La Leçon d'Althusser

Jacques Rancière made his theoretical debut when, under the Althusserian umbrella, he published a long essay in the 1965 edition of Lire le Capital. This essay was later omitted from the 1969 edition. Why? It has been suggested that Rancière's contribution was particularly vulnerable to a critique written by André Glucksmann. As such its omission was part of a “premeditated partial withdrawal, in order to narrow tactical flanks.” This is true, there was a tactical retreat. However, André Glucksmann was not the only person who criticized Lire le Capital. There was the leadership of the French Communist Party who viewed Althusser's heterodoxy with increasing alarm.