Lubitz' TrotskyanaNet Jean-Marie Vincent Bio-Bibliographical Sketch Contents: Basic biographical data Biographical sketch Selective bibliography Sidelines Basic biographical data Name: Jean-Marie Vincent Other names (by-names, pseud. etc.): Vincent Valette Date and place of birth: March 6, 1934, Nancy (France) Date and place of death: April 6, 2004, Paris (France) Nationality: French Occupations, careers, etc.: Professor of Political Science, Marxist theoretician, writer, editor Time of activity in Trotskyist movement: 1954 - 1981 1 Biographical sketch This short biographical sketch is chiefly based upon the obituaries and biographical notes mentioned in the paragraph Selected bibliography: Articles about Vincent below. Jean-Marie Vincent was born in Nancy on March 6, 1934 where he spent his childhood and youth. In the early 1950s he went to Paris and began to study political sciences at Sorbonne. For a short time he was a member of the JEC (Jeunesse Etudiante Chrétienne, Christian Students Youth) before in 1954 he joined the GBL (Groupe Bolchévik-Léniniste, Bolshevik-Leninist Group), a tiny Trotskyist splinter group chiefly consisting of intellectuals who had left (or were expelled from, respectively) the French section of the Fourth International which in 1952/53 suffered a serious factional crisis and split. The GBL was led by Michel Lequenne and from 1955-1956 issued a small paper titled Trotskisme 2. This tiny group of Trotskyist dissidents engaged itself in various regroupment processes on the left, thus for example its members joined the UGS (Union de la Gauche Socialiste, Union of the Socialist Left), and contributed to its paper Tribune marxiste (1957-1960) where Jean-Marie Vincent used his pseudonym Vincent Valette. Eventually the UGS in 1960 merged with two other left-socialist groups, forming the PSU (Parti Socialiste Unifié, United Socialist Party), which had a certain impact on French left-wing politics and even participated in elections. Vincent became very active in the PSU and served as editor of its paper Tribune socialiste, at the same time belonging to the editorial boards of international seri- als like Revue internationale du socialisme or International Socialist Journal, mouthpieces of a new European left-wing tendency neither endorsing Stalinism nor social-democratic reformism. From 1967 1) However, remaining an unorganized sympathizer of the Trotskyist LCR (Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire) until his death. 2) TSB 1729. [See also note 6] © by Wolfgang & Petra Lubitz 2004 — page 1 Lubitz' TrotskyanaNet Jean-Marie Vincent Bio-Bibliographical Sketch to 1971 Vincent was a member of the leading body of the Parti Socialiste Unifié. Besides leftist group- lets, sects and tiny parties, the PSU was the only French political party which supported the cause of the workers and students during the May-June 1968 revolt in France and which advocated autogestion (self-determination). However, a few years later when Vincent became aware of PSU's reconciliation towards social-democracy which eventually led to its fusion with Mitterand's newly (1971) founded PS (Parti Socialiste, Socialist Party), Vincent together with a small group of revolutionary socialists left the PSU and joined the LC (Ligue Comuniste, Communist League), the French section of the Fourth International, which had grown considerably in the aftermath of May/June 1968 and in 1973 was renamed LCR (Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire, Revolutionary Communist League). For seve- ral years Vincent was contributing co-editor of LCR's theoretical journal Critiques de l'économie poli- tique. In 1981 he left the LCR which he considered too Leninist, did not organize since then but re- mained a sympathizer and friend of the LCR and continued to frequently contribute articles to another theoretical journal of the French Trotskyists, Critique communiste. During the last three decades of his life Vincent was a renowned teacher, educator and Marxist theor- etician, and author or editor of a considerable number of books focusing primarily on a systematisation of Marx' theory of commodity fetishism and on a reconstruction of Marxism as a critical theory. Vin- cent also dealt systematically with sociological questions ranging from a theoretical approach to 'work' to a critical evaluation of the writing of Max Weber and of the Frankfurt school of Max Horkheimer, Theodor W. Adorno et al. When the Paris University was restructured in 1970/71, Vincent was charged with setting up the de- partment of political sciences at the newly created Université de Paris VIII (Paris-Vincennes). He be- came professor at Paris VIII and later chairman of the department of political sciences, a position which he held until his retirement in 20023. During the last phase of his life Vincent published again some important theoretical works and animated journals aiming at a furthering of the critical left dis- course in France such as Variations and Futur antérieur. A definition of his political position can be derived from his last publications, Le trotskysme dans l'histoire (2004)4 and Vers un nouvel anti- capitalisme (2003)5. Jean-Marie Vincent died of post-operative complications at Paris on April 6, 2004. Selective bibliography 6 Selective bibliography: Books/pamphlets (co-)authored by Vincent Abstract labour : a critique / transl. by Jim Cohen. - Basingstoke, Hampshire [etc.] : Macmillan, 1991. - XXXI, 156 pp. - (Language, discourse, society) [American ed. publ. by St. Martin's Pr., New York, NY] Un autre Marx : après les marxismes. - Lausanne : Ed. Page Deux, 2001. - 266 pp. - (Cahiers libres) La Ve [Cinquième] République à bout de souffle / Denis Berger ; Jean-Marie Vincent ; Henri Weber. - [Paris] : Ed. Galilée, 1977. - 204 pp. - (Politique et société) Critique du travail : le faire et l'agir. - Paris : Presses Universitaires de France, 1987. - 162 pp. - (Pratiques théo- riques ; 14) Fétichisme et société / [préf.: François Châtelet]. - Paris : Ed. Anthropos, 1973. - 356 pp. France et l'origine de la tragédie palestinienne : pour une politique d'émancipation / Michel Vakaloulis ; Jean- 3) For a list of university works (theses, etc.) supervised by prof. Vincent see the paragraph Selective bibliography: Doctoral theses and other university works supervised by Vincent below. 4) in: Critique communiste, 2004 (172), pp. 48-64. By the way, a listing of Vincent's contributions on the subject of Trotsky and Trotskyism is to be found in our Lubitz' Leon Trotsky Bibliography while his criticism of Ernest Mandel has been cited in our Ernest Mandel Bibliography which forms part of the Lubitz' TrotskyanaNet website. 5) Together with Pierre Zarka, a leading theoretician of the so-called refondateurs within the PCF (Parti Communiste Français), and Michel Vakaloulis. For bibliographic details see the paragraph Selective bibliography: Books/pamphlets (co-)authored by Vincent below. 6) TSB item numbers (e.g. <TSB 0716>) refer to Lubitz’ Trotskyist Serials Bibliography, München [etc.] : Saur, 1993, which is out of print but available as PDF file within the framework of the Lubitz' TrotskyanaNet website. In TSB you can find detailed descriptions of the respective Trotskyist journals, newsletters, bulletins and the like. © by Wolfgang & Petra Lubitz 2004 — page 2 Lubitz' TrotskyanaNet Jean-Marie Vincent Bio-Bibliographical Sketch Marie Vincent ; Pierre Zarka. - Paris : Félin, 2003. - 183 pp. - (Collection Questions d'époque) Max Weber ou la démocratie inachevée. - Paris : Félin, 1998. - 227 pp. - (Collection Le temps et les mots) Les mensonges de l'Etat. - Paris : Le Sycomore, 1979. - 252 pp. - (Arguments critiques) [Repr. from various sources] Pensar en tiempos de barbarie : la teoría crítica de la Escuela de Frankfurt / trad.: Maria Emilia Tijoux. - Santi - ago, Chile : Univ. ARCIS, Centro de Estudios Estratégicos, 2002. - 181 pp. Problèmes méthodologiques des sciences sociales contemporaines : (Max Weber, l'Ecole de Francfort, le marx- isme italien). - Paris : Univ. de Paris VIII, 1972. [His thèse du doctorat d'Etat. Supervisor: François Châtelet] La théorie critique de l'école de Francfort. - Paris : Ed. Galilée, 1976. - 153 pp. - (Collection R.C.) Vers un nouvel anticapitalisme : pour une politique d'émancipation / Michel Vakaloulis, Jean-Marie Vincent, Pierre Zarka. - Paris : Félin, 2003. - 183 pp. - (Collection Questions d'époque) Selective bibliography: Books/pamphlets and journals (co-)edited by Vincent Collection Vues critiques (Paris) [ISSN 1159-9510] Critique des pratiques politiques / Pierre Birnbaum [et al.] Sous la dir. de Pierre Birnbaum et Jean-Marie Vincent. - [Paris] : Ed. Galilée, 1978. - 239 pp. Critiques de l'économie politique (Paris) [ISSN 0045-9097] <TSB 0398> Futur antérieur : politique, sociologie, philosophie, psychanalyse, culture (Paris) [ISSN 1154-418X] Introuvable Europe / D. Berger [et al.] [Dir. de publication: Jean-Marie Vincent]. - Paris : L'Harmattan, 1997. - 206 pp. - (Futur antérieur ; 1996,3=no.37) Marx après les marxismes / sous la dir. de Michel Vakaloulis et Jean-Marie Vincent. - T. 1-2. - Paris : L'Harmat- tan, 1997. - 383, 396 pp. [Vol.-titles: 1. Marx à la question, 2. Marx au futur] Los marxistas y la política / [recopilación de textos por ...] Jean-Marie Vincent [et al.] - 1-3. - Madrid : Taurus, 1977. - (Ensayistas ; 151-153) Les marxistes et la politique / [textes choisis et prés. par ...] Jean-Marie Vincent [et al.] - Paris : Pr. Univ. de France, 1975. - 730 pp. - (Thémis : Section Science politique ; 25) Michels, Robert: Critique du socialisme