Louis Althusser
Essays in
Self-Criticism
Translated by Grahame Lock
R\u00e9ponse \u00e0 John Lewis was published by Fran\u00e7ois Maspero,
1973
\u00a9 Louis Althusser, 1973
El\u00e9ments d'Autocritique was published by Librairie Hachette,
1974
\u00a9 Louis Althusser, 1974
Est-Il Simple d'Etre Marxiste en Philosophie? was published
in
La Pens\u00e9e, October 1975
\u00a9 Louis Althusser, 1975
This edition, Essays in Self-Criticism, first published 1976
\u00a9 NLB, 1976
Prepared \u00a9 for the Internet by David J. Romagnolo,
djr@marx2mao.org (July 2003)
Contents
Preface
vii
Introduction
1
1. Reply to John Lewis
33
[Forward]
[34]
Reply to John Lewis
35
Note on "The Critique of the Personality Cult"
78
Remark on the Category: "Process without a
Subject or Goal(s)
94
2. Elements of Self-Criticism
101
[Forward]
[102]
Elements of Self-Criticism
105
On the Evolution of the Young Marx
151
3. Is it Simple to be a Marxist in Philosophy?
163
"Something New"
208
Bibliography
217
Index
222
vii
Preface
In 1970 I was invited to lecture at Marx House in London on the work of Althusser. John
Lewis was sitting in the front row of the audience. In the discussion he expressed his
disagreement with what he had heard, and, later, his intention to combat it. Early in 1972
he published his article on "The Althusser Case" in Marxism Today. James Klugmann, the
editor of the journal, asked Althusser to reply, and this reply appeared in October and
November of the same year.
This latter text was then rewritten and expanded, and appeared in a French edition in
1973, together with two other pieces. The French edition is translated in its entirety in the
present volume, which also includes a translation of El\u00e9ments d'autocritique, published in
France in 1974, and of the text "Est-Il Simple d'Etre Marxiste en Philosophie?",
published in La Pens\u00e9e, October 1975. In total, then, this volume contains some five
times the volume of material contained in the original Marxism Today article.
It is preceded by an Introduction in which I attempt to show something about the
political inspiration behind Althusser's writings by applying certain of his concepts to a
specific and controversial political question.
The bibliography of works by and on Althusser to be found at the end of the book
builds on that provided by Sa\u00fcl Karsz in his Th\u00e9orie et Politique (Paris, 1974), but adds
more than twenty new titles.
For helpful discussions in the preparation of this Introduc- tion I must thank Althusser
himself, together with Etienne Balibar. For help with the translation I am grateful to Ann,
viii
Jean-Jacques and Fran\u00e7ois Lecercle, and for the typing, to Maria Peine.
Grahame Lock,
Leyden, Holland, 1975.
page 1
Introduction
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althusser essays in self-criticism
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