Gauche Proletarienne formed after and partially out of the the UJCML split. I’m putting together the notes I’ve got on GP. I’m also collecting new notes. More info from folk is welcome, as always. It’d help if mon francais was better. Ah well.
Gauche Proletarienne was founded in 1969. Ranciere was a member. I was under the impression that Badiou was as well, but now I’m not sure. Here is an excerpt from a book on Trotskyism and Maoism in the US and in France, this chapter deals with French Maoism. This chapter lists Badiou as the founder of the PCR(m-l), which I think means Revotionary Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist). This excerpt also states that Badiou, prior to the formation of the PCR(m-l) was part of a pro-China faction of the Parti Socialiste Unifié, the United Socialist Party (Badiou may have been a founder of the PSU, I’m not sure. He’s got some organization founding experience. I think he also was a founder of Organisation Politique in 1985. OP, from what I can make out from this, traces its roots to the UCFML, Union des Communistes de France Marxiste-Léniniste.)
According to this, Foucault’s partner, Daniel Dafert, became involved in Gauche Proletarienne. Foucault associated w/ GP for a while. Using my tres merde francais on this french wikipedia piece, Dafert was part of l’Organisation des Prisonniers Politiques, out of which was formed the Prison Information Group (Le Groupe d’Information sur les Prisons, GIP) which Foucault and Deleuze were part of. GP put out a journal called “Cause du peuple,” which Sartre was involved with for a while.
GP was criminalized in 1970, and it disbanded in 1973. Some documents online in French here and here.
The thing you cite for the Defert (note correct sp.!) is a dump of the Wikipedia article which I have had a large hand in- certainly this info is from me. Fields’ book, which you cite, is surely the best source in English.
Sartre’s involvement in the GP happened because the GP was banned - in common with a swathe of leftist groups post-68, including some Trots - resulting in over a 1,000 GPers being imprisoned on purely political grounds. Hence Defert’s involvement, as a GPer on the outside, in prison solidarity shit - with so many GPers inside, the GP understandably became oriented towards prison work. Initially it was around trying to get political status for their prisoners and have them segregated from the general population, but then they shifted to trying to radicalise the prison population and do things on behalf of all prisoners, which is when Foucault and Deleuze and the GIP happened. Defert says, btw, that Foucault chose the GIP acronym to signify the intercession of the intellectuals in the GP. OK, so Sartre was involved because the De Gaulle refused to allow him to be imprisoned under the rubric “one does not imprison Voltaire”, so by becoming titular editor of Cause de Peuple, Sartre gave some kind of cover to its, otherwise illegal, publication.
Comment by mark — April 14, 2006 @ 10:59 am
Thanks very much Mark. Can you recommend more sources on all this? Where does Defert say that about Foucault and inserting the I between G and P? That’s interesting stuff.
best,
Nate
Comment by Nate — April 14, 2006 @ 7:26 pm
The best source is Belden Fields, who yo uare apparently aware of. Defert said that thing in a talk in London in 2004, so you can’t look it up.
Comment by mark — April 15, 2006 @ 8:15 am