Max Eitingon and a Question of Politics

Abstract

Max Eitingon is thought not to have left behind original theoretical work, despite the fact that he wrote some 40 articles and a dozen psychoanalytic congress reports. He has been almost forgotten over the years, even though he occupied an important political place in the history of the psychoanalytic movement. In recent times, he has again become a subject of attention. In this article the author takes a look at Eitingon as an activist who was intensely involved in the social and political struggles of his time. He represents the political aspect of psychoanalysis on two counts: first, within the psychoanalytic movement, where he had a particular role in the institutionalizing of psychoanalysis, and, second, in relating it to wider social and political ends.