La violence révolutionnaire

Violence is a form of reputedly legitimized resistance of a political, economic and cultural order. Its manifestations, rarely isolated, demand historical and geographic context, whether they draw from the same source of inspiration (anarcho-syndicalisme, Marxism, Radical Islam, etc.) or whether they share similar methods (political assasination, conspiracy, terror etc.).

The Red Army Faction, Action Directe, Brigate Rosse, Weather Underground Organization, the Japanese Red Army : how is the appearance of groups who choose the avenue of arms in the style of 1968 in Europe, as well as in the United States and Japan, to be explained ? Which standards and common variables, then, allow them to spread?

Forty years after May 1968, this work investigates the resurgence and the itinerary of the revolutionary violence of the extreme left.

Director of the Center of Political Research at the Sorbonne, Isabelee Sommier is a specialist in political violence and social movements.