Author Description
How Do We Make Social Democracy? Should We Seize The Unknown Possibilities Offered By The Future, Or Does Real Change Develop When We Focus Our Attention On The Immediate Present? The Modern Tradition Of Social Revolution Suggested That The Present Is Precisely The Time That Needs To Be Surpassed, But Can Society Change Without An Intimate Focus On Today's Experience Of Social Injustice? In Socialism And The Experience Of Time, Julian Wright Asks How Socialists In France From The Mid-nineteenth To The Mid-twentieth Century Tried To Follow A Democratic Commitment To The Present. The Debate About Time That Emerged In French Socialism Lay Beneath The Surface Of Political Arguments Within The Left. But How Did This Focus On The Present Relate To The Tradition Of Revolution In France? What Did Socialism Have To Say About Social Experience In The Present, And How Did This Discussion Shape Socialism As A Movement? Wright Examines French Socialism's Fascination With Modern History, Through A New Reading Of Jean Jaurès' Multi-authored Project To Write A 'socialist History' Of France Since 1789. Then, In Four Interlocking Biographical Essays, He Analyses The Reformist And Idealist Socialism Of The Third Republic, Long Side-lined In The Historical Literature. With A Sometimes Emotional Focus On The Present Times Of Benoît Malon, Georges Renard, Marcel Sembat, And Léon Blum, A Personal History Unfolds That Allows Us To Revisit The Traditional Narrative Of French Socialism. This Is Not So Much A Story Of The Future Hope For Revolution, As An Intimate Account Of Socialism, Intellectual Engagement, And The Human Present.
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This book investigates how French socialist thinkers from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century navigated the tension between revolutionary future-oriented goals and the immediate experience of social injustice in the present. Julian Wright, a historian specializing in modern French history, utilizes a combination of political analysis and biographical study to argue that a democratic commitment to the present was a central, yet often overlooked, component of socialist discourse. By examining the works of key figures and the collective project of a 'socialist history' of France, Wright demonstrates how these intellectuals sought to reconcile their political ideals with the lived reality of their time.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- Analysis of the 'socialist history' project led by Jean Jaurès.
- Biographical studies of Benoît Malon, Georges Renard, Marcel Sembat, and Léon Blum.
- Examination of the intellectual shift from revolutionary fervor to reformist and idealist socialism.
- Exploration of the concept of time within French political thought.
Scope Limits
- The study is geographically restricted to France.
- The analysis focuses primarily on the period between the mid-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries.
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Scholars recognize this work as a significant contribution to the intellectual history of the French Left, particularly for its focus on figures previously sidelined in traditional narratives. Readers frequently note the academic rigor of the prose and the author's ability to synthesize complex philosophical debates with personal biographical accounts.
Page Count:
352
Publication Date:
2017-01-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0192524666
ISBN-13:
9780192524669
History
Socialism
Intellectual History
Political Philosophy
French History