People united: will never be defeated? Potentiality and limits of the populist strategy

Abstract

The signifier “people” has often been criticized, especially for being ambiguous, but it always reappears, both in social analyzes and in political interpellations. The recent political experiences of center-left or leftist governments in Latin America warn about the difficulties that the use and abuse of this concept can entail, especially for a proposal that seeks to be emancipatory. This article analyzes the criticisms that Karl Marx made of the concept of “people”, but also provides some hypotheses as to why he maintained its use in many of his texts. Certain uses of the term by various Marxists are also recorded that show the need to not abandon it. Then, the elaborations that Ernesto Laclau made about the “people” are reviewed. And, finally, some hypotheses are outlined about the potentiality and limitations of a populist emancipatory strategy.

Keywords:
people; populism; left; Marx; Laclau