Belden’s French Connection

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Belden in Tunesia, 1972

I met Belden in 1963. We both were residents at the Cité Universitaire Internationale and attended the same seminar on the 1930s at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po). It was the start of a close friendship spanning more than 60 years.

During his two years in Paris, Belden was doing his PhD dissertation research on “student syndicalism” by studying the oldest and most powerful student organization in France, the Union Nationale des Etudiants Français (National Union of French Students) (UNEF). It was a huge challenge. There were almost no analyses of student power and its structures, very few articles on UNEF, and certainly no books on it. Moreover, UNEF was a composite organization with many currents, torn apart by national and international political events, especially the Algerian war. Belden meticulously traced the main events in the history of UNEF from its official creation in 1907 to the mid-’60s: its structures and leadership, characteristics of the student activists, and affiliations with other organizations. When published in 1970, his book Student Politics in France was praised by the venerable Revue Française de Sociologie in its January-March 1972 issue for “the quality of the book and the vividness of the narrative. . . . The erudition he draws on is impressive, [and] the sources of information he uses are very comprehensive.”

But Belden’s purpose went far beyond the story of an organization. He was interested in a fundamental question: to what extent and under what conditions does a movement focused on students needs, but also global political aims, succeed in building a political force capable of permanently influencing the decisions of those in power? Relying on UNEF as a case study, his conclusions are rather sharp: ‘‘Under conditions of political stability, the indulgence of decision-makers is the most important single determinant of the power of such organizations.” He maintained that under conditions of political instability, students stand a real chance of forming alliances with nonstudent entities and thus of being instrumental in bringing about political change. He gave the examples of the overthrow of the Syngman Rhee regime in South Korea and Sukarno in Indonesia.

The outcome of the French student revolt in May-June, 1968 confirmed his conclusions. In an essay titled “The Revolution Betrayed: The French Student Revolt of May-June 1968” (in S. M. Lipset and P. G. Altbach, eds., Students in Revolt) and in the postscript to Student Politics in France, he elaborated on the failure of the students to bring about the collapse of the Gaullist regime: “Student organizations stand little chance of emerging victorious in a confrontation with a determined government unless: (1) they are prepared to engage in revolutionary activity or convince political decision-makers that they are; (2) there is a high degree of political instability; and (3) they enjoy the support of powerful nonstudent forces.” In the troubled times we live in, this is food for thought.

In Paris, Belden was a hard worker but also a cheerful, kind-hearted fellow, always ready to help, listen, and cheer up those around him. He was surrounded by a solid group of friends from Tunisia, Algeria, South Africa, Canada, and Britain, as well as France. Belden used to say, “friends are the most important things in life” (it was before he met Jane). One of his best friends was a young Tunisian philosopher and mathematician named Hassane Karkar, who would later become a brilliant university professor. He was an activist, born into a family deeply involved in the struggle against French colonialism, and had been politicized from an early age. Belden was quite interested in Third World movements. In Hassane, he found an interlocutor to discuss the issues of dependency, unequal exchange, domination, and “core” and “peripheral” countries. They had long and intensive conversations; it was the beginning of a lasting intellectual companionship.

In June, 1968, Hassane and Belden went together to the Odéon Theater, still occupied by students. Belden was disappointed that the students’ and workers’ revolt didn’t lead to a revolution. But, as Hassane pointed out, de Gaulle had asked the troops deployed in Germany to be ready to intervene, and the workers simply couldn’t afford a confrontation with the army.

During the late ’60s and early ’70s, numerous revolts erupted around the world, often bloodily suppressed. Paris was abuzz with leftist activism, and support meetings multiplied. Belden and Hassane attended many of them, in particular a huge meeting at the House of Italy, glorifying the Pratobello revolt of June, 1969 in Sardinia. Representatives from the Italian Communist Party were there as well as from Lotta Continua, a new far-left activist organization that aimed to spread youth and student radicalization to workers. The Pratobello revolt had been a success story. Three thousand people—shepherds, farmers, workers, and citizens of Orgosolo (the nearby town)—gathered in Pratobello to protest the Italian army’s plan to construct a military base in these pastoral fields. Joined by other supporters, activists, and artists, they occupied the fields for three days and nights, defying the police. At that, the government decided to back down. According to Hassane, this meeting celebrated the events of Pratobello, but really focused on theorizing about the necessity of relying on forces other than the working class and on the merits of nonviolent methods.

These post-’68 movements all fed Belden’s thoughts for the next book he had in mind, on far-left movements. He spent three long periods in Paris (in 1972, 1975, and 1981) conducting research. His major book Trotskyism and Maoism: Theory and Practice in France and the United States was the first study that was comparative both nation-wise and in terms of political programs and strategies. Like his previous work, the book was well received in France. A leading journal in the French academic world, the Revue Française de Science Politique (1990) emphasized, “the seriousness of its documentation and the clarity of its exposition . . . as well as its effort to reflect on the causes of the failure of these active minorities in the recent history of France and the United States.” It was an enormous work that relied extensively on interviews of members of the groups under study. Belden often forged close links with some of the leaders he interviewed, particularly Daniel Ben-Saïd, who was a leader of the Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire and a famous philosopher and theoretician of the Trotskyist movement.

All of these experiences and relationships in France no doubt influenced Belden’s thinking when he spoke out against the war in Vietnam in the ’60s and ’70s; defended human rights in Central America in the ’80s and ’90s; and worked on behalf of workers, people of color, and the poor throughout his life.

Belden in London while supervising student interns, 1988

Belden was a fine connoisseur of France, its political life, its landscapes, and its cooking. He came as often as he could and for many years supervised an internship program for students in the French National Assembly. In later years, he stopped working on French subjects but always kept up his interest in French politics. He was worried about the rise of the far right in France and the similarities of the forces that led to Trump’s victory in the US. One of the last messages I got from him, after the French legislative elections in July 2024, read “Congratulations dear friends. Down with fascism. Huge hugs.” Just like Belden.

Many thanks to Hassane Karkar for sharing his memories of political discussions with Belden.

Marie-Claude Smouts is senior researcher emerita at the Center for International Research (CERI/Sciences Po) and professor at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po Paris).

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