Cover not available
Article published In:
Target
Vol. 35:4 (2023) ► pp.573–594

Translator work practices and the construction of the correct interpretation of Marxism in post-war Greece

ORCID logo | University of Westminster
In 1951, the Communist Party of Greece published a Greek translation of the Selected Works of Marx and Engels which included a statement on the work practices followed for its creation. This article considers work practices as processes of validated knowledge production. It investigates how they were enacted to create the ‘correct’ translation of Marxist texts, and advances our understanding of the relationship between social structures, power, and processes of validated knowledge production. It argues that the party’s collaborative, centralised, and professionalised organisational model alongside mechanisms of surveillance and discipline of agents in translation supported its claims of owning the ‘correct’ interpretation of Marxism. The statement on the work practices was intended to influence the publication’s reception: the reader was encouraged to accept the party’s translation as accurate. Adopting a Foucauldian perspective, the investigation draws on party publications and archival material to study translation work practices in novel ways.
Keywords: work practices, translator work practices, translation of Marxism, Marxism in Greece, translation and knowledge production, history of Marxism
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The Selected Works of Marx and Engels
  • 3.Discourse domination
  • 4.Regimes of truth
  • 5.Research in translation work practices
  • 6.Translation method: Correctness and truth
    • 6.1Organisational principles and power relations
    • 6.2Structures and processes
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 16 March 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/target.21143.del
References (34)
References
Anon. 1951a. “Σημείωση του Εκδοτικού της ΚΕ του KKE [Note by the Publishing House of the Central Committee of the KKE].” In Μαρξ Ένγκελς Διαλεχτά Έργα [Marx Engels selected works]. Bucharest: New Greece.Google Scholar
. 1951b. “Εισαγωγή της Ρωσικής Έκδοσης [Introduction to the Russian edition].” In Μαρξ Ένγκελς Διαλεχτά Έργα [Marx Engels selected works], 1–9. Bucharest: New Greece.Google Scholar
Avgerou, Chrisanthi, and Kathy McGrath. 2007. “Power, Rationality, and the Art of Living through Socio-Technical Change.” MIS Quarterly 31 (2): 295–315. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1977. “The Economics of Linguistic Exchanges.” In Social Science Information 16 (6): 645–668. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Buzelin, Hélène. 2007. “Translations ‘in the Making’.” In Constructing a Sociology of Translation, edited by Michaela Wolf and Alexandra Fukari, 135–169. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cronin, Anne. 2004. “Currencies of Commercial Exchange: Advertising Agencies and the Promotional Imperative.” In Journal of Consumer Culture 4 (3): 339–360. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Delistathi, Christina. 2011a. “Translation as a Means of Ideological Struggle.” In Translation and Opposition, edited by Dimitris Asimakoulas and Margaret Rogers, 204–222. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
. 2011b. Translation and Ideological Struggle – A Case Study of the Translations of the Communist Manifesto into Greek, 1919–1951. PhD diss. Middlesex University.
. 2017. “‘He Stole Our Translation’: Translation Reviews and the Construction of Marxist Discourse.” In Translation in Times of Technocapitalism, edited by Stefan Baumgarten and Jordi Cornellà-Detrell, special issue of Target 29 (2): 201–221. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1994. “Truth and Power.” In Power: The Essential Works of Foucault 1954–1984, volume 3, edited by James D. Faubion, 111–133. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Fournier, Valérie. 1999. “The Appeal to ‘Professionalism’ as a Disciplinary Mechanism.” The Sociological Review 47 (2): 280–307. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Georgiou, Vassos. 1992. Η Ζωή μου [My life]. Athens: n.p.Google Scholar
Gore, Jennifer. 1993. The Struggle For Pedagogies: Critical and Feminist Discourse and Regimes of Truth. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hermans, Theo. 2007. The Conference of the Tongues. Manchester: St Jerome.Google Scholar
Inghilleri, Moira. 2005. “The Sociology of Bourdieu and the Construction of the ‘Object’ in Translation and Interpreting Studies.” The Translator 11 (2): 125–145. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jansen, Hanne, and Anna Wegener. 2013. “Multiple Translatorship.” In Authorial and Editorial Voices in Translation 1: Collaborative Relationships between Authors, Translators, and Performers, edited by Hanne Jansen and Anna Wegener. Montreal: Éditions québécoises.Google Scholar
KKE. 1995. “Απόφαση Πάνω στο 2ο Θέμα [Decision on the second topic].” In KKE Επίσημα Κείμενα τόμος 7, 1949–1955 [ΚΚΕ official documents volume 7, 1949–1955], 78–86. Athens: Modern Era.Google Scholar
Koskinen, Kaisa. 2008. Translating Institutions: An Ethnographic Study of EU Translation. Manchester: St Jerome.Google Scholar
Leonardi, Paul M. 2015. “Studying Work Practices in Organizations: Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Guidelines.” Annals of the International Communication Association 39 (1): 235–273. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lorenzini, Daniele. 2015. “What is a ‘Regime of Truth’?” Le foucaldien 1 (1): 1–5. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2016. “Foucault, Regimes of Truth, and the Making of the Subject.” In Foucault and the Making of Subjects, edited by Laura Cremonesi, Orazio Irrera, Daniele Lorenzini, and Martina Tazzioli, 63–75. London: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Mattheou, Anna, and Popi Polemi. 2003. Η Εκδοτική Περιπέτεια των Ελλήνων Κομμουνιστών – Από το βουνό στην Υπερορία, 1947–1968 [The publishing adventure of Greek communists, 1947–1968]. Athens: Vivliorama.Google Scholar
Mossop, Brian. 2006. “From Culture to Business: Federal Government Translation in Canada.” The Translator 12 (1): 1–27. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nicholls, David. 2012. “Foucault and Physiotherapy.” Physiotherapy Theory and Practice 28 (6): 447–453. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Norbäck, Lars. 2000. “New Modes of Internal Governance of Higher Education Institutions: The Case of Göteborg University.” Tertiary Education and Management 61: 57–75. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Olohan, Maeve. 2017. “Knowing in Translation Practice: A Practice-Theoretical Perspective.” Translation Spaces 6 (1): 159–180. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2020. Translation and Practice Theory. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rizospastis. 1927. Αι Αποφάσεις του Γ΄ Τακτικού Συνεδρίου του Κόμματος [The decisions of the III Ordinary Party Conference]. [URL] Accessed August 10, 2021.
Rousos, Petros. 1951. “Η Διδασκαλία του σ. Στάλιν και η Ελληνική Γλώσσα, μέρος 6 [The teachings of Comrade Stalin and the Greek language].” Νέος Κόσμος [New world] 91: 48–52.Google Scholar
. 1953. “Η Ελληνική Έκδοση των Απάντων του Στάλιν [The Greek edition of Stalin’s collected works].” Νέος Κόσμος [New world] 121: 78–80.Google Scholar
Simeoni, Daniel. 1998. “The Pivotal Status of the Translator’s Habitus.” Target 10 (1): 1–39. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thomson-Wohlgemuth, Gaby. 2009. Translation under State Control: Books for Young People in the German Democratic Republic. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Tyulenev, Sergey. 2012. Applying Luhmann to Translation Studies: Translation in Society. New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Winter, Karen, and Viviene Cree. 2016. “Social Work Home Visits to Children and Families in the UK: A Foucauldian Perspective.” In British Journal of Social Work 461: 1175–1190. DOI logoGoogle Scholar