Militant Acts: The Role of Investigations in Radical Political Struggles

206 Pages·2019·1.5 MB·English

by  Marcelo Hoffman

Militant Acts
SUNY series in New Political Science
—————
Bradley J. Macdonald, editor
Militant Acts
The Role of Investigations in
Radical Political Struggles
MARCELO HOFFMAN
Cover image: Tarsila do Amaral, Workers (1933). Reprinted with permission.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2019 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
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For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hoffman, Marcelo, author.
Title: Militant acts : the role of investigations in radical political struggles /
Marcelo Hoffman.
Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, [2019] | Series:
SUNY series in new political science | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018007502 | ISBN 9781438472614 (hardcover : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781438472638 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Radicalism—History. | Social sciences—Research—Political
aspects | Communism—Public opinion.
Classification: LCC HN49.R33 H64 2019 | DDC 303.48/4—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018007502
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Caetano
•

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
1 Introduction 1
2 Sources of the Militant Investigation in Marxism: Marx,
Lenin, and Mao 25
3 Workers’ Inquiries from Breakaway Trotskyism to Italian
Workerism 53
4 Badiou, the Maoist Investigation, and the Party Form 81
5 In the Shadow of Oedipus: Enquêtes in Foucault’s Theory
and Practice 103
6 Conclusion 133
Notes 143
Bibliography 173
Index 183

Acknowledgments
Like any other scholarly undertaking, this book sprang to life from the
generosity of others. Perry Zurn and Andrew Dilts provided me with
the initial momentum for the book by allowing me to begin to collate
my thoughts about the topic of militant investigations in their coedited
book, Michel Foucault, the Prisons Information Group, and the Future of
Abolition (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016). Chad Lavin went out of his way
to facilitate a crucial contact for the initiation of the project. Thanasis
Lagios provided me with useful materials and supportive words. Stuart
Elden went well beyond normal standards of generosity in academe. He
discovered and passed on information about an archival source from
the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris while conducting his own
research there. I am grateful to Timophy S. Murphy for reading a draft of
one of my chapters and offering helpful feedback on it. Rebecca E. Karl
drew my attention to one of Mao Zedong’s little-known investigations.
I owe a very special debt of gratitude to the professors who kindly
invited me to share portions of my research for this book at their insti-
tutions. I thank Dan Smith for inviting me to speak at “The Political
Philosophy of Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze” conference at Purdue
University in November 2015. I thank Thomas Nail for inviting me to
present my research to the Philosophy Department of the University of
Denver in February 2016. I am deeply indebted to Margareth Rago and
Sílvio Gallo for inviting me to present my research in Portuguese at
the 10th International Michel Foucault Colloquium, “ ‘Is It Useless to
Revolt?’ Foucault and Insurrections,” at the State University of Campinas
in Brazil in October 2016. I also thank the São Paulo Research Foun-
dation for funding my participation in this wonderful colloquium. The
event was quite simply the highlight of my academic life. It has inspired
the direction of my future work.

ix