Ian Parker - Community and Communism in Relation to the Clinic

This presentation will be in three parts. First, I will describe the recent attempt to set up a 'Red Clinic' in the UK as an internationalist initiative making connections, while respecting the necessary disconnection between politics and clinical work - between the 'red' and the 'clinic' aspects of our work (https://www.redclinic.org/). Second, this will be linked to a reflection on what we learn about the relationship between psychoanalysis and revolution in different contexts, outlining the rationale for the recently co-authored project 'Psychoanalysis and Revolution' (https://psychoanalysisrevolution.com/). Third, we will then look at the difference between closed bureaucratic visions of communism, those characterised as ‘stalinist realism’ and a more inclusive democratic conception of communism and its implications for psychoanalytic work.

Ian Parker was co-founder in 1991, and is currently co-director (with Professor Erica Burman), of the Discourse Unit (www.discourseunit.com). His research and writing has been in the field of psychoanalysis, psychology and social theory, with a particular focus on discourse, critical psychology, mental health and political practice. He is Emeritus Professor of Management at the University of Leicester, and has visiting professorial posts in Brazil, South Africa, Spain and the UK. He is a practising psychoanalyst, and is currently Honorary Secretary of the College of Psychoanalysts - UK. He is Secretary of Manchester Psychoanalytic Matrix and Managing Editor of the Annual Review of Critical Psychology. Details of his books can be accessed at https://parkerian.com/.