How did May '68 and the Cultural Revolution impact French philosophers like Rancière and Badiou?

May '68 and the Cultural Revolution served as pivotal events that profoundly shaped the intellectual trajectories of French philosophers like Jacques Rancière and Alain Badiou, particularly in their understanding of knowledge, power, and political engagement. These events challenged established hierarchies and sparked a re-evaluation of traditional Marxist frameworks.

For Rancière, the Cultural Revolution and May '68 highlighted the question of intellectual authority. As he notes, the student revolt targeted "monkish academics," demanding the reversal of knowledge-based hierarchies. This context led Rancière to examine the relationship between Althusser's "theoreticism" and the French Communist Party's political authority, questioning the connection between intellectual knowledge and political power. This paradox, where revolutionary scientists simultaneously defended scientific concepts and witnessed anti-authoritarian revolts, became a formative experience for Rancière, one he "never reneged on."

Badiou, similarly influenced, saw in these events a need to move beyond traditional intellectual debates. He recalls that "What the Cultural Revolution and May 1968 made clear on a massive scale was the need for something entirely different from an oscillation of national intellectual traditions." Badiou's Maoist engagement during this period led him to critique figures like Deleuze and Guattari for their "potato fascism" and Lardreau and Jambet for their "Manichaeism," demonstrating a commitment to political antagonism over academic decorum. The Cultural Revolution, for Badiou, was not merely a memory but "the substance of the present," driving his philosophical inquiries.

Both philosophers grappled with the question of transmission of revolutionary ideals outside established institutions. Mao's inquiry about the "successors of the cause of the proletariat" challenged the role of the Communist Party, leading to a focus on the masses and the potential for equality. This emphasis on equality, particularly the idea that "equality is declared and is never programmatic," became a central tenet of Rancière's work, reflecting the impact of these revolutionary moments on his thinking.