Trotsky and Trotskyism: Platypus Summer 2012 Lectures
The Russian Revolution, which Lenin held up as the torch-light of emancipation for the world proletariat, is being run into national socialist channels. . . . âThe Russian proletariat,â said Lenin, âcannot single-handed bring the socialist revolution to a victorious conclusion. But it can give the Russian revolution a mighty impetus such as would create most favorable conditions for a socialist revolution, and would, in a sense, start it. It can help to create more favorable circumstances for its most important, most trustworthy and most reliable collaborator, the European and American proletariat, to join the decisive battlesâ (âFarewell letter to the Swiss workers,â 1917).
â âLenin lives in the work of the Oppositionâ (1931)
Boston, Chicago, London, New York, Philadelphia
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/// Week 1 Lecture /// 1879-1905 /// 6.16.12
/// Week 2 Lecture /// 1905-1917 /// 6.23.12
/// Week 3 Lecture /// 1917-1923 /// 6.30.12
/// Week 4 Lecture /// 1923-1933 /// 7.7.12
/// Week 5 Lecture /// 1933-1940 /// 7.14.12
/// Week 6 Lecture /// 1940-1953 /// 7.21.12
/// Week 7 Lecture /// 1953-1963 /// 7.28.12
Video will be broadcast live and available as recordings at: http://www.livestream.com/platypusaffiliatedsociety
Saturdays 1â4PM CST
School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)
112 S. Michigan Ave. room 920
Saturdays 2â5PM EST
New School University New York (New School)
Eugene Lang Building
65 W. 11th St. ground floor (enter at 66 W. 12th St.) conference room
/// Recommended preliminary readings
x recommended / + supplemental reading
+ Tariq Ali and Phil Evans, Introducing Trotsky and Marxism / Trotsky for Beginners (1980)
+ Nicolas Krasso, "Trotsky's Marxism" (1967)
x Platypus Historians Group, "The dead Left: Trotskyism" (2008)
x Richard Rubin, "The decline of the Left in the 20th century: 1933" (2009)
x Ian Morrison, "Trotsky's Marxism" (2011)
x Mike Macnair, Bryan Palmer, Richard Rubin, and Jason Wright, "The legacy of Trotskyism" (2011)
x Grover Furr, "Learning from the Communist Movement of the 20th century: A response to Richard Rubin" (2012)
+ Spartacist League, Lenin and the Vanguard Party (1978)
+ Richard Appignanesi and Oscar Zarate / A&Z, Introducing Lenin and the Russian Revolution / Lenin for Beginners (1978)
+ Isaac Deutscher, The Prophet: Trotsky biography (three volumes: 1954, 1959, 1963)
/// Week 1 Readings
/// 1879-1905
x Tariq Ali and Phil Evans, Introducing Trotsky and Marxism / Trotsky for Beginners (1980)
x Leon Trotsky, Results and Prospects (1906)
/// Week 2 Readings
/// 1905-1917
+ Trotsky, 1905 (1907)
x Trotsky, The Lessons of October (1924) [PDF]
/// Week 3 Readings
/// 1917â23
x Trotsky, Terrorism and Communism (1920)
x Trotsky, The Lessons of October (1924) [PDF]
+ Trotsky, Literature and Revolution (1924)
+ Bret Schneider, âTrotskyâs theory of artâ (2011)
/// Week 4 Readings
/// 1923â33
+ Trotsky, Where is Britain Going? (1925)
+ Trotsky, Problems of the Chinese Revolution 1927â31 (1932)
+ Trotsky, writings on the rise of Hitler and the destruction of the German Left (1930â40), especially âTo build communist parties and an international anewâ (1933)
/// Week 5 Readings
/// 1933â40
x Trotsky, âStalinism and Bolshevismâ (1937)
x Trotsky, The Death Agony of Capitalism and the Tasks of the Fourth International (1938)
+ Trotsky, âTrade unions in the epoch of imperialist decayâ (1940)
+ Trotsky, The Revolution Betrayed (1936)
+ Trotsky, In Defense of Marxism (1939/40), especially âLetter to James Cannonâ (September 12, 1939)
+ Trotsky, âArt and politics on our epochâ (1938)
+ Mary McCarthy, âMy Confessionâ (1954)
/// Week 6 Readings
/// 1940â53
+ James Cannon, âThe coming American revolutionâ (1946)
+ C.L.R. James, Raya Dunayevskaya, et al., âProgram of the minority tendency of the Workers Party/U.S.â (1946)
+ C.L.R. James, âDialectical materialism and the fate of humanityâ (1947)
+ Herbert Marcuse, â33 Thesesâ (1947)
+ Earl Browder and Max Shachtman with C. Wright Mills, âIs Russia a socialist community?â (1950)
+ Ernest Mandel, âThe theory of âstate capitalismââ (1951)
+ Michel Pablo, âOn the duration and the nature of the period of transition from capitalism to socialismâ (1951)
+ Pablo, âWhere are we going?â (1953)
/// Week 7 Readings
/// 1953â63
+ Cornelius Castoriadis, âThe workers and organizationâ (1959)
x Cliff Slaughter, âWhat is revolutionary leadership?â (1960)
x Revolutionary Tendency of the Socialist Workers Party/U.S., âIn defense of a revolutionary perspectiveâ (1962)
+ Tony Cliff, âThe coming Russian revolutionâ (final chapter of Russia: A Marxist Analysis, 1964)
+ Hal Draper, âThe two souls of socialismâ (1966)
+ Isaac Deutscher, âMarxism in our timeâ (1965)
+ Murray Bookchin, âListen, Marxist!â (1969)
x Spartacist League, âGenesis of Pabloismâ (1972)