Daniel Guerin and the elaboration of new Marxism

This article analyzes a key thesis of an important twentieth-century intellectual and political militant. Daniel Guérin (1904-1988) paid close attention to the historical and theoretical interpretations of revolutionary movements and socialist currents since the French Revolution. He carefully studied how they could help us understand contemporary class politics and class struggles. Through a series of key historical monographs, Guérin articulated the many different forms that the class struggle has taken for more than two and a half centuries. A common political thread runs through all his works. Guérin describes and explains the attempts of various socioeconomically oppressed and exploited classes to establish forms of economic self-management and direct democracy. These attempts were regularly crushed by reactionary social forces supporting the ruling classes. From the collapse of the Enragés (Enraged Ones, commonly known as the Ultra-Radicals) in France to the crushing of more recent radical groups like the Black Panther Party in the United States, Guérin's research draws political lessons from the past. The main objective of all his analyses is the theoretical and practical development of a radically democratic socialism that combines the best elements of the Marxist and anarchist traditions. To this end, Guérin analyzed in depth the pattern of ongoing debates between Marxism and anarchism, which he believed fuelled both currents. Our paper also presents the origins of Guérin's main ideas and develops the actuality of his political thought today.