De Socialisme 64 à Socialisme québécois ou l’invention du marxisme au Québec From Socialisme 64 to Socialisme québécois, or : the invention of Marxism in Quebec

Résumé

À partir du dépouillement de la revue Socialisme (1964-1974), cet article propose d’examiner où et comment, à travers la mutation discursive qui s’y effectue au fil des numéros, apparaissent graduellement dans le discours dominant de la gauche québécoise les traces d’un discours marxiste proprement québécois susceptible de répondre de la question nationale. Il s’agit de comprendre comment l’invention d’un marxisme québécois, au plus fort de la fièvre révolutionnaire des décennies 1960 et 1970, soumis aux aléas d’une horde d’excitateurs syndicalistes et réformistes en crise identitaire, a pu paraître salutaire et sympathique à la bonne résolution de la question québécoise.

Abstract

In this article, Ève Lamoureux explores the evolution of “art engagé” by québécois artists on the left from the 1970s to the present day. In describing their practices, she compares them to those of the international contemporary art milieu and reflects on the specific conditions that influenced their trajectory. She shows in what ways the general characteristics of political art are similar across western countries. In particular, she identifies a passage from militant avant-gardism to micropolitical art that relies on the investment of the spectator in the process of making sense of the work and/or as a participant. Despite this similarity, the social, cultural, and political climate particular to Québec influences the pratices of québécois artists, as well as structuring the sphere of visual arts and its evolution. Some particularities flow from this : (1) abundant creativity, (2) constant experimentation by artists both with regard to their practices and to the organisation of artistic production and dissemination, (3) a rich theoretical expertise, (4) a tighter association between artists with community groups, interest groups and unions rather than political parties, and (5) a conflicted partnership between artists and artistic institutions and institutions of the state ; a partnership which, on the whole, favoured the evolution of political action by and through art despite its difficulties.