Discussion of Alain Badiou's "Politics of Emancipation"

Philosopher and social theorist Alain Badiou argues his "politics of emancipation" is radically new. He says it rescues communism by "unburdening" it of the past -- rejecting the experience of communist revolutions in Russia and China, and the "party-state paradigm" -- the need for a vanguard party and revolutionary state power.

Discussions, clarification, and polemics of political theory are essential to developing a movement for revolution. In this discussion we ask "will this lead to liberation?" We will interrogate Badiou's theories and compare and contrast them to Bob Avakian's new synthesis:

Is Badiou corrrect in theorizing communism as "a pure Idea of equality" or is real communism something far more radical?

"Were the socialist revolutions in Russia and China Mainly negative, or were they overwhelmingly positive achievements with secondary problems?"

Is Badiou correct in saying the "age of revolutions is over"?

What is the logic behind proposing struggles "at a distance from the state?"

What does Badiou mean by the "party/state" paradigm?

The questions being examined are directly relevant to the issues that humanity confronts, including those being discussed and debated in the Occupy movement. We welcome people from this movement, as well as people who may have studied and want to argue for Badiou's project to voice their thinking and be a part of this discussion.

Join us for a vital discussion of the Introduction and Chapter 5 of "Alain Badiou's 'Politics of Emancipation': A Communism Locked Within the Confines of the Bourgeois World," by Raymond Lotta, Nayi Duniya, and K.J.A. in Demarcations, a Journal of Communist Theory and Polemic, Issue Number 1, Summer-Fall 2009. (This essay is available in print at Revolution Books and on-line at http://www.demarcations-journal.org.) We encourage reading the entire polemic.