The Academic Career and Achievements of Jean-Claude Delaunay

Abstract

In the BeginningJean-Claude Delaunay was born in 1938, just before World War II, in the small village of Saint-Bonnet sur Gironde, in Southwest France. His family was typical of the countryside. When his father was 14 years old, he began looking for work upon completion of primary school. He became a barrel maker, his trade through the de a sort of learning trip in which young workers travelled to different parts of the country to learn the particularities of barrel making which varied with regions and types of alcohol produced. Upon completion of the Tour de France, workers qualified as companions (loosely translated from French).His mother, like many women of her age, was not literate. When she was young, though school was mandatory, her parents asked her to take care of the cows rather than go to school. She faced the consequences of this all her life. These basic points about the origins of Jean-Claude suggest why Marxism has deep resonance for this thinker with a conscience.This is not to suggest that Jean-Claude was reading Marx in the cradle. He came to Marxism through experience, while being quite aware that for those of humble origins it was that much more difficult to become a Marxist in post-World War II France.In this period of time, France had been significantly weakened by World War II. But the country recovered within five years and the post-war period was, compared to nowadays, a more happy time. This was not least because, immediately following the war, the United States was spreading US dollars in Western Europe to rebuild while attempting to contain communism which was gaining force around the world. Though France benefited from these development funds the Fourth Republic was tolerating class struggle and the Parti Communiste Francais (PCF) (French Communist Party) was a big force.The main features of the French economy were also changing rapidly. Wine producers, for example, were no longer using wooden barrels but big cement tanks. Displaced from the winemaking industry, the Delaunay family thus leftthe countryside and moved to Paris in search of work. Though the move was challenging, Jean-Claude's parents managed to find work and meet the high price of rented accommodation in the city. Jean-Claude was thus afforded the privilege of attending middle school, with the help of a scholarship. The Delaunay family was very poor but focused on building a better future. Jean-Claude's mother was especially driven to make sure her son benefited from studying at school.School was not, however, without its challenges for Jean-Claude. There was not only an economic and financial gap between Jean-Claude and the majority of the other students, there was also a big cultural gap. This led to discipline problems. Teachers recognized Jean-Claude's capabilities but were not satisfied with his performance. Rather than being sent to a technical school, the issue was resolved for Jean-Claude through the unintended consequence of his father's war injury. As the child of an injured Charles de Gaulle army veteran, Jean-Claude qualified for the opportunity to sit an entry exam to the famous French military school, the Prytanee militaire, based in the small provincial city of La Fleche.The mission of this school was to prepare army officers. Intelligent as he was, Jean-Claude passed the exam and studied at the Prytanee from 1952 to 1956. With a good level of basic knowledge as well as improved discipline, Jean-Claude was admitted to the Lycee Louis le Grand in Paris in 1956. After having successfully passed his secondary school degrees (Baccalaureate 1 and 2), he entered the Paris Faculty of Economics and Law in 1956-57.There are at least two ways to become a Marxist. The first one is experience-based and rooted in socioeconomic location. A factory worker, for example, gains personal understanding of capitalism through the direct experience of capitalist exploitation. …