On the necessity of transition, between dialectics and structure

Abstract

The concept of transition appears to be linked, in Marxist theory, to a dialectical conception of the historical process, insofar as it presents itself as a necessity resulting from the development of the conditions posed by the old society. In the work of Louis Althusser, who in the mid-1960s imposed himself on the French Marxist debate with positions critical of any residue of the philosophy of history in dialectical materialism, the role of transition appears as problematic as ever. However, in the second half of the 1970s, the French philosopher led a battle in defence of the concept of the dictatorship of the proletariat, linked to that of transition. This article aims to make this apparent contradiction intelligible. An attempt will thus be made to hold together the mechanism of structuration, which prohibits the idea of a dialectical transition to communism, and the opposition to the abandonment of the perspective of the dictatorship of the proletariat in the urgency of the fight against euro-communism. Only the idea of coercive action on the elements of the structure will be able to replace the dialectical necessity in its function of giving foundation to the preservation of the reference to the dictatorship in the revolutionary process.