Comradely Critique

Slothuus, Lukas ORCID: 0000-0002-6773-2244 (2021) Comradely Critique. Political Studies. ISSN 2041-9066

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Abstract

What does it mean to disagree with people with whom you usually agree? How should political actors concerned with emancipation approach internal disagreement? In short, how should we go about critiquing not our enemies or adversaries but those with whom we share emancipatory visions? I outline the notion of comradely critique as a solution to these questions. I go through a series of examples of how and when critique should differ depending on its addressee, drawing on Jodi Dean’s figure of the comrade. I develop a contrast with its neighbours the ally and the partisan, thus identifying key elements of comradely critique: good faith, equal humanity, equal standing, solidarity, collaboration, common purpose and dispelling fatalism. I then analyse Theodor W. Adorno and Herbert Marcuse’s private correspondence on the 1960s German student movement as an illustration of (imperfect) comradely critique. I conclude by identifying a crucial tension about publicness and privateness.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://journals.sagepub.com/home/PSX
Additional Information:	© 2021 The Author
Subjects:	J Political Science > JC Political theory
Date Deposited:	30 Mar 2023 08:27
Last Modified:	18 Apr 2024 05:21
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/118487

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