Benjamin, does the conspirator return?

Abstract

This article discusses Walter Benjamin’s peculiar concept of the practical political intervention from the perspective of intellectuals. In order to do this, we have chosen two of the figures of modern heroes that Bejamin works with in his reading of Baudelaire, emphasizing the dilemma between the man of action (Blanqui) and the man of sleep (Baudelaire), the inclusion of both in the bohemia and as conspirators. We’ll suggest the hypothesis that there is, in Benjamin’s work, a sort of return to the times of conspiracy, and that conspiracy occurs in loneliness.