Agenda

An irrationalist prophet of violence for its own sake, a sworn enemy of democracy, a precursor of fascism and the master of Benito Mussolini: this is the canonical, and still dominant, image of Georges Sorel (1847-1922).

Yet, the intellectual trajectory of this former hydraulic engineer exceeds this partial and incomplete framing in which most of the existing historiography and many public commentators still place him. Sorel’s thought was formed in the midst of the most advanced democratic experiment in 19th century Europe, the French Third Republic. As such, it carried a series of reflections, perplexities, and possibilities linked to mass democracy that do not emerge inside the limits of the established historiographical frames. For example, Sorel was always faithful to the project of an anti-statist socialism, based on proletarian self-government. What was the relationship between this vision and democracy? For many years Sorel was committed to both, before eventually turning anti-democratic.

The publication of The Metaphysician of Syndicalism (Routledge 2026) offers the chance to reassess Sorel – a reassessment which is called for in a moment of global democratic crisis. Together with the editors of the book, we will discuss the limits of the dominant interpretation, the forgotten aspects of Sorel’s thought, and the contemporary relevance of Sorelian syndicalism.

Link: https://meet.google.com/jaz-hrod-qks