WORLD WORLDWIDE ITALY News Journal Update - (en) Italy, FdCA, Il Cantiere #16: Cornelius Castoriadis: questions and answers on the contemporary world -- Roberto Manfredini (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 Cornelius Castoriadis (1922-1997); after completing his university studies in

1946 he moved from Greece to France. In 1948 with Claude Lefort he activates the
group and the magazine "Socialisme ou Barbarie", on libertarian Marxist positions
he denies the USSR the nature of a socialist state even in minimal terms, the
magazine is published until 1965 and collects various collaborations including
those of Edgar Morin, Jean-François Lyotard, Daniel Mothé and Guy Debord. ----
Economist from 1948 to 1970 at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD), he elaborated a libertarian socialist economic system, based
on democratic and decentralized planning of the economy through the use of a
network of associative structures self-managed; starting in the late 1950s he
distanced himself from an economistic and determinist vision of Marxism in the
philosophy of history. In 1964 he became a member of the Freudian school in Paris
founded by Jacques Lacan, from which, however, he distanced himself from 1967. In
1969 he started a new analysis and teaching with Jean-Paul Valbrega and in 1973
he began to practice as an analyst. He promotes a critical philosophical theory
of structuralist thought and anticipates many of the anti-bureaucratic and
libertarian contents of the French Maggio. His theories on the concept of
autonomy, his studies on the nature and development of social institutions,
influenced the formation of social and political movements of the new left from
the 1960s onwards.
Castoriadis activates a critical and anti-dogmatic approach to Marx's theoretical
elaboration which, in his opinion, has caused misunderstandings and has allowed
him to use his thought as a reservoir of pre-packaged or dogmatic truths.
Specifically, Marx's search for a finalistic and comprehensive theory aimed at
creation of a definitive system. This unfinished work, which will then flow into
Capital, has played a negative role in dogmatic interpretations which have made
it a repertoire of pre-established truths (laws of history) and not a theoretical
working tool for analyzing the conditions of society. This use was certainly
favored for Castoriadis by the profound need for psychic and intellectual
certainties which in human society manifest themselves with alienation and
heteronomy.
As regards the relationship between Marxism and totalitarianism Castoriadis does
not believe in the existence of totalitarian theories, but he considers
totalitarianism a political and social regime, for this reason he does not
believe in a totalitarian Marx. According to Castoriadis, one of the most
important elements for the creation of a totalitarian system was the birth of an
organization like Lenin's Bolshevik Party and the role entrusted to the party in
the Russian state and society after 1917. In this regard, one can however to
believe that Marx's thought determined some factors of this process that
Castoriadis tries to identify with the essays published in Socialisme ou Barbarie
in 1959 and 1964 (respectively "Prolétariat et Organisation" and "Marxisme et
théorie révolutionnaire"). In particular, in this analysis Castoriadis refers to
the philosophical aspect of Marxism as a theory that succeeds the Hegelian
"Absolute Knowledge", a conception that was the basis of the subsequent Marxist
orthodoxy. Another aspect used by the Stalinist bureaucracy is the connection
between the phase of development of the productive forces and the correspondence
of the social regime in the reading of historical materialism, breaking the link
between the historical-political project and the will to modify the institution
of society.

The same lack in Marx of a critique of the technical system refers to the
conception of history that Hegel defined as "the Reason or the Spirit of the
world". In Marxism, rationality is embodied in technology and in the development
of the productive forces. Castoriadis identifies, among the innovative aspects of
Marxian thought, its ability to grasp in human activity the birth and formation
of social and historical forms, now internalized in our system of thought.
Another element of novelty is constituted by the political activity that Marx
carried out in first person in support of his own personal project, a commitment
which directly involved him in contemporary social movements.
In his work "Le régime sociale de la Russie" (in Esprit, July-August 1978),
Castoriadis anticipates the collapse of the political structure of the Soviet
state and the social crisis of Russia itself, highlighting the position of total
enslavement of the working class Russia, a position that changed its
characteristics, both within society and within the relations of production (also
identifying a new stratrocracy produced by the military structure), with respect
to the role theorized for it in Marx's thought.
Castoriadis argues that it is not possible to evaluate the position of a social
category in the relations of production by considering only the relations
themselves, thus bringing the Marxist ideas of historical, structural, economic
and political determinism into crisis.
However, Castoriadis considers it difficult to make a historical assessment of
Marxism as it is still operating in contemporary reality through bureaucratic
structures, parties and currents of thought that refer to Marx, but choosing to
interpret him.

However, one aspect remains unresolved: the relationship between the analysis
carried out by Castoriadis on contemporary reality and the critical assessment
that he made on Marxism, starting in particular from the introduction to "The
imaginary institution of society" (Le marxisme, bilan provisional). For
Castoriadis, however, Marxism remains linked to a real and historical experience
which places Marx in the context of the reflection carried out between 1800 and
1848 by the English trade-unions and by the French socialist thinkers on the
projects of a future society. Today, however, the reference points of Marxism are
the bureaucracies, political or trade union, with their own autonomy above the
relations of production.
The Marxist conception of the relations of production and of the relationship
between technology and social life is studied by Cornelius Castoriadis in Gli
incroci del labirinth of 1989. The text also contains the start of critical
reflection on psychoanalysis in particular Freudian, contesting both the
positivist and the lack of approaches to the social-historical, i.e. the denial
by psychoanalysis of the relationship between individual consciousness and the
processes of socialization, also critically analyzing the organicist foundations
of neuroscience.
As regards the theoretical work of overcoming Marxism and the theoretical
definition of the imaginary and the self-establishment of society through a
concept of democracy as a regime of self-government and autonomy, the reference
texts are: The imaginary institution of society , from 1995 and the anthological
work edited by Fabio Ciaramelli, The enigma of the subject. The imagination and
the institutions, 1998.
In his reflection Castoriadis entrusts to the imaginary an instituting function
in human society, in relation to which he takes charge (through language,
customs, religions and even politics) of welding social bonds through the
generation of a meaning to existence and the world we live in. Castoriadis also
critically analyzes neo-liberalism

based on the analysis of the political organization of society (oikos, agora,
ecclesia) and the attempt to separate the private sphere from the public sphere
brought about by the liberalization processes which would undermine the
democratic system towards an oligarchic drift.
The alternative that is proposed is a project of self-government through which
the instituting society (the radical social imaginary) opposes the established
society, the absolute closure, restoring meaning to the psyche through the
creation of social individuals. The elaboration of the social-historical has the
aim of researching the schemes of coexistence in society and of the historical
path as the insurgence of radical otherness. The connection between history,
society and imagination and imaginary are the foundations for the creation of a
society's identity and temporality.
The concealment of the social-historical does not allow, for example, to
understand the process of social reproduction of the capitalist system, through
the psychic investment in the man-machine relationship which translates into the
business system, but also within other collective institutions or systems
external to the firm (magmas) such as the market or nation states.
Freedom, truth, memory, morality, community... are philosophical notions that
need to be constantly rethought because they are at the heart of today's
society's problems. The human sciences can also be used for this questioning:
developments in psychology open up new horizons on consciousness or memory,
sociology is indispensable for studying individualism in today's society and
analyzing work or justice, anthropology offers us new perspectives on our norms,
morals and social differences. In current historical research we wonder about its
crisis of meaning, divided by the decline of collective memory and uncertain
about individual critical knowledge. Between those who saw in the conclusion of
the 1789-1989 cycle the end of history based on great ideologies and those who
instead saw the start of a new phase based on the shock of globalization and the
privatization of the world. In addition to the questions, Castoriadis' texts also
offer possible answers, which are not conclusive but free, in the sense that the
reader can decide which ones to reflect on.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Patrice Spadoni, Philippe Lavigoureux, Marx aujourd'hui. Entretien avec Cornelius
Castoriadis, in "Lutter", n. 5, May-August 1983, published by the Union des
travailleurs communistes libertaires (1976-1991); Castoriadis with Daniel Guérin,
Marc Ferro, Georges Fontenis and other historians and researchers participates in
1981 in the international conference organized by the Utcl: "De Cronsdadt à
Gdansk, soixante ans de résistance au capitalisme d'Etat". The interview was also
republished in "Débattre", a magazine published by "Alternative libertaire", n.
13, autumn 2001,
pp. 13-17;
Cornelius Castoriadis, The imaginary institution of society, Bollati Boringhieri,
Turin, 1995, anthological work edited by Fabio Ciaramelli;
Cornelius Castoriadis, The enigma of the subject. The imagination and the
institutions, Dedalo editions, Bari, 1998;
Juan Manuel Vera, Cornelius Castoriadis (1922-1977): the permanent questioning,
in "Libre Pensamiento" magazine edited by the Confederaciòn General del Trabajo,
n. 27, Verano 1998, pp. 74-86;
Francesco Bellusci (edited by), Castoriadis: the end of philosophy? Three essays
on the crisis of thought and politics, Asterios, Trieste 2012.

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