âSociety is a reality sui generis; it has its own characteristics that are either not found in the rest of the universe or are not found there in the same form."
"Society is a sui generis being with its own special nature, distinct from that of its members, and a personality of its own different from individual personalities."
-- Emile Durkheim
"Society is a concept of the Third Estate."
-- Adorno
( ⢠required / + recommended readings)
Required background reading:
⢠Chris Cutrone, "Back to Herbert Spencer! Industrial vs. militant society" (2016) [audio]
Recommended supplemental parallel reading:
+ Adorno, "Static and Dynamic as Sociological Categories" (1961)
+ Adorno, Introduction to Sociology 1962 lectures
+ Adorno, Philosophical Elements of a Theory of Society 1964 lectures
+ Adorno, Philosophy and Sociology 1960 lectures
Preliminary readings:
⢠Adorno, âSocietyâ (1965)
⢠Benjamin Constant, "The liberty of the ancients compared with that of the moderns" (1819)
Charts of terms:
+ Capital in history timeline and chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Reification chart of terms
Week 1: June 4, 2022
⢠Adorno, âSocietyâ (1965)
+ Chris Cutrone, "Gillian Rose's 'Hegelian' critique of Marxism" (2010)
⢠Gillian Rose, Hegel Contra Sociology (1981/95) selections: Preface for 1995 reprint, 1. The Antinomies of Sociological Reason, 7. With What Must the Science End?
Week 2: June 11, 2022
⢠epigraphs on modern history and freedom by Louis Menand (on Marx and Engels), Karl Marx, on "becoming" (from the Grundrisse, 1857â58)
⢠Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905) selections: Author's Introduction, Part I Chapters 1-3, Part II (+ Chapter 4,) Chapter 5
Week 3: June 18, 2022
⢠Auguste Comte, Introduction to Positive Philosophy (1830-42) I. The nature and importance of the positive philosophy; The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte vol. III Bk. VI. Social Physics pp. 1-11, 199-216, 277-344 [PDF Positive Philosophy of Comte selections]; A General View of Positivism Ch. II. The Social Aspect of Positivism pp. 63-78, Ch. VI. The Religion of Humanity pp. 340-426 [PDF General View of Positivism selections]
+ Chris Cutrone, "Ends of philosophy" (2018)
Week 4: June 25, 2022
+ Chris Cutrone, "Back to Herbert Spencer! Industrial vs. militant society" (2016) [audio]
⢠Herbert Spencer, Principles of Sociology Vol. I Part I The Data of Sociology Ch. I-IV pp. 3-40 [PDF] and Part II The Inductions of Sociology Ch. I-II pp. 447-462 [PDF]; On Social Evolution (Univ. Chicago selections): IV 15â16 Societal Typologies, Militancy and Industrialism and V 18â19 Ceremonial and Political Institutions; The Man Versus the State VI The Great Political Superstition [PDF selection]
Week 5: July 2, 2022
⢠Emile Durkheim, Chapter 3. "The principles of 1789 and sociology" (1890); Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912) Introduction, selections V Social Creativity Ch. 11-12, in On Morality and Society
Week 6: July 9, 2022
⢠Durkheim, Chapter 10. "The dualism of human nature and its social conditions" (1914), Ch. 4. "Individualism and the intellectuals" (1898); The Division of Labor in Society (1893) Author's Preface to the 1st Edition and Introduction (pp. xxv-xxx and 1-10), selection IV The Evolution of Morality Ch. 6, in On Morality and Society
Week 7: July 16, 2022
⢠Durkheim, The Division of Labor in Society (1893) selections IV. The Evolution of Morality Chapters 7-9, in On Morality and Society; Author's Preface to the 2nd Edition (pp. xxxi-lix)
Week 8: July 23, 2022
⢠Frankfurt School, Aspects of Sociology (1956) selections: Preface by Horkheimer and Adorno, Chapters I-VI, XII
⢠Adorno, âSocietyâ (1965)
+ Adorno, "Static and Dynamic as Sociological Categories" (1961)
II. Introduction to revolutionary Marxism
Every Saturday at 11am
Caffe Nero (Unit 1A, 100-110 High Holborn)
Everyone welcome
Facebook pages: Platypus UCL | Platypus LSE | London Platypus
⢠required / + recommended reading
Marx and Engels readings pp. from Robert C. Tucker, ed., Marx-Engels Reader (Norton 2nd ed., 1978)
Recommended winter break preliminary readings:
+ Leszek Kolakowski, âThe concept of the Leftâ (1968)
+ Richard Appignanesi and Oscar Zarate / A&Z, Introducing Lenin and the Russian Revolution / Lenin for Beginners (1977)
+ Sebastian Haffner, Failure of a Revolution: Germany 1918â19 (1968)
+ Tariq Ali and Phil Evans, Introducing Trotsky and Marxism / Trotsky for Beginners (1980)
+ James Joll, The Second International 1889â1914 (1966)
+ Carl Schorske, The SPD 1905-17: The Development of the Great Schism (1955)
+ J.P. Nettl, Rosa Luxemburg (1966) [Vol. 1] [Vol. 2]
+ Edmund Wilson, To the Finland Station: A Study in the Writing and Acting of History (1940), Part II. Ch. (1â4,) 5â10, 12â16; Part III. Ch. 1â6
WinterâSpring 2022
Week 10. What is Marxism? VII. Ends of philosophy | Jan. 15, 2022
⢠Korsch, âMarxism and philosophyâ (1923)
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Herbert Marcuse, "Note on dialectic" (1960)
+ Marx, To make the world philosophical (from Marx's dissertation, 1839â41), pp. 9â11
+ Marx, For the ruthless criticism of everything existing (letter to Arnold Ruge, September 1843), pp. 12â15
+ Marx, "Theses on Feuerbach" (1845), pp. 143â145
II. Introduction to revolutionary Marxism
Week 11. Revolutionary leadership | Jan. 22, 2022
⢠Rosa Luxemburg, âThe Crisis of German Social Democracyâ Part 1 (1915)
⢠J. P. Nettl, âThe German Social Democratic Party 1890â1914 as a Political Modelâ (1965)
⢠Cliff Slaughter, âWhat is Revolutionary Leadership?â (1960)
Week 12. Reform or revolution? | Jan. 29, 2022
⢠Luxemburg, Reform or Revolution? (1900/08)
+ Eugene Debs, "Competition versus Cooperation" (1900)
Week 13. Lenin and the vanguard party | Feb. 5, 2022
⢠Spartacist League, Lenin and the Vanguard Party (1978)
+ Richard Appignanesi and Oscar Zarate / A&Z, Introducing Lenin and the Russian Revolution / Lenin for Beginners (1977)
Week 14. What is to be done? | Feb. 12, 2022
⢠V. I. Lenin, What is to be Done? (1902)
+ Richard Appignanesi and Oscar Zarate / A&Z, Introducing Lenin and the Russian Revolution / Lenin for Beginners (1977)
Week 15. Mass strike and social democracy | Feb. 19, 2022
⢠Luxemburg, The Mass Strike, the Political Party and the Trade Unions (1906)
+ Luxemburg, "Blanquism and Social Democracy" (1906)
Week 16. Feb. 26, 2022 (reading week break)
Week 17. Permanent revolution | Mar. 5, 2022
⢠Leon Trotsky, Results and Prospects (1906)
+ Tariq Ali and Phil Evans, Introducing Trotsky and Marxism / Trotsky for Beginners (1980)
Week 18. State and revolution | Mar. 12, 2022
⢠Lenin, The State and Revolution (1917)
Week 19. Imperialism | Mar. 19, 2022
âThe bourgeoisie makes it its business to promote trusts, drive women and children into the factories, subject them to corruption and suffering, condemn them to extreme poverty. We do not âdemandâ such development, we do not âsupportâ it. We fight it. But how do we fight? We explain that trusts and the employment of women in industry are progressive. We do not want a return to the handicraft system, pre-monopoly capitalism, domestic drudgery for women. Forward through the trusts, etc., and beyond them to socialism!â
â Lenin, The Military Programme of the Proletarian Revolution (1916/17)
⢠Lenin, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1916)
+ Lenin, Socialism and War Ch. 1 The principles of socialism and the War of 1914â15 (1915)
Week 20. Failure of the revolution | Mar. 26, 2022
⢠Luxemburg, âWhat does the Spartacus League Want?â (1918)
⢠Luxemburg, âOn the Spartacus Programmeâ (1918)
+ Luxemburg, "German Bolshevism" (AKA "The Socialisation of Society") (1918)
+ Luxemburg, âThe Russian Tragedyâ (1918)
+ Luxemburg, âOrder Reigns in Berlinâ (1919)
+ Eugene Debs, âThe Day of the Peopleâ (1919)
+ Sebastian Haffner, Failure of a Revolution: Germany 1918â19 (1968)
Week 21. Apr. 2, 2022 (Platypus international convention)
Week 22. Retreat after revolution | Apr. 9, 2022
⢠Lenin, âLeft-Wingâ Communism: An Infantile Disorder (1920)
+ Lenin, "Notes of a Publicist" (1922)
Week 23. Dialectic of reification | Apr. 16, 2022
⢠LukĂĄcs, âThe Standpoint of the Proletariatâ (Part III of âReification and the Consciousness of the Proletariat,â 1923). Available in three sections from marxists.org: section 1 section 2 section 3
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms + Organic composition of capital chart of terms
+ Reification chart of terms
+ LukĂĄcs, âThe phenomenon of reificationâ (Part I of âReification and the consciousness of the proletariat,â History and Class Consciousness, 1923)
Week 24. Lessons of October | Apr. 23, 2022
⢠Trotsky, The Lessons of October (1924) [PDF]
⢠Trotsky, "Stalinism and Bolshevism" (1937)
Week 25. Trotskyism | April 30, 2022
+ Trotsky, "To build communist parties and an international anew" (1933)
+ Trotsky, "If America should go communist" (1934)
⢠Trotsky, The Death Agony of Capitalism and the Tasks of the Fourth International (AKA The Transitional Program and the Struggle for Socialism, 1938)
+ Trotsky, "Trade unions in the epoch of imperialist decay" (1940)
+ Trotsky, Letter to James Cannon (September 12, 1939)
Week 26. The authoritarian state | May 7, 2022
⢠Friedrich Pollock, "State Capitalism: Its Possibilities and Limitations" (1941) (note 32 on USSR)
⢠Max Horkheimer, "The Authoritarian State" (1942) [PDF]
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
Week 27. On the concept of history | May 14, 2022
⢠epigraphs by Louis Menand (on Edmund Wilson) and Peter Preuss (on Nietzsche) on the modern concept of history
+ Charles Baudelaire, from FusĂŠes [Rockets] (1867)
+ Bertolt Brecht, "To posterity" (1939)
+ Walter Benjamin, "To the planetarium" (from One-Way Street, 1928)
+ Benjamin, "Fire alarm" (from One-Way Street, 1928)
[JPG] [PDF]
+ Benjamin, "Experience and poverty" (1933)
+ Benjamin, Theologico-political fragment (1921/39?)
+ Benjamin on history chart of terms
⢠Benjamin, "On the Concept of History" (AKA "Theses on the Philosophy of History") (1940) [PDF]
⢠Benjamin, Paralipomena to "On the Concept of History" (1940)
+ Benjamin, Arcades Project Convolute N, "On the theory of knowledge, theory of progress" (see especially p. 471 [N8,1] on Horkheimer on unredeemablility of past suffering)
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
Week 28. Reflections on Marxism | May 21, 2022
+ Capital in history timeline and chart of terms
+ Benjamin on history chart of terms
⢠Theodor Adorno, âReflections on Class Theoryâ (1942)
⢠Adorno, âImaginative Excessesâ (1944â47)
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Adorno, Dedication, "Bequest", "Warning: Not to be Misused" and "Finale", Minima Moralia (1944â47)
+ Horkheimer and Adorno, "Discussion about Theory and Praxis" (AKA "Towards a New Manifesto?") [Deutsch] (1956)
Week 29. Theory and practice | May 28, 2022
+ Adorno, âOn Subject and Objectâ (1969)
+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Reification chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Adorno's critique of actionism chart of terms
⢠Adorno, âMarginalia to Theory and Praxisâ (1969)
⢠Adorno, âResignationâ (1969)
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Adorno, âLate Capitalism or Industrial Society?â (AKA âIs Marx Obsolete?â) (1968)
+ Organic composition of capital chart of terms
+ Esther Leslie, Introduction to the 1969 Adorno-Marcuse correspondence (1999)
+ Adorno and Herbert Marcuse, correspondence on the German New Left (1969)
+ Adorno, Interview with Der Spiegel magazine (1969)
II. Introduction to revolutionary Marxism
⢠required / + recommended reading
Marx and Engels readings pp. from Robert C. Tucker, ed., Marx-Engels Reader (Norton 2nd ed., 1978)
Recommended winter break preliminary readings:
+ Leszek Kolakowski, âThe concept of the Leftâ (1958)
+ Richard Appignanesi and Oscar Zarate / A&Z, Introducing Lenin and the Russian Revolution / Lenin for Beginners (1977)
+ Sebastian Haffner, Failure of a Revolution: Germany 1918â19 (1968)
+ Tariq Ali and Phil Evans, Introducing Trotsky and Marxism / Trotsky for Beginners (1980)
+ James Joll, The Second International 1889â1914 (1966)
+ Carl Schorske, The SPD 1905-17: The Development of the Great Schism (1955)
+ J.P. Nettl, Rosa Luxemburg (1966) [Vol. 1] [Vol. 2]
+ Edmund Wilson, To the Finland Station: A Study in the Writing and Acting of History (1940), Part II. Ch. (1â4,) 5â10, 12â16; Part III. Ch. 1â6
Film screenings: Winter 2022
⢠Fall of Eagles (1974) episodes: ("The Last Tsar,") "Absolute Beginners," ("Dearest Nicky," "The Appointment,") "The Secret War," and "End Game"
⢠37 Days (2014) ([Episode 1] [Episode 2]) [Episode 3]
( ⢠37 Days (2014) [Episode 3] and Fall of Eagles (1974) episode "The Secret War" )
⢠Rosa Luxemburg (1986)
⢠Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States (2012) Prequel Episodes A (1900-20) and B (1920-40)
⢠Reds (1981)
4 screenings, each ~2 hours of film:
1.) Fall of Eagles episodes: #5 "The Last Tsar" and #6 "Absolute Beginners" on the origins of the Bolsheviks
2.) 37 Days Episode #3 "One Long Weekend" (uncut BBC version including the Socialists) on the start of WWI; and Fall of Eagles episode #12 "The Secret War" on WWI and the Russian Revolution
3.) Fall of Eagles episode #13 "End Game" on the German Revolution 1918-19; and Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States Prequel Episode A. 1900-20, on imperialism, WWI and the Russian Revolution
4.) Rosa Luxemburg film
additional recommended screenings:
+ Fall of Eagles episodes #s 7-8 "Dearest Nicky" and "The Appointment" on the Russo-Japanese War and Russian Revolution of 1905 and modernization, the Narodniks and Socialist Revolutionaries
+ Reds film on American anarchists, Socialists and Communists in WWI and the Russian Revolution
+ Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States Prequel Episode B. 1920-40 on counterrevolution, fascism, the Great Depression, Stalinism and Nazism
Winter 2022
I. What is the Left? â What is Marxism?
Week 8. What is Marxism? V. Reification | Jan. 1, 2022
⢠Georg LukĂĄcs, âThe phenomenon of reificationâ (Part I of âReification and the consciousness of the proletariat,â History and Class Consciousness, 1923)
+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Reification chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Organic composition of capital chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
Week 9. What is Marxism? VI. Class consciousness | Jan. 8, 2022
⢠LukĂĄcs, âClass Consciousnessâ (1920), Original Preface (1922), âWhat is Orthodox Marxism?â (1919), History and Class Consciousness (1923)
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Reification chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Herbert Marcuse, "Note on dialectic" (1960)
+ Marx, Preface to the First German Edition and Afterword to the Second German Edition (1873) of Capital (1867), pp. 294â298, 299â302
Week 10. What is Marxism? VII. Ends of philosophy | Jan. 15, 2022
⢠Korsch, âMarxism and philosophyâ (1923)
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Herbert Marcuse, "Note on dialectic" (1960)
+ Marx, To make the world philosophical (from Marx's dissertation, 1839â41), pp. 9â11
+ Marx, For the ruthless criticism of everything existing (letter to Arnold Ruge, September 1843), pp. 12â15
+ Marx, "Theses on Feuerbach" (1845), pp. 143â145
WinterâSpring 2022
II. Introduction to revolutionary Marxism
Week 11. Revolutionary leadership | Jan. 22, 2022
⢠Rosa Luxemburg, âThe Crisis of German Social Democracyâ Part 1 (1915) [HTML]
⢠J. P. Nettl, âThe German Social Democratic Party 1890â1914 as a Political Modelâ (1965)
⢠Cliff Slaughter, âWhat is Revolutionary Leadership?â (1960)
Week 12. Reform or revolution? | Jan. 29, 2022
⢠Luxemburg, Reform or Revolution? (1900/08)
+ Eugene Debs, "Competition versus Cooperation" (1900)
Week 13. Lenin and the vanguard party | Feb. 5, 2022
⢠Spartacist League, Lenin and the Vanguard Party (1978)
+ Richard Appignanesi and Oscar Zarate / A&Z, Introducing Lenin and the Russian Revolution / Lenin for Beginners (1977)
Week 14. What is to be done? | Feb. 12, 2022
⢠V. I. Lenin, What is to be Done? (1902)
+ Richard Appignanesi and Oscar Zarate / A&Z, Introducing Lenin and the Russian Revolution / Lenin for Beginners (1977)
Week 15. Mass strike and social democracy | Feb. 19, 2022
⢠Luxemburg, The Mass Strike, the Political Party and the Trade Unions (1906)
+ Luxemburg, "Blanquism and Social Democracy" (1906)
Week 16. Permanent revolution | Feb. 26, 2022
⢠Leon Trotsky, Results and Prospects (1906)
+ Tariq Ali and Phil Evans, Introducing Trotsky and Marxism / Trotsky for Beginners (1980)
Week 17. State and revolution | Mar. 5, 2022
⢠Lenin, The State and Revolution (1917)
Week 18. Imperialism | Mar. 12, 2022
âThe bourgeoisie makes it its business to promote trusts, drive women and children into the factories, subject them to corruption and suffering, condemn them to extreme poverty. We do not âdemandâ such development, we do not âsupportâ it. We fight it. But how do we fight? We explain that trusts and the employment of women in industry are progressive. We do not want a return to the handicraft system, pre-monopoly capitalism, domestic drudgery for women. Forward through the trusts, etc., and beyond them to socialism!â
â Lenin, The Military Programme of the Proletarian Revolution (1916/17)
⢠Lenin, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1916)
+ Lenin, Socialism and War Ch. 1 The principles of socialism and the War of 1914â15 (1915)
Week 19. Mar. 19, 2022 (spring break)
Week 20. Failure of the revolution | Mar. 26, 2022
⢠Luxemburg, âWhat does the Spartacus League Want?â (1918)
⢠Luxemburg, âOn the Spartacus Programmeâ (1918)
+ Luxemburg, "German Bolshevism" (AKA "The Socialisation of Society") (1918)
+ Luxemburg, âThe Russian Tragedyâ (1918)
+ Luxemburg, âOrder Reigns in Berlinâ (1919)
+ Eugene Debs, âThe Day of the Peopleâ (1919)
+ Sebastian Haffner, Failure of a Revolution: Germany 1918â19 (1968)
Week 21. Apr. 2, 2022 [Platypus international convention]
Week 22. Retreat after revolution | Apr. 9, 2022
⢠Lenin, âLeft-Wingâ Communism: An Infantile Disorder (1920)
+ Lenin, "Notes of a Publicist" (1922)
Week 23. Dialectic of reification | Apr. 16, 2022
⢠LukĂĄcs, âThe Standpoint of the Proletariatâ (Part III of âReification and the Consciousness of the Proletariat,â 1923). Available in three sections from marxists.org: section 1 section 2 section 3
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms + Organic composition of capital chart of terms
+ Reification chart of terms
+ LukĂĄcs, âThe phenomenon of reificationâ (Part I of âReification and the consciousness of the proletariat,â History and Class Consciousness, 1923)
Week 24. Lessons of October | Apr. 23, 2022
⢠Trotsky, The Lessons of October (1924) [PDF]
⢠Trotsky, "Stalinism and Bolshevism" (1937)
Week 25. Trotskyism | April 30, 2022
+ Trotsky, "To build communist parties and an international anew" (1933)
+ Trotsky, "If America should go communist" (1934)
⢠Trotsky, The Death Agony of Capitalism and the Tasks of the Fourth International (AKA The Transitional Program and the Struggle for Socialism, 1938)
+ Trotsky, "Trade unions in the epoch of imperialist decay" (1940)
+ Trotsky, Letter to James Cannon (September 12, 1939)
Week 26. The authoritarian state | May 7, 2022
⢠Friedrich Pollock, "State Capitalism: Its Possibilities and Limitations" (1941) (note 32 on USSR)
⢠Max Horkheimer, "The Authoritarian State" (1942) [PDF]
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
Week 27. On the concept of history | May 14, 2022
⢠epigraphs by Louis Menand (on Edmund Wilson) and Peter Preuss (on Nietzsche) on the modern concept of history
+ Charles Baudelaire, from FusĂŠes [Rockets] (1867)
+ Bertolt Brecht, "To posterity" (1939)
+ Walter Benjamin, "To the planetarium" (from One-Way Street, 1928)
+ Benjamin, "Fire alarm" (from One-Way Street, 1928)
[JPG] [PDF]
+ Benjamin, "Experience and poverty" (1933)
+ Benjamin, Theologico-political fragment (1921/39?)
+ epigraphs by Hegel and W.E.B. DuBois on history
+ Benjamin on history chart of terms
⢠Benjamin, "On the Concept of History" (AKA "Theses on the Philosophy of History") (1940) [PDF]
⢠Benjamin, Paralipomena to "On the Concept of History" (1940)
+ Benjamin, Arcades Project Convolute N, "On the theory of knowledge, theory of progress" (see especially p. 471 [N8,1] on Horkheimer on unredeemablility of past suffering)
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
Week 28. Reflections on Marxism | May 21, 2022
+ Capital in history timeline and chart of terms
+ Benjamin on history chart of terms
⢠Theodor Adorno, âReflections on Class Theoryâ (1942)
⢠Adorno, âImaginative Excessesâ (1944â47)
+ Adorno, letter to Benjamin on "The Work of Art..." essay and intellectuals and the proletariat (1936)
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Adorno, Dedication, "Bequest", "Warning: Not to be Misused" and "Finale", Minima Moralia (1944â47)
+ Horkheimer and Adorno, "Discussion about Theory and Praxis" (AKA "Towards a New Manifesto?") [Deutsch] (1956)
Week 29. Theory and practice | May 28, 2022
+ Adorno, âOn Subject and Objectâ (1969)
+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Reification chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Adorno's critique of actionism chart of terms
⢠Adorno, âMarginalia to Theory and Praxisâ (1969)
⢠Adorno, âResignationâ (1969)
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Adorno, âLate Capitalism or Industrial Society?â (AKA âIs Marx Obsolete?â) (1968)
+ Organic composition of capital chart of terms
+ Esther Leslie, Introduction to the 1969 Adorno-Marcuse correspondence (1999)
+ Adorno and Herbert Marcuse, correspondence on the German New Left (1969)
+ Adorno, Interview with Der Spiegel magazine (1969)
Summer and Fall/Autumn 2021 â Winter 2022
I. What is the Left? â What is Marxism?
⢠required / + recommended reading
Marx and Engels readings pp. from Robert C. Tucker, ed., Marx-Engels Reader (Norton 2nd ed., 1978)
Week A. Introduction: Capital in history | Jul. 31, 2021
⢠Max Horkheimer, "The little man and the philosophy of freedom" (1926â31)
⢠epigraphs on modern history and freedom by Louis Menand (on Marx and Engels), Karl Marx, on "becoming" (from the Grundrisse, 1857â58), and Peter Preuss (on history)
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) chart of terms
⢠Chris Cutrone, "Capital in history" (2008)
+ Capital in history timeline and chart of terms
+ video of Communist University 2011 London presentation
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
⢠Cutrone, "The Marxist hypothesis" (2010)
⢠Cutrone, âClass consciousness (from a Marxist perspective) todayâ (2012)
+ G.M. Tamas, "Telling the truth about class" [HTML] (2007)
+ Robert Pippin, "On Critical Theory" (2004)
+ Rainer Maria Rilke, "Archaic Torso of Apollo" (1908)
Week B. 1960s New Left I. Neo-Marxism | Aug. 7, 2021
⢠Martin Nicolaus, âThe unknown Marxâ (1968)
+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Organic composition of capital chart of terms
+ Marx on surplus-value chart of terms
⢠Theodor W. Adorno, âLate Capitalism or Industrial Society?â (AKA âIs Marx Obsolete?â) (1968)
⢠Moishe Postone, âNecessity, labor, and timeâ (1978)
+ Postone, âInterview: Marx after Marxismâ (2008)
+ Postone, âHistory and helplessness: Mass mobilization and contemporary forms of anticapitalismâ (2006)
+ Postone, âTheorizing the contemporary world: Brenner, Arrighi, Harveyâ (2006)
Week C. 1960s New Left II: Gender and sexuality | Aug. 14, 2021
The situation of women is different from that of any other social group. This is because they are not one of a number of isolable units, but half a totality: the human species. Women are essential and irreplaceable; they cannot therefore be exploited in the same way as other social groups can. They are fundamental to the human condition, yet in their economic, social and political roles, they are marginal. It is precisely this combination â fundamental and marginal at one and the same time â that has been fatal to them.
â Juliet Mitchell, "Women: The longest revolution" (1966)
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
⢠Juliet Mitchell, âWomen: The longest revolutionâ (1966)
⢠Clara Zetkin and Vladimir Lenin, âAn interview on the woman questionâ (1920)
⢠Theodor W. Adorno, âSexual taboos and the law todayâ (1963)
+ Freud categories chart of terms [PNG]
⢠John DâEmilio, âCapitalism and gay identityâ (1983)
Week D. 1960s New Left III. Anti-black racism in the U.S. | Aug. 21, 2021
As a social party we receive the Negro and all other races upon absolutely equal terms. We are the party of the working class, the whole working class, and we will not suffer ourselves to be divided by any specious appeal to race prejudice; and if we should be coaxed or driven from the straight road we will be lost in the wilderness and ought to perish there, for we shall no longer be a Socialist party.
â Eugene Debs, "The Negro in the class struggle" (1903)
+ Eugene Debs, "The Negro in the class struggle" (1903)
+ Debs, "The Negro and his nemesis" (1904)
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
⢠Richard Fraser, âTwo lectures on the black question in America and revolutionary integrationismâ (1953)
+ Fraser, "For the materialist conception of the Negro struggle" (1955)
⢠James Robertson and Shirley Stoute, âFor black Trotskyismâ (1963)
+ Spartacist League, âBlack and red: Class struggle road to Negro freedomâ (1966)
+ Bayard Rustin, âThe failure of black separatismâ (1970)
⢠Adolph Reed, âBlack particularity reconsideredâ (1979)
+ Reed, âPaths to Critical Theoryâ (1984)
Week E. Frankfurt School precursors | Aug. 28, 2021
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
⢠Wilhelm Reich, âIdeology as material powerâ (1933/46)
+ Freud categories chart of terms [PNG]
⢠Siegfried Kracauer, âThe mass ornamentâ (1927)
+ Kracauer, âPhotographyâ (1927)
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
Week F. Radical bourgeois philosophy I. Rousseau: Crossroads of society | Sep. 4, 2021
To be radical is to go to the root of the matter. For man, however, the root is man himself.
â Marx, Critique of Hegelâs Philosophy of Right (1843)Whoever dares undertake to establish a peopleâs institutions must feel himself capable of changing, as it were, human nature, of transforming each individual, who by himself is a complete and solitary whole, into a part of a larger whole, from which, in a sense, the individual receives his life and his being, of substituting a limited and mental existence for the physical and independent existence. He has to take from man his own powers, and give him in exchange alien powers which he cannot employ without the help of other men.
â Jean-Jacques Rousseau, On the Social Contract (1762)
⢠Max Horkheimer, "The little man and the philosophy of freedom" (1926â31)
⢠epigraphs on modern history and freedom by James Miller (on Jean-Jacques Rousseau), Louis Menand (on Marx and Engels), Karl Marx, on "becoming" (from the Grundrisse, 1857â58), and Peter Preuss (on history)
+ Rainer Maria Rilke, "Archaic Torso of Apollo" (1908)
+ Robert Pippin, "On Critical Theory" (2004)
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) chart of terms
⢠Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1754) PDFs of preferred translation (5 parts): [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
+ Capital in history timeline and chart of terms
⢠Rousseau, selection from On the Social Contract (1762) [on freedom and alienation]
Week G. Radical bourgeois philosophy II. Adam Smith: On the wealth of nations (part 1) | Sep. 11, 2021
⢠Adam Smith, selections from The Wealth of Nations
Volume I [PDF]
Introduction and Plan of the Work
Book I: Of the Causes of ImprovementâŚ
I.1. Of the Division of Labor
I.2. Of the Principle which gives Occasion to the Division of Labour
I.3. That the Division of Labour is Limited by the Extent of the Market
I.4. Of the Origin and Use of Money
I.5 Of the Real and Nominal Price of Commodities
I.6. Of the Component Parts of the Price of Commodities
I.7. Of the Natural and Market Price of Commodities
I.8. Of the Wages of Labour
I.9. Of the Profits of Stock
Book III: Of the different Progress of Opulence in different Nations
III.1. Of the Natural Progress of Opulence
III.2. Of the Discouragement of Agriculture in the Ancient State of Europe after the Fall of the Roman Empire
III.3. Of the Rise and Progress of Cities and Towns, after the Fall of the Roman Empire
III.4. How the Commerce of the Towns Contributed to the Improvement of the Country
Week H. Radical bourgeois philosophy III. Adam Smith: On the wealth of nations (part 2) | Sep. 18, 2021
⢠Smith, selections from The Wealth of Nations
Volume II [PDF]
IV.7, Of Colonies
V.1. Of the Expences of the Sovereign or Commonwealth Article 2d and 3d and Part IV
Week I. Radical bourgeois philosophy IV. What is the Third Estate? | Sep. 25, 2021
⢠AbbÊ Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, What is the Third Estate? (1789) [full text]
+ Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees (1732)
Week J. Radical bourgeois philosophy V. Kant and Constant: Bourgeois society | Oct. 2, 2021
⢠Immanuel Kant, "Idea for a universal history from a cosmopolitan point of view" and "What is Enlightenment?" (1784)
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) chart of terms
+ Kant's 3 Critiques [PNG] and philosophy [PNG] charts of terms
⢠Benjamin Constant, "The liberty of the ancients compared with that of the moderns" (1819)
+ Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the origin of inequality (1754)
+ Rousseau, selection from On the social contract (1762)
Week K. Radical bourgeois philosophy VI. Hegel: Freedom in history | Oct. 9, 2021
"When we look at this drama of human passions, and observe the consequences of their violence and of the unreason that is linked not only to them but also (and especially) to good intentions and rightful aims; when we see arising from them all the evil, the wickedness, the decline of the most flourishing nations mankind has produced, we can only be filled with grief for all that has come to nothing. And since this decline and fall is not merely the work of nature but of the will of men, we might well end with moral outrage over such a drama, and with a revolt of our good spirit (if there is a spirit of goodness in us). Without rhetorical exaggeration, we could paint the most fearful picture of the misfortunes suffered by the noblest of nations and states as well as by private virtues â and with that picture we could arouse feelings of the deepest and most helpless sadness, not to be outweighed by any consoling outcome. We can strengthen ourselves against this, or escape it, only by thinking that, well, so it was at one time; it is fate; there is nothing to be done about it now. And finally â in order to cast off the tediousness that this reflection of sadness could produce in us and to return to involvement in our own life, to the present of our own aims and interests â we return to the selfishness of standing on a quiet shore where we can be secure in enjoying the distant sight of confusion and wreckage⌠But as we contemplate history as this slaughter-bench, upon which the happiness of nations, the wisdom of states, and the virtues of individuals were sacrificed, the question necessarily comes to mind: What was the ultimate goal for which these monstrous sacrifices were made?⌠World history is the progress in the consciousness of freedom â a progress that we must come to know in its necessity⌠The Orientals knew only that one person is free; the Greeks and Romans that some are free; while we [moderns] know that all humans are implicitly free, qua human⌠The final goal of the world, we said, is Spiritâs consciousness of its freedom, and hence also the actualization of that very freedom⌠It is this final goal â freedom â toward which all the worldâs history has been working. It is this goal to which all the sacrifices have been brought upon the broad altar of the earth in the long flow of time."
â Hegel, Introduction to the Philosophy of History
⢠G.W.F. Hegel, Introduction to the Philosophy of History (1831) [HTML] [PDF pp. 14-128] [Audiobook]
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) chart of terms
Week 1. What is the Left? I. Capital in history | Oct. 16, 2021
⢠Max Horkheimer, "The little man and the philosophy of freedom" (1926â31)
⢠epigraphs on modern history and freedom by Louis Menand (on Marx and Engels), Karl Marx, on "becoming" (from the Grundrisse, 1857â58), and Peter Preuss (on history)
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) chart of terms
⢠Chris Cutrone, "Capital in history" (2008)
+ Capital in history timeline and chart of terms
+ video of Communist University 2011 London presentation
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
⢠Cutrone, "The Marxist hypothesis" (2010)
⢠Cutrone, âClass consciousness (from a Marxist perspective) todayâ (2012)
+ G.M. Tamas, "Telling the truth about class" [HTML] (2007)
+ Robert Pippin, "On Critical Theory" (2004)
+ Rainer Maria Rilke, "Archaic Torso of Apollo" (1908)
Week 2. What is the Left? II. Utopia and critique | Oct. 23, 2021
⢠Max Horkheimer, selections from Dämmerung (1926â31)
⢠Adorno, âImaginative Excessesâ (1944â47)
⢠Leszek Kolakowski, âThe concept of the Leftâ (1958)
⢠Herbert Marcuse, "Note on dialectic" (1960)
⢠Marx, To make the world philosophical (from Marx's dissertation, 1839â41), pp. 9â11
⢠Marx, For the ruthless criticism of everything existing (letter to Arnold Ruge, September 1843), pp. 12â15
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
Week 3. What is Marxism? I. Socialism | Oct. 30, 2021
⢠Marx, selections from Economic and philosophic manuscripts (1844), pp. 70â101
+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
⢠Marx and Friedrich Engels, selections from the Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848), pp. 469â500
⢠Marx, The coming upheaval (from The Poverty of Philosophy, 1847), pp. 218â19
Week 4. What is Marxism? II. Revolution in 1848 | Nov. 6, 2021
⢠Marx, Address to the Central Committee of the Communist League (1850), pp. 501â511 and Class struggle and mode of production (letter to Weydemeyer, 1852), pp. 218â220
⢠Engels, The tactics of social democracy (Engels's 1895 introduction to Marx, The Class Struggles in France), pp. 556â573
⢠Marx, selections from The Class Struggles in France 1848â50 (1850), pp. 586â593
⢠Marx, selections from The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (1852), pp. 594â617
Week 5. What is Marxism? III. Bonapartism | Nov. 13, 2021
+ Karl Korsch, "The Marxism of the First International" (1924)
⢠Marx, Inaugural address to the First International (1864), pp. 512â519
⢠Marx, selections from The Civil War in France (1871, including Engels's 1891 Introduction), pp. 618â652
+ Korsch, Introduction to Marx, Critique of the Gotha Programme (1922)
⢠Marx, Critique of the Gotha Programme, pp. 525â541
⢠Marx, Programme of the Parti Ouvrier (1880)
Week 6. What is Marxism? IV. Critique of political economy | Nov. 20, 2021
The fetish character of the commodity is not a fact of consciousness; rather it is dialectical, in the eminent sense that it produces consciousness. . . . [P]erfection of the commodity character in a Hegelian self-consciousness inaugurates the explosion of its phantasmagoria.
â Theodor W. Adorno, letter to Walter Benjamin, August 2, 1935
+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Organic composition of capital chart of terms
+ Marx on surplus-value chart of terms
⢠Marx, selections from the Grundrisse (1857â61), pp. 222â226, 236â244, 247â250, 276â293 ME Reader pp. 276â281
⢠Marx, Capital Vol. I, Ch. 1 Sec. 4 "The fetishism of commodities" (1867), pp. 319â329
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
Winter break readings
+ Richard Appignanesi and Oscar Zarate / A&Z, Introducing Lenin and the Russian Revolution / Lenin for Beginners (1977)
+ Sebastian Haffner, Failure of a Revolution: Germany 1918â19 (1968)
+ Tariq Ali and Phil Evans, Introducing Trotsky and Marxism / Trotsky for Beginners (1980)
+ James Joll, The Second International 1889â1914 (1966)
+ Carl Schorske, The SPD 1905-17: The Development of the Great Schism (1955)
+ J.P. Nettl, Rosa Luxemburg (1966) [Vol. 1] [Vol. 2]
+ Edmund Wilson, To the Finland Station: A Study in the Writing and Acting of History (1940), Part II. Ch. (1â4,) 5â10, 12â16; Part III. Ch. 1â6
Week 8. Nov. 27, 2021 U.S. Thanksgiving break
Week 7. What is Marxism? V. Reification | Dec. 4, 2021 / Jan. 1, 2022
⢠Georg LukĂĄcs, âThe phenomenon of reificationâ (Part I of âReification and the consciousness of the proletariat,â History and Class Consciousness, 1923)
+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Reification chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Organic composition of capital chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
Week 9. What is Marxism? VI. Class consciousness | Dec. 11, 2021 / Jan. 8, 2022
⢠LukĂĄcs, âClass Consciousnessâ (1920), Original Preface (1922), âWhat is Orthodox Marxism?â (1919), History and Class Consciousness (1923)
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Reification chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Herbert Marcuse, "Note on dialectic" (1960)
+ Marx, Preface to the First German Edition and Afterword to the Second German Edition (1873) of Capital (1867), pp. 294â298, 299â302
Week 10. What is Marxism? VII. Ends of philosophy | Dec. 18, 2021 / Jan. 15, 2022
⢠Korsch, âMarxism and philosophyâ (1923)
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Herbert Marcuse, "Note on dialectic" (1960)
+ Marx, To make the world philosophical (from Marx's dissertation, 1839â41), pp. 9â11
+ Marx, For the ruthless criticism of everything existing (letter to Arnold Ruge, September 1843), pp. 12â15
+ Marx, "Theses on Feuerbach" (1845), pp. 143â145
WinterâSpring 2022
II. Introduction to revolutionary Marxism
Mondays at 6:30pm BST via Zoom (recurring link here:Â
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86210746511). Everyone welcome.
( ⢠required / + recommended readings)
Required background reading:
⢠Six readings by Chris Cutrone, "Revolution without Marx? Rousseau, Kant and Hegel" (2013); Review of Andrew Feenberg, The Philosophy of Praxis (2015); "Why still read Lukacs? The place of 'philosophical' questions in Marxism" (2014); "Ends of philosophy" (2018); "On philosophy and Marxism" (2020); and âThe negative dialectic of Marxismâ (2021)
Recommended supplemental reading:
+ Adorno, Lectures on Negative Dialectics
+ Adorno, History and Freedom
+ Adorno, Introduction to Dialectics
+ Adorno, Ontology and Dialectics
+ Adorno, Metaphysics: Concepts and Problems
Primary sources:
⢠Theodor Adorno, Negative Dialectics (1966, trans. E.B. Ashton, 1973)
+ Alternate translation by Dennis Redmond (2001/2021) [2021 updated PDF]
Charts of terms:
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Kant's 3 Critiques [PNG] and philosophy [PNG] chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Reification chart of terms
+ Adorno's critique of actionism chart of terms
Week 1: June 7, 2021
⢠Gillian Rose, Review of Adorno's Negative Dialectics (1976)
⢠Theodor W. Adorno, "Why still philosophy?"
⢠Chris Cutrone, "Ends of philosophy" (2018); "On philosophy and Marxism" (2020); and âThe negative dialectic of Marxismâ (2021)
Week 2: June 14, 2021
⢠Adorno, Negative Dialectics, Prologue (Preface and Introduction)
Week 3: June 21, 2021
⢠Adorno, Negative Dialectics, Part One: Relation to Ontology: I. The Ontological Need
Week 4: June 28, 2021
⢠Adorno, Negative Dialectics, Part One: Relation to Ontology: II. Being and Existence
Week 5: July 5, 2021
⢠Adorno, Negative Dialectics, Part Two: Negative Dialectics: Concepts and Categories
Week 6: July 12, 2021
⢠Adorno, Negative Dialectics, Part Three: Models: I. Freedom
Week 7: July 19, 2021
⢠Adorno, Negative Dialectics, Part Three: Models: II. World Spirit and Natural History
Week 8: July 26, 2021
⢠Adorno, Negative Dialectics, Part Three: Models: III. Meditations on Metaphysics
+ Cutrone, "Ends of philosophy" (2018); "On philosophy and Marxism" (2020); and âThe negative dialectic of Marxismâ (2021)