Daniel Bensaïd (born Daniel Ben Saïd; 25 March 1946 – 12 January 2010) was a

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and a leader of the

Trotskyist Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...

movement in France. He became a leading figure in the student revolt of 1968, while studying at the

University of Paris X-Nanterre Paris Nanterre University (), formerly University of Paris West, Paris-X and commonly referred to as Nanterre, is a public research university based in Nanterre, Hauts-de-Seine, France, in the Paris metropolitan area. It is one of the most presti ...

Life and career

Bensaïd was born in

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

, France, to a father who was a

Sephardic Jew Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

from

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

, and who had moved from

Oran Oran () is a major coastal city located in the northwest of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria, after the capital, Algiers, because of its population and commercial, industrial and cultural importance. It is w ...

, where he met Bensaïd's mother, to

Vichy Vichy (, ; ) is a city in the central French department of Allier. Located on the Allier river, it is a major spa and resort town and during World War II was the capital of Vichy France. As of 2021, Vichy has a population of 25,789. Known f ...

Toulouse. In response to the 8 February 1962 Charonne massacre of Algerians in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, Bensaïd joined the

Union of Communist Students The Union of Communist Students (, UEC) is a French student political organization, part of the '' Mouvement Jeunes Communistes de France'' (MJCF, Young Communists Movement of France). It was founded in 1939 but dissolved after World War II. The UE ...

. Irritated by the party orthodoxy he swiftly became part of a left opposition within the union, and was among the dissidents expelled from the party in 1966. In 1966, Bensaïd began studying at the

École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

, where he helped found the ''Jeunesse Communiste Révolutionnaire'', which became the

Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire The Revolutionary Communist League (; LCR) was a Trotskyist political party in France. It was the French section of the Fourth International (post-reunification). It published the weekly newspaper ''Rouge'' and the journal ''Critique communiste' ...

(LCR). With

Daniel Cohn-Bendit Daniel Marc Cohn-Bendit (; ; born 4 April 1945) is a French-German politician. Born stateless to a German-Polish Ashkenazi Jewish family, Daniel Cohn-Bendit obtained German citizenship in 1959 and French citizenship in 2015. Cohn-Bendit was a ...

he helped to found the Mouvement du 22 Mars (Movement of 22 March), which was involved in the protests of

May 1968 in France May 68 () was a period of widespread protests, strikes, and civil unrest in France that began in May 1968 and became one of the most significant social uprisings in modern European history. Initially sparked by student demonstrations agains ...

. Bensaïd became a leading theorist of the LCR and the

United Secretariat of the Fourth International The Fourth International (FI), founded in 1938, is a Trotskyist international. Following a ten-year schism, in 1963 the majorities of the two public factions of the Fourth International, the International Secretariat of the Fourth Internationa ...

, and a professor of philosophy at the University of Paris-VIII. He was also a Fellow at the

International Institute for Research and Education The International Institute for Research and Education (IIRE) is a research and educational centre based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It conducts training and publishes research for and by progressive activists around the world. The institute was e ...

. Upon his death,

Tariq Ali Tariq Ali (;; born 21 October 1943) is a Pakistani-British political activist, writer, journalist, historian, filmmaker, and public intellectual. He is a member of the editorial committee of the ''New Left Review'' and ''Sin Permiso'', and co ...

described him as "France's leading Marxist public intellectual, much in demand on talkshows and writing essays and reviews in ''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'' and ''

Libération (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968 in France, May 1968. Initially positioned on the far left of Fr ...

''." Bensaïd was known for his studies of

Walter Benjamin Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin ( ; ; 15 July 1892 – 26 September 1940) was a German-Jewish philosopher, cultural critic, media theorist, and essayist. An eclectic thinker who combined elements of German idealism, Jewish mysticism, Western M ...

and

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

, and a recent analysis of French

postmodernism Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, Culture, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting ...

. He died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

on 12 January 2010 at the age of 63, arising from the side effects of drugs used to treat

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

, which he had had for the previous 16 years.

Criticism and debate

Bensaïd and the current of Trotskyism represented by the Unified Secretariat of the Fourth International have come under attack from more orthodox Trotskyists for the strategy they have advanced of entering the "new social movements"; in particular, for seeing reform and revolution as a

false dichotomy A false dilemma, also referred to as false dichotomy or false binary, is an informal fallacy based on a premise that erroneously limits what options are available. The source of the fallacy lies not in an invalid form of inference but in a false ...

, and proposing the formation of "broad parties," rather than forming parties of the traditional Leninist type. In one such critique, Luke Cooper criticised Bensaïd for arguing that—in certain specific circumstances—it maybe permissible to enter a capitalist government, and seek to use the existing state as an instrument of revolutionary transformation. Bensaïd also debated revolutionary strategy with other Fourth International members, and the British Socialist Workers Party's International Secretary

Alex Callinicos Alexander Theodore Callinicos (born 24 July 1950) is a Rhodesian-born British political theorist and activist. An adherent of Trotskyism, he is a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and serves as its Internatio ...

Bibliography

* with

Henri Weber Henri Weber (23 June 1944 – 26 April 2020) was a French politician and Member of the European Parliament for the north-west of France. He was a member of the Socialist Party (PS), which is part of the Party of European Socialists, and sat o ...

: ''Mai 1968: Une répétition générale'' (

François Maspero François Maspero (19 January 1932, in Paris – 11 April 2015, in Paris) was a French author and journalist, best known as a publisher of leftist books in the 1970s. He also worked as a translator, translating the works of Joseph Conrad, Mehdi B ...

, 1968
online edition
* ''La revolution et le pouvoir'' (Penser, 1976, ) * "In Memory of a Rebel". ''Telos'' 44, Summer 1980 (). * ''Walter Benjamin: sentinelle messianique'' (Plon, 1990, ) * ''La discordance des temps: essais sur les crises, les classes, l'histoire'' (Editions de la Passion, 1995, ) * ''Marx l'intempestif: Grandeurs et misères d'une aventure critique'' (Fayard, 1995, ); English translation: ''A Marx for Our Times: Adventures and Misadventures of a Critique'' (Verso, 2002, ) * ''Le pari mélancolique'' (Fayard, 1997, ) * ''Qui est le juge?'' (Fayard, 1999, ) * ''Contes et légendes de la guerre éthique'' (Textuel, 1999, ) * ''Eloge de la résistance à l'air du temps'' (Textuel, 1999, ) * ''Le sourire du spectre'' (Michalon, 2000, ) * ''Les irréductibles'' (Textuel, 2001, ) * ''Une lente impatience'' (Stock, 2004, ) - his autobiography; English translation: ''An Impatient Life: A Memoir'' (Verso, 2014, ) * ''Fragments mécréants. Mythes identitaires et république imaginaire'' (2005, ) * ''Marx, mode d'emploi'' (2009, )

References

External links

Daniel Bensaïd website - Multilingual website with articles, books, audio and video recordings by and of Daniel Bensaïd

* ttp://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?auteur14 Daniel Bensaïd's articles in International Viewpoint* *

"Daniel Bensaïd obituary"
''The Guardian'', 14 January 2010 *

"Daniel Bensaid Obituary"
SWP Online, 12 January 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bensaid, Daniel 1946 births 2010 deaths Deaths from cancer in France AIDS-related deaths in France Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery Critics of postmodernism ENS Fontenay-Saint-Cloud-Lyon alumni 20th-century French Sephardi Jews French male writers French Marxists French people of Algerian-Jewish descent 20th-century French philosophers Atheist philosophers Jewish atheists Jewish philosophers Jewish socialists Marxist theorists French Marxist writers May 1968 in France New Anticapitalist Party politicians Politicians from Toulouse Revolutionary Communist League (France) politicians Academic staff of Paris 8 University Vincennes-Saint-Denis