all humans. In essence, this ontological understanding undermined
the agency, whether political or otherwise, of these slaves as well as their
capacities for reason and rationality. In this way, French rule of Saint
Domingue prescribed what was possible – the impossibility specific to this
situation was freedom and the right to self-determination for the slaves.
The
slave revolt in 1791, beginning at the signal of Dutty Boukman eventually led
to the abolition of slavery in Saint Domingue, the establishment of the Haitian
state and blackness as a political identity rather than a physical
characteristic. The notion of communism as the shattering of particular
structures is particularly relevant here if one considers the strict social
classifications (based on physical appearance): grands blancs, petits blancs
free people of colour and the black slaves.
The
Haitian revolution saw the creation of a new political truth and the emergence
of a new political Subject. Black slaves and free people of colour were for the
first time politically visible in the moment that they decided to assert their
capacity to think. Most importantly, as regards communism as potentially
emancipatory – the slave revolt saw the emergence of politics at a distance
from the state. Thought during the revolt was not limited to state logic but
rather operated beyond it. It saw the seizure and assertion of a possibility
that was beyond the scope of what the state had prescribed as possible. The
assertion of the capacity of anyone and everyone to think (demonstrated in the
upheaval of previously held assumptions, characteristics and structures) and
the fact that this revolt occurred outside of statist parameters renders this
event emancipatory.
Similarly,
the Haitian revolution can be defined as an exemplification of the Idea of
communism. The departure point of this revolution was equality – all the slaves
(and free people of colour) fighting for freedom for everyone and anyone. Equality,
assertion, the refusal to be limited and irreducibility to specific
individuals, and a refusal to be limited to the fact of the state characterise
the Haitian revolution. As an event it therefore conforms to the Idea of
communism. It may be argued that the Haitian revolution is oftentimes reduced
to figures such as Toussaint L’Ouverture. However, the masses acted upon their
own initiative, their thought was not directed by any specific individuals –
they exercised political agency autonomously seizing for themselves the ideals
of the French revolution. Therefore, as regards the Haitian revolution, it is
possible to argue that the Idea of communism is potentially emancipatory.
7. The Idea of Communism and the Paris Commune
The Paris Commune saw the assertion of the
capacity of the working class. This particular event saw the establishment of
municipal councils comprising of workers and soldiers who had defected from the
National Guard. The event in question saw the open defiance of the working class
against the French Government of National Defence. Particularly relevant in
this case is the manner in which the working class reorganised society in a way
which overcame the structures of domination and exclusion that had been present
in Napoleon III’s regime. Even more relevant is the way in which the soldiers
and the working classes asserted themselves politically when they had been
consistently overlooked and marginalised by the power structures of both the Second
French Empire and the Government of National Defence.
As
with the Haitian revolution, the Paris Commune was immensely distanced from the
state and state logic. The Commune saw the abolition of conscription, the
dissolution of a standing army and the enrolment of all citizens capable of
bearing arms into the National Guard (James, 1946:1). It sought to end the
systematic exploitation of members of the working class by practicing
collective emancipation an element of which was democratisation. It therefore
sought to act upon and enforce possibilities not limited to those defined by
the state. Again here, this aspect of the French Commune renders it
emancipatory. The assertion of the working class’s political agency –
demonstrated in the formulation of the Commune itself; the working class’
affirmation of their capacity to think politically and in infinitely more
democratic terms is also a signification of the emancipatory nature of the
French Commune.
As
an event, the Paris Commune also corresponds to the Idea of communism. The
political assertion of the working class was founded on the notion of equality
– not just of French citizens but of individuals is general. This is evident in
the way that even foreigners were elected to the Commune because the “flag of
the Commune [was] the flag of the World Republic” (James, 1946:1). A communism
of intelligence is also evident in this event as the capacity to think was not
applied selectively but indiscriminately. As with the Haitian revolution, the
Paris Commune saw the emergence of a new material body of truth, a new Subject
that became militants of the new political truth they were creating. The
collectivity, assertion and recognition of political agency, the active nature
of the politics exercised and the sequential nature of the Paris Commune also
serve to show that the Idea of communism does hold emancipatory potential.
8. Conclusion
This essay has attempted to argue and
demonstrate the emancipatory potential of the Idea of communism. The two events
that have been focussed on, namely the Haitian revolution and the Paris Commune
show that if we understand politics to be sequential then we can speak of
communism as emancipatory. The exclusionary regimes that were instituted in the
aftermath of these events, particularly in the case of France, cannot be said
to be demonstrative of the Idea of communism as a failure to be emancipatory.
The fact that the Idea in question does not prescribe a model of a particular
kind of global organisation of emancipatory does not limit its emancipatory
potential. Conversely, it causes us to seek for moments in which power
structures that are largely exclusionary and exploitative can be overturned. It
allows individuals to seek and create possibilities not limited to the states’
conception of what is possible. Lastly, if fidelity to an event is maintained,
then the impermanence of the particular political sequence need not be
considered inconsequential because it can lead to a situation in which
individuals can make prescriptions on the state.
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