ABSTRACT
In 1979 Sartre advised long-term associate Jean Pouillon that he wasn’t interested in politics. Such a statement only makes sense, as Ian Birchall notes, “if politics is taken in its normal sense of ballot boxes and party manoeuvres in legislative assemblies” (Birchall 2004: 4). Earlier, in 1972, Sartre informed colleagues that “everything is political, that is, calls into question society as a whole and leads to a challenge to it.” 1 Any assessment of Sartre’s views on political violence should take into consideration the breadth of activities that Sartre regarded as political, and not just those acts or actors deemed to be political by established convention. Especially from the early 1950s onwards, Sartre repeatedly challenged the assumption that political violence refers only to acts committed in the name of a political cause or by clearly identified political actors. 2
