Marshall Plan

What Dominique Pagani says

Dominique Pagani approaches the Marshall Plan through Michel Clouscard, who sees it as the starting point of the capitalism of seduction1. He argues that in 1945 the priority is not the fight against Nazism but against the "red plague". Faced with a powerful communist party and an armed working class, capitalism then grants the working classes what it had never given them, while at the same time waging an ideological war through the philosophy of subjectivity1. The plan also imposes the American way of life through consumption, music and cinema, against the spirit of the CNR programme23. In his view, the gap between material emancipation and political frustration explodes in May 68, which becomes the "14th of July" of the new middle strata1. The documentaries in which he speaks alongside others present 68 as a second Marshall Plan, of a symbolic kind2. This theme leads him to reject the notion of consumer society: there are only classes that consume more than they produce, and others that produce more than they consume13.

1. 1Tout est permis mais rien n'est possible - Michel Clouscard - 129 Jan 2012
2. 2TOUT EST PERMIS, RIEN N'EST POSSIBLE ! Michel Clouscard, Mai 68 et le capitalisme de la séduction14 Jul 2021
3. 3EVERYTHING'S ALLOWED, BUT NOTHING IS POSSIBLE! Michel Clouscard, May 68, French Theory & Capitalism14 Jul 2021

Introduction produced automatically from the 3 sessions on this theme, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the sessions.