KRITIEK VAN DE ZUIVERE LINKSE REDE.

Critique of Pure Leftist Reason. Contemporary political theory witnesses an attempt to construct a concept of communism that no longer bears any reference to historical communism or Marxism. Taking his cue from the work of French philosopher Alain Badiou, the author of this article reviews and analyses this trend, and he argues that this 'new' notion of communism turns out to be form of speculative leftism. In stark contrast with this contemporary re-conceptualization of communism by Jean-Luc Nancy and Antonio Negri, among others, Alain Badiou constructs his own notion of communism and Marxism, which can be read as an attempt to clarify communism's historical failure as well as its claim to 'explain' history. Communism, Badiou argues, is more than an invariant utopia only when it takes into account its material determination through the history and crisis of Marxism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]