Socialisme ou Barbarie

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Socialisme ou Barbarie (Socialism or Barbarism) was a French radical libertarian socialist group and its journal, active from 1948 to 1967. Led by Cornelius Castoriadis (who wrote under the pseudonyms Pierre Chaulieu or Paul Cardan) and including other intellectuals and workers, the group argued that capitalism creates exploitation and alienation and sought to push social change through critical analysis and workers’ self-organization rather than through a traditional revolutionary party.

Origins and purpose
SouB grew out of disillusionment with Trotskyist ideas within the Fourth International. Castoriadis and Claude Lefort formed a joint “Chaulieu–Montal” tendency in postwar French Trotskyism before breaking away in 1948 to establish Socialisme ou Barbarie. The name comes from a slogan sometimes attributed to Rosa Luxemburg but likely first used by Karl Kautsky; the phrase “Socialism or Barbarism” captured SouB’s aim: press for radical social change without accepting the old bureaucratic order of capitalism or the old forms of Marxist party leadership.

Core ideas
SouB defined itself as an “enterprise of revolutionary critique and orientation.” It focused on fighting exploitation and the alienation produced by modern capitalism, paying close attention to the everyday life of workers and their struggles. It rejected Leninist ideas of a vanguard party and stressed the importance of workers’ councils and autonomous, self-managed forms of social organization. The group helped Popularize distinctions between the “dirigeant” (the one who commands) and the “exécutant” (the one who carries out orders), applying this analysis to production as well as politics and social life. Over time, some members grew critical of Marxism and the idea of a centralized revolutionary organization.

Key moments in the history
- 1948-1949: SouB forms after leaving the Trotskyist movement; its journal begins publication in March 1949. The early circle included a mix of intellectuals and workers who saw exploitation and bureaucratic rule as the main enemy.
- 1950s: SouB expands its reach and ideas. Castoriadis’s leadership and journal work attract a broader audience, including ex-Bordigists and other radicals. By 1960 the group had about 100 members and established international links, notably with Solidarity in Britain.
- Early 1960s: Debates and splits begin. Lefort and Henri Simon leave to form Informations et Liaison Ouvrières (ILO), later ICO, reflecting disagreements on organizational role and the path to workers’ self-management.
- 1963: Disputes over Castoriadis’s growing rejection of Marxism lead to further splits, including the departure of the Pouvoir Ouvrier (PO) group that valued a more centralized revolutionary organization.
- 1960s: SouB influences new currents and interacts with the broader radical milieu. The group’s analysis and its journal shape debates around bureaucracy, revolution, and the role of workers’ writing.
- 1965-1967: The last issues of the SouB journal appear in 1965, after which the group goes dormant and announces an indefinite suspension in June 1967. A revival attempt during the May 1968 upheavals in France fails.
- Influence: SouB’s ideas and atmosphere helped shape the Situationist International (through connections with Guy Debord) and fed into later leftist currents, including Autonomia in Italy.

Members and influence
SouB counted a number of notable intellectuals and activists among its members, including Cornelius Castoriadis; Claude Lefort; Guy Debord (who was involved with both SouB and the Situationists); Jean-François Lyotard; Henri Simon; and others such as Danièle Auffray, Jacques Gautrat (Daniel Mothé), Vincent Descombes, Ngo Van, and Pierre Souyri. The group brought together thinkers and workers who shared a commitment to examining everyday life and workplaces as sites of socialist possibility, rather than focusing solely on party politics.

Editions and legacy
SouB published around 40 issues of its eponymous journal, which circulated ideas about autonomy, critique, and the possibility of revolution from below. The journal and its writers influenced later movements and debates, including the May 1968 events in France and the broader Well-known current of left-libertarian and anti-bureaucratic socialist thought. There have been anthologies and reprint projects, helping to keep SouB’s debates accessible to new generations.

What SouB stood for
- A critique of exploitation and alienation under capitalism.
- A stance against Leninist party-centered revolution; favoring workers’ councils and self-management.
- An emphasis on analyzing everyday work and life to understand what socialism could be.
- An awareness that new forms of social conflict extended beyond traditional production and into all aspects of social life.

In short, Socialisme ou Barbarie was a short-lived but influential French group that pushed a radical, libertarian, anti-bureaucratic vision of socialism grounded in worker self-management and critical examination of modern capitalism. Its legacy lived on in later radical currents, especially those associated with the Situationist International and other anti-bureaucratic left movements.