
Wednesdays, 19:30 - 22:30 PM
Laidak
Boddinstr. 42, Berlin-NeukĂślln
Join at any time / no prior knowledge assumed
⢠required / + recommended reading
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
II. Introduction to revolutionary Marxism
Week 11. Revolutionary leadership | Feb. 1, 2023
⢠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? | Feb. 8, 2023
⢠Luxemburg, Reform or Revolution? (1900/08)
+ Eugene Debs, "Competition versus Cooperation" (1900)
Week 13. Lenin and the vanguard party | Feb. 15, 2023
⢠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. 22, 2023
⢠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 | Mar. 1, 2023
⢠Luxemburg, The Mass Strike, the Political Party and the Trade Unions (1906)
+ Luxemburg, "Blanquism and Social Democracy" (1906)
Week 16. Permanent revolution | Mar. 8, 2023
⢠Leon Trotsky, Results and Prospects (1906)
+ Tariq Ali and Phil Evans, Introducing Trotsky and Marxism / Trotsky for Beginners (1980)
Week 17 | Mar. 15, 2023 (spring break)
Week 18 State and revolution| Mar. 22, 2023
⢠Lenin, The State and Revolution (1917)
Week 19. Imperialism | Mar. 29, 2023
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. Mar. 31 - Apr. 2, 2023 Apr. 1, 2023 [Platypus international convention]
Week 21. Failure of the revolution |tba
⢠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 22. Retreat after revolution | Apr. 19th
⢠Lenin, âLeft-Wingâ Communism: An Infantile Disorder (1920)
+ Lenin, "Notes of a Publicist" (1922)
Week 23. Dialectic of reification | Apr. 26th
⢠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 | May 3rd
⢠Trotsky, The Lessons of October (1924) [PDF]
⢠Trotsky, "Stalinism and Bolshevism" (1937)
Week 25. Trotskyism | May 10th
+ 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 17th
⢠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 24th
⢠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 31st
+ 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 | June 7th
+ 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)
Da Platypus ein Projekt ist, das sich vorwiegend mit der Frage nach Marxismus und der Linken beschäftigt, liegen Fragen nahe: Was ist Psychoanalyse? Weshalb sollte sich die Linke fßr sie interessieren? Was ist ihr geschichtlicher Zusammenhang?
Nicht erst seit der Wahlschlappe der Partei Die Linke bei der letzten Bundestagswahl ist offensichtlich, dass die Linke im weiteren Sinn marginalisiert und politisch irrelevant ist. Nun widmet sich der deutsch-polnische Schriftsteller Artur Becker der Krise der Linken in seinem kĂźrzlich erschienenen Essay Links: Ende und Anfang einer Utopie. Um die Krise der Linken zu verstehen, fragt Becker in AnknĂźpfung an Leszek KoĹakowskis AusfĂźhrungen zum Sinn des Begriffes âLinkeâ von 1960 danach, was mit dem Begriff âlinksâ Ăźberhaupt gemeint ist.
Im Wintersemester 2022/2023 veranstalten wir in KĂśln Barabende, Teach-Ins und laden zum Short-
Course in Platypus ein. Alle Veranstaltungen richten sich an Interessierte und sind kostenfrei.

Welche Praxis zur Befreiung der Menschheit ist mÜglich, wenn alle eingeschlagenen Wege in der Geschichte des Sozialismus versperrt sind? Kann der Marxismus - der uns noch immer als Hoffnungsschimmer verfolgt - auch nach seinem Scheitern Anhaltspunkte liefern? In welchem Verhältnis steht dabei die Theorie zur Praxis? Ist sie unwichtig und wir mßssen die "Veränderung" nur inständig wollen oder ist Theorie der notwendige Navigator ßber den Horizont unseres Handels?
Diesen Fragen wollen wir uns im Teach-In anhand von Adornos Kritik an der neuen Linken nähern und diskutieren, ob und was seine Erkenntnisse uns heute noch zu sagen haben.
Das Teach-in findet im Rahmen der POWI Orientierungswoche der Universität Bremen statt.
Zeit: 14. Oktober 2022 um 16 Uhr
Ort: Universität Bremen, Raum GW2 3009