Jean Birnbaum's 'Les Maoccidents' Examines Maoist Intellectuals' Transformation

In 'Les Maoccidents' (Éditions Stock, 'Parti Pris'), journalist Jean Birnbaum investigates the trajectory of former French Maoist intellectuals from the Gauche Prolétarienne (GP). The book, an extension of his reporting for Le Monde, centers on figures like Benny Lévy, Guy Lardreau, Christian Jambet, and Jean-Claude Milner, who abandoned revolutionary ideology for religious or conservative commitments. Birnbaum, aged 35 at publication, had previously explored Trotskyists in 'Leur Jeunesse et la nôtre' (2005). The narrative opens with a 2008 meeting at Café des Phares with Gérard Bobillier, founder of Éditions Verdier, who emphasizes a 'cassure' (break) in the collective destiny. A key scene recounts a November 2003 tribute to Benny Lévy at Théâtre Hébertot, where Jacques-Alain Miller called Lévy a 'missionary.' Birnbaum traces how these intellectuals, trained by Louis Althusser at the École Normale Supérieure, shifted from Maoist activism to elite cultural engagement, defending Western values against the 'red Orient.' The book questions whether 'neoconservatism' fits their aspiration for a 'literary magistracy.'