Althusser Abstract

The following is an abstract for my paper on Louis Althusser's initial theory of ideology and its relationship to the de-Stalinization process occuring concurrently in the USSR. The working title of the paper is: Stalinist Humanism: Louis Althusser's Reformulation of the Marxist Theory of Ideology and the Dynamics of De-Stalinization. Although I am not quite happy with how the most recent draft turned out and would like to revise several section--particularly my discussion of ideology and an overview of the Sino-Soviet conflict--I decided to turn the paper into my professor, take a grade, and move on with other work. I still believe the final form of the paper will provide some insight into Althusser's thought and open up some aspects of his work that have remained in the dark or at least undeveloped. It explores the historical context of Althusser's rejection of humanism and posits some political ramifications of his choices, both of which, I feel, are important for developing critiques of the methods that dominate academic departments today.


After the death of Stalin in 1953 the international communist movement faced a crisis of legitimacy that affected communist parties around the world. After rising to power over the course of a few years Nikita Khrushchev sought to assuage this crisis by casting the USSR in a 'humanist' light that would assist the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in moving past the acknowledged criminality of the Stalinist period. Khrushchev's reforms ushered in a period of relative liberalization and significantly altered, at least in word, the USSR's relationship to the US and its Western European allies. Changes promoted by Khrushchev also affected communist intellectuals, who were no longer obligated to conform to Stalin's definition of Marxism outlined in the 1938 History of the CPSU (Short Course) and instead began to establish new orientations of their own. One such figure is Louis Althusser, philosopher, teacher and member of the Parti Communiste Français (PCF) whose work during the 1960s is considered by many to be one of the most important reformulations of Marxism since the 1920s. Althusser's writings on the concept of ideology have been particularly influential and are read today by students of critical theory. Although scholars such as Gregory Elliott and Perry Anderson have traced Althusser's work back to the historical context in which it developed, important lacunae remain to be explored. The relationship between the de-Stalinization process initiated by Khrushchev in the USSR and Althusser's theory of ideology is one example. My paper examines this relationship by focusing on Althusser's 1963 essay "Marxism and Humanism" and the way in which Althusser constructs his notion of ideology in this essay by analyzing the rise of 'humanism' in the USSR. I argue that Althusser's theory of ideology is one key aspect of the philosopher's broader attempt to chart a middle course between the anti-Leninist positions of the 'socialist humanists' who broke completely with the communist parties to formulate a 'new left' orientation and the ultra-left position of the Communist Party of China (CPC) who accused the CPSU of backsliding and colluding with its 'imperialist' enemies.