Marxism and Left Populism in Southern Europe Today

ABSTRACT

The “left populism” that is currently emerging in Southern Europe conceives of itself as anti-capitalist. But its primordial concept is no longer that of social class; it is that of “the people.” In the view of this current, the social-democratic and socialist parties have for the most part been absorbed by the right, so that henceforth, a popular strategy cannot consist of “rallying the left against the right,” but only of “rallying the people against the oligarchy.” We are hardly even permitted to use the concept of the “left” to denote a progressive perspective, and as the struggle for emancipation simultaneously confronts capitalism, sexism, and racism, it can no longer be supported by a traditional “party-form” such as a worker’s organization, but only by a more comprehensive and flexible “movement-form.” Here, an attempt will be made to define the conjuncture in which the phenomenon of “left populism” has appeared, to outline its ideological constructs, to situate it in the context of the modern class structure, and finally to draw some conclusions.

KEYWORDS:

• Populism
• people
• oligarchy
• hegemony
• antagonism

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on Contributor

Jacques Bidet is Emeritus Professor at the University of Paris-Ouest and honorary Director of the journal Actuel Marx. His personal homepage is at: http://perso.orange.fr/jacques.bidet/. His major publications are: “Eux” et “Nous”? Une alternative au populisme de gauche (“Them” and “Us”? An Alternative to Left Populism) (Kimé, 2018); Marx et la Loi-travail, Le Corps Biopolitique du Capital (Marx and the Legislation of Labour: The Biopolitical Body of Capital) (PUF, 2016; Korean edition, 2019); Foucault avec Marx (Foucault with Marx) (La Fabrique, 2014); L’État-monde, Libéralisme, Socialisme et Communisme à l’échelle mondiale, Refondation du marxisme (World State, Liberalism, Socialism, and Communism at Global Scale: A Refoundation of Marxism) (PUF, 2011); Explication et reconstruction du Capital (Explanation and Reconstruction of Capital) (PUF, 2004); Dictionnaire Marx Contemporain, edited with E. Kouvelakis (PUF, 2001), English edition, Critical Companion of Contemporary Marxism (Brill, 2007), as well as Chinese and Turkish editions; Théorie générale (A General Theory of Modernity) (PUF, 1999); Que faire du Capital? (Klincksieck, 1985), English edition, Exploring Marx’s Capital (Brill, 2006).