A moderated panel discussion hosted by the Platypus Affiliated Society on the interrelation of capital, history and ecology, held at York University on January 15, 2014.
Panelists:
- Jordan Briggs, International Bolshevik Tendency
- Michelle Mawhinney, Political Science, York University
- Raymond Rogers, Environmental Studies, York University
Description:
The Dutch atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen recently characterized the period marked by the start of the industrial revolution in the 18th Century to the present as a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene. This periodization is meant to capture a change in the history of the planet, namely that for the first time in history its course will be determined by the question of what humanity will become.
This event will focus on different interpretations of why the Left has failed to deal with the deepening crisis of the Anthropocene through the 19th and 20th Centuries and how and if this problem is interrelated with the growing problems associated with ecological systems across the earth. While Karl Marx would note that the problem of freedom shifted with the industrial revolution and the emergence of the working class - the crisis of bourgeois society that Marx would term capital - the idea of freedom seemed not to survive the collapse of Marxist politics in the 20th Century. We seem to live in a world in which the fate of ecological systems seem foreclosed, where attempts at eco-modernization seem to emerge many steps behind the rate of ecological degradation. For many, degradation of the environment appears a permanent feature of modern society, something which can only be resisted but never transformed.
This panel will consider the relationship between the history of capital and the Leftâand thus the issue of history and freedom - and how it may be linked to our present inability to render environmental threats and degradation visible and comprehensible, and by extension, subject to its conscious and free overcoming by society.
A Platypus-wide teach-in on the CPGBâs campaign against Lukacs and its stakes for Platypus as a project.
Held on Saturday January 11 1-4PM at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago 112 S. Michigan Ave. room 920 while simultaneously broadcast internationally via Livestream.
James Turley's historical chart of Lukacs's influence on Platypus:
The preparatory readings for this event are as follows and can be found at:
- Mike Macnair, âThe philosophy trapâ 11/21/13
http://www.cpgb.org.uk/
- Chris Cutrone, âDefending Marxist Hegelianism against a Marxist critiqueâ 8/11/11
http://www.cpgb.org.uk/
- Georg Lukacs, Original Preface (1922) to History and Class Consciousness (1923)
http://www.marxists.org/
CPGB contra LukĂĄcs
Communist Party of Great Britain (Provisional Central Committee)
contra Georg LukĂĄcs
James Turley, Chris Cutrone, Lawrence Parker
http://
Originally published in Weekly Worker January 24 â March 14, 2013. PDF:
http://
articles:
- James Turley, âThe antinomies of Georg LukĂĄcsâ 1/24/13
- Chris Cutrone, âRegressionâ 1/31/13
- James Turley, âDummyâ 2/21/13
- Chris Cutrone, âNota beneâ 2/28/13
- James Turley, âBaconâ 3/7/13
- Lawrence Parker, âLukĂĄcs reloadedâ 3/7/13
- Chris Cutrone, âUnreloadedâ 3/14/13
http://
Supplemental:
Chris Cutrone, âGillian Roseâs âHegelianâ critique of Marxismâ 3/1/10
http://platypus1917.org/
II. Introduction to revolutionary Marxism
Boston, Chicago, Frankfurt, Graz, London, New York, Thessaloniki, Toronto
Saturdays 1â4PM CST
School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)
112 S. Michigan Ave. room 920
Friday 7:30 PM CST
University of Chicago (UChicago)
Harper 141
Chicago Platypus Facebook invitation: http://www.facebook.com/events/179540438855464/
Saturdays 2â5PM EST
Harvard University
Emerson Hall room 318
Boston Platypus Facebook invitation: http://www.facebook.com/events/270185313082455/
Saturdays 2â5PM
Richard Hoggart Bldg. room 356
Goldsmiths College, New Cross, Lewisham, London SE14
London Platypus Facebook invitation: http://www.facebook.com/events/148283905314897/
Sundays 2â5PM EST
School of Visual Arts
133 West 21st St room 402
NYC Platypus Facebook invitation: http://www.facebook.com/events/258824880896215/
Thursdays 7â10PM EST
University of Toronto
71 Queenâs Park Crescent, Second Floor Group Study Room
Toronto Platypus Facebook invitation: http://www.facebook.com/events/530091583675075/
⢠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)
+ 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
+ Tariq Ali and Phil Evans, Introducing Trotsky and Marxism / Trotsky for Beginners (1980)
+ James Joll, The Second International 1889â1914 (1966)
Film screenings: January 2014
⢠Reds (1981)
⢠Rosa Luxemburg (1986)
Winter 2014
I. What is the "Left?" -- What is "Marxism?"
Week 11. What is Marxism? VI. Class consciousness | Jan. 11â12, 2014
⢠LukĂĄcs, Original Preface (1922), âWhat is Orthodox Marxism?â (1919), âClass Consciousnessâ (1920), History and Class Consciousness (1923)
+ Marx, Preface to the First German Edition and Afterword to the Second German Edition (1873) of Capital (1867), pp. 294â298, 299â302
Week 12. What is Marxism? VII. Ends of philosophy | Jan. 18â19, 2014
⢠Korsch, âMarxism and philosophyâ (1923)
+ 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 2014
II. Introduction to revolutionary Marxism
Week 13. Revolutionary leadership | Jan. 25â26, 2014
⢠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 14. Reform or revolution? | Feb. 1â2, 2014
⢠Luxemburg, Reform or Revolution? (1900/08)
Week 15. Lenin and the vanguard party | Feb. 8â9, 2014
⢠Spartacist League, Lenin and the Vanguard Party (1978)
Week 16. What is to be done? | Feb. 15â16, 2014
⢠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 17. Mass strike and social democracy | Feb. 22â23, 2014
⢠Luxemburg, The Mass Strike, the Political Party and the Trade Unions (1906)
+ Luxemburg, "Blanquism and Social Democracy" (1906)
Week 18. Permanent revolution | Mar. 1â2, 2014
⢠Leon Trotsky, Results and Prospects (1906)
+ Tariq Ali and Phil Evans, Introducing Trotsky and Marxism / Trotsky for Beginners (1980)
Week 19. State and revolution | Mar. 8â9, 2014
⢠Lenin, The State and Revolution (1917)
Week 20. Imperialism | Mar. 15â16, 2014
⢠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 21. Mar. 22â23, 2014 (spring break)
Week 22. Mar. 29â30, 2014 TBA
Week 23. Apr. 5â6, 2014 (Platypus international convention)
Week 24. Failure of the revolution | Apr. 12â13, 2014
⢠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)
+ Sebastian Haffner, Failure of a Revolution: Germany 1918â19 (1968)
Week 25. Retreat after revolution | Apr. 19â20, 2014
⢠Lenin, âLeft-Wingâ Communism: An Infantile Disorder (1920)
+ Lenin, "Notes of a Publicist" (1922)
Week 26. Dialectic of reification | Apr. 26â27, 2014
⢠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
Week 27. Lessons of October | May 3â4, 2014
⢠Trotsky, The Lessons of October (1924) [PDF] + Trotsky, "Stalinism and Bolshevism" (1937)
Week 28. Trotskyism | May 10â11, 2014
+ Trotsky, "To build communist parties and an international anew" (1933)
⢠Trotsky, The Death Agony of Capitalism and the Tasks of the Fourth International (1938)
+ Trotsky, "Trade unions in the epoch of imperialist decay" (1940)
+ Trotsky, Letter to James Cannon (September 12, 1939)
Week 29. The authoritarian state | May 17â18, 2014
⢠Friedrich Pollock, "State Capitalism: Its Possibilities and Limitations" (1941) (note 32 on USSR)
⢠Max Horkheimer, "The Authoritarian State" (1942)
Week 30. On the concept of history | May 24â25, 2014
⢠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, "Experience and poverty" (1933)
+ Benjamin, Theologico-political fragment (1921/39?)
⢠Benjamin, "On the Concept of History" (AKA "Theses on the Philosophy of History") (1940) [PDF]
⢠Benjamin, Paralipomena to "On the Concept of History" (1940)
Week 31. Reflections on Marxism | May 31âJun. 1, 2014
⢠Theodor Adorno, âReflections on Class Theoryâ (1942)
⢠Adorno, âImaginative Excessesâ (1944â47)
+ 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 32. Theory and practice | Jun. 7â8, 2014
+ Adorno, âOn Subject and Objectâ (1969)
⢠Adorno, âMarginalia to Theory and Praxisâ (1969)
⢠Adorno, âResignationâ (1969)
+ Adorno, âLate Capitalism or Industrial Society?â (AKA âIs Marx Obsolete?â) (1968)
+ Esther Leslie, Introduction to the 1969 Adorno-Marcuse correspondence (1999)
+ Adorno and Herbert Marcuse, correspondence on the German New Left (1969)