Dossia Avdelidi

The cartel in the School- Ντόσια Αβδελίδη, Ψυχαναλύτρια - Ψυχολόγος

In his text «D'écolage», Lacan refers to the cartel as «a basic organ»[1]. The cartel, instituted with the foundation of Lacan's School in 1964, constitutes one of its pillars. The logic of its invention follows the logic of the impasses of orthodox psychoanalysis that Lacan encountered. As Jacques-Alain Miller reminds us, the «cartel, as Lacan brings it in the Act of Foundation, is a war machine against the didactician and his clique»[2].

The cartel is not a group like any other. And the plus-one is not a leader like any other. If every group needs a leader, the plus-one is a leader, but he does not think of himself as a leader. He is a modest, poor, mediocre leader. «If the place of the leader is ineliminable, the cartel circumscribes it and makes it a permutative function»[3], says Miller.

There is no protocol for the functioning of a cartel. Nor is there for the plus-one. Each with his style, his desire, his symptom and his singularity. In his text «La passe à l'entrée», Miller uses the example of the cartel to elaborate his reflection on the whole and the not-all. The cartel responds to these two logics. It responds to the logic of the whole in the sense that it constitutes a group with a plus-one. But at the same time, it opposes the logic of the whole, since in a cartel there is also the logic of the one by one, each member of the cartel engages with a solitude incomparable to that of the others and with the extravagance of his or her desire. Miller specifies that: «The one by one is necessary when the whole does not function, and the whole seems not to function, when there is infinity, when we do not manage to finish the thing, when there is always more and more»[4]. Hence also the importance of limited time in a cartel.

Lacan specifies in 1964 that the plus-one is charged with the selection, discussion, and outcome of each member's work. And he adds that «the management burden will not constitute a chieftaincy»[5]. In 1980 he will say that the plus-one monitors the inner workings of the project and causes their elaboration. The plus-one is an irreducible member of the cartel. He is the fourth element that ties the three others.

The question that rises is from what position does the plus-one act? The plus-one is neither a grade nor a title. The plus-one does not take the position of the one who knows, or even the one that he is supposed to know. He is not involved in the process either as a Master, or as a teacher, or of course as an analyst, but as a subject with his desire. It is a desire of knowledge. This is the lever that will move the desire of each member and prevent the phenomena of identification that we observe in groups. In this light, the cartel is another of Lacan's novel inventions to end hierarchy and shrink the imaginary.

The plus-one is engaged to the cartel with his lack, with his lack of knowledge. In this sense it decompletes, it introduces the minus one. It introduces the lack. The plus-one is the agent that provokes the questions. Since there is no vocation to work[6], as Miller formulates it, the plus-one acquires a strategic importance as an agent of provocation. In a way he inspires the cartelists to be determined workers, it provokes the desire to know.

The structure that is suitable for the cartel, Miller tells us, is that of the hysterical discourse. There can be a knowledge effect only under the condition that the plus-one is in the position of a divided subject. «If I had to choose a model of the plus-one,» adds Miller, «I would choose Socrates, who is remembered for the elaborations he provoked in his interlocutors»[7].

The cartel is intrinsically linked to my psychoanalytical journey. It is linked to my first steps in psychoanalysis. I still remember the first cartel in which I participated as a cartellist, that is already 25 years ago. I was young, I was a student and was looking for answers in a way that was not only determined but also insistent. It was one of the ingredients of my symptom. I insisted. What a surprise when the plus-one didn't give answers! Instead, it produced questions. I think that this production of questions is what put me to work with my insistent style of the time and led me to the bibliography. Between two cartel meetings, I would set to work to find an answer that raised even more questions.

Despite the fact that when I joined the cartel I was looking for ready-made answers from the one I had put in a position of knowledge, his refusal to embody the position of the master did not produce a disappointment, but inspired me to search. And in the aftermath, I would say that it had an effect of relief. Looking for the answer created a space of freedom where I could produce something different from academic knowledge. And it was a process of production, which is very different from seminars and courses that only required a rather passive listening.

Years later, when I was soliciated to embody this place of the plus-one, I still had questions on my own, but there was one more step to take. Or perhaps several. Firstly, I was careful not to embody the position of the subject-supposed-to-know that the members of the cartel often confer to the plus-one that they choose. This was not always obvious, easy, or automatic. Then, it was very important for me to support the style of each cartelist, to respect the rhythm of each one, his particularity and the point where he is. And of course, to mobilise knowledge each time in a new way. No know-how here.

But the most important thing for me was to generate a transference to the School. I have always insisted on inscribing the cartel in the School and encouraging the members to produce something for the School. If I am not mistaken, this is the first time that the NLS has organised an event around cartels. Of course, each NLS society or group organises its own cartel day. And we have to take into account the particularity of the NLS which is spread all over the world, with different languages and time zones. But this initiative, even if it is without the presence of bodies, is a reminder of the strategic importance of the cartel and its central and irreducible place in a School. A School of Lacanian psychoanalysis cannot do without this unprecedented tool.

 


[1] Lacan Jacques, « D’écolage », Aux confins du séminaire, Paris, Navarin, 2021, p.56

[2] Jacques-Alain Miller, « Le cartel dans le monde », disponible au site de l’ECF

[3] Jacques-Alain Miller, « Le cartel dans le monde », disponible au site de l’ECF

[4] Jacques-Alain Miller, « La passe à l’entrée », Comment finissent les analyses, paradoxes de la passe, Paris, Navarin, 2022, p.159

[5] Lacan Jacques, « Acte de fondation », Autres écrits, Paris, Seuil, 2001, p.229

[6] Jacques-Alain Miller, « Cinq variations sur le thème de « l’élaboration provoquée » » , disponible au site de l’ECF

[7] Jacques-Alain Miller, « Cinq variations sur le thème de « l’élaboration provoquée » » , disponible au site de l’ECF