Revolution with and without the mask

pages: 53-70

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to provide a certain “second reading” of those commonplaces which imply that a particular, personal interest always lies behind the mask of objectivity, necessity and truth. As a paradigmatic example of this kind of structure that implies “hidden truths”, here will be taken that of a revolution, whether it is a fascist, a liberal-democratic or a communist revolution. By reexamining how this motif of “truth-behind-the-mask” figures in those regimes, we will try to say something about each of them, and also about the specific kind of subject that is produced under them. Keywords: institution, rule, exception, enjoyment, truth, appearance