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You are here: The Platypus Affiliated Society/Archive for category 2016

Summer and Fall/Autumn 2016 – Winter 2017

Every Sunday, 3:00-6:00 pm

University of Houston, MD Anderson Library, RM 221j

 

I. What is the Left? -- 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. Radical bourgeois philosophy I. Rousseau: Crossroads of society | Aug. 6, 2016

Whoever dares undertake to establish a people’s 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.

-- Jean-Jacques Rousseau, On the Social Contract (1762)

• epigraphs on modern history and freedom by James Miller (on Jean-Jacques Rousseau), Louis Menand (on Edmund Wilson), Karl Marx, on "becoming" (from the Grundrisse, 1857–58), and Peter Preuss (on Nietzsche)

+ Rainer Maria Rilke, "Archaic Torso of Apollo" (1908)

+ Robert Pippin, "On Critical Theory" (2004)

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1754) PDFs of preferred translation (5 parts): [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

• Rousseau, selection from On the Social Contract (1762)


Week B. Radical bourgeois philosophy II. Hegel: Freedom in history | Aug. 13, 2016

• G.W.F. Hegel, Introduction to the Philosophy of History (1831) [HTML] [PDF pp. 14-128] [Audiobook]


Week C. Radical bourgeois philosophy III. Nietzsche (1): Life in history | Aug. 20, 2016

• Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Use and Abuse of History for Life (1874) [translator's introduction by Peter Preuss]

+ Nietzsche on history chart of terms


Week D. Radical bourgeois philosophy IV. Nietzsche (2): Asceticism of moderns | Aug. 27, 2016

+ Human, All Too Human: Nietzsche: Beyond Good and Evil (1999)

• Nietzsche, selection from On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense (1873)

• Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals: A Polemic (1887)


Week E. 1960s New Left I. Neo-Marxism | Sep. 3, 2016 U.S. Labor Day weekend

• Martin Nicolaus, “The unknown Marx” (1968)

+ Commodity form chart of terms

• Moishe Postone, “Necessity, labor, and time” (1978)

+ Postone, “History and helplessness: Mass mobilization and contemporary forms of anticapitalism” (2006)

+ Postone, “Theorizing the contemporary world: Brenner, Arrighi, Harvey” (2006)


Week F. 1960s New Left II. Gender and sexuality | Sep. 10, 2016

• Juliet Mitchell, “Women: The longest revolution” (1966)

• Clara Zetkin and Vladimir Lenin, “An interview on the woman question” (1920)

• Theodor W. Adorno, “Sexual taboos and the law today” (1963)

• John D’Emilio, “Capitalism and gay identity” (1983)


Week G. 1960s New Left III. Anti-black racism in the U.S. | Sep. 17, 2016

• Richard Fraser, “Two lectures on the black question in America and revolutionary integrationism” (1953)

• James Robertson and Shirley Stoute, “For black Trotskyism” (1963)

+ Spartacist League, “Black and red: Class struggle road to Negro freedom” (1966)

+ Bayard Rustin, “The failure of black separatism” (1970)

• Adolph Reed, “Black particularity reconsidered” (1979)

+ Reed, “Paths to Critical Theory” (1984)


Week H. Frankfurt School precursors | Sep. 24, 2016

• Wilhelm Reich, “Ideology as material power” (1933/46)

• Siegfried Kracauer, “The mass ornament” (1927)

+ Kracauer, “Photography” (1927)


Week 1. What is the Left? I. Capital in history | Oct. 1, 2016

• epigraphs on modern history and freedom by Louis Menand (on Marx and Engels) and Karl Marx, on "becoming" (from the Grundrisse, 1857–58)

• Chris Cutrone, "Capital in history" (2008)

+ Capital in history timeline and chart of terms

+ video of Communist University 2011 London presentation

• Cutrone, "The Marxist hypothesis" (2010)


Week 2. What is the Left? II. Bourgeois society | Oct. 8, 2016

• Immanuel Kant, "Idea for a universal history from a cosmopolitan point of view" and "What is Enlightenment?" (1784)

• 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 3. What is the Left? III. Failure of Marxism | Oct. 15, 2016

• Max Horkheimer, selections from Dämmerung (1926–31)

• Adorno, “Imaginative Excesses” (1944–47)


Week 4. What is the Left? IV. Utopia and critique | Oct. 22, 2016

• Leszek Kolakowski, “The concept of the Left” (1968)

• Marx, To make the world philosophical (from Marx's dissertation, 1839–41), pp. 9–11

• Marx, For the ruthless criticism of everything existing (letter to Arnold Ruge, September 1843), pp. 12–15


Week 5. What is Marxism? I. Socialism | Oct. 29, 2016

• Marx, selections from Economic and philosophic manuscripts (1844), pp. 70–101

+ Commodity form chart of terms

• Marx and Friedrich Engels, selections from the Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848), pp. 469-500

• Marx, Address to the Central Committee of the Communist League (1850), pp. 501–511


Week 6. What is Marxism? II. Revolution in 1848 | Nov. 5, 2016

• Marx, The coming upheaval (from The Poverty of Philosophy, 1847) and Class struggle and mode of production (letter to Weydemeyer, 1852), pp. 218-220

• Engels, The tactics of social democracy (Engels's 1895 introduction to Marx, The Class Struggles in France), pp. 556–573

• Marx, selections from The Class Struggles in France 1848–50 (1850), pp. 586–593

• Marx, selections from The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (1852), pp. 594–617


Week 7. What is Marxism? III. Bonapartism | Nov. 12, 2016

+ Karl Korsch, "The Marxism of the First International" (1924)

• Marx, Inaugural address to the First International (1864), pp. 512–519

• Marx, selections from The Civil War in France (1871, including Engels's 1891 Introduction), pp. 618–652

+ Korsch, Introduction to Marx, Critique of the Gotha Programme (1922)

• Marx, Critique of the Gotha Programme, pp. 525–541

• Marx, Programme of the Parti Ouvrier (1880)


Week 8. What is Marxism? IV. Critique of political economy | Nov. 19, 2016

+ Commodity form chart of terms

• Marx, selections from the Grundrisse (1857–61), pp. 222–226, 236–244, 247–250, 276–293 ME Reader pp. 276-281

• Marx, Capital Vol. I, Ch. 1 Sec. 4 "The fetishism of commodities" (1867), pp. 319–329


Week 9. Nov. 26, 2016 U.S. Thanksgiving break


Week 10. What is Marxism? V. Reification | Dec. 3, 2016 / Jan. 7, 2017

• Georg Lukács, “The phenomenon of reification” (Part I of “Reification and the consciousness of the proletariat,” History and Class Consciousness, 1923)

+ Commodity form 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 1918–19 (1968)

+ Edmund Wilson, To the Finland Station: A Study in the Writing and Acting of History (1940), Part II. Ch. (1–4,) 5–10, 12–16; Part III. Ch. 1–6

+ Tariq Ali and Phil Evans, Introducing Trotsky and Marxism / Trotsky for Beginners (1980)

+ James Joll, The Second International 1889–1914 (1966)


Week 11. What is Marxism? VI. Class consciousness | Dec. 10, 2016 / Jan. 14, 2017

• Lukács, Original Preface (1922), “What is Orthodox Marxism?” (1919), “Class Consciousness” (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. 294–298, 299–302


Week 12. What is Marxism? VII. Ends of philosophy | Dec. 17, 2016 / Jan. 21, 2017

• Korsch, “Marxism and philosophy” (1923)

+ Marx, To make the world philosophical (from Marx's dissertation, 1839–41), pp. 9–11

+ Marx, For the ruthless criticism of everything existing (letter to Arnold Ruge, September 1843), pp. 12–15

+ Marx, "Theses on Feuerbach" (1845), pp. 143–145


Winter–Spring 2017

II. Introduction to revolutionary Marxism

Die historischen Wurzeln der Linken und des Marxismus liegen in den bßrgerlichen Revolutionen des 17. und 18. Jahrunderts und deren Krise im 19. Jahrhundert. Mit diesem Lesekreis wollen wir versuchen, jenen geschichtlichen Hintergrund durch Lektßre der Texte von Marx und der radikalen bßrgerlichen Philosophie der Aufklärung, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel sowie Nietzsche, herauszuarbeiten.

Im 20. Jahrhundert bemühten die Theoretiker der Frankfurter Schule, Marx und das politische Bewusstsein des Marxismus, kraft kritischer Reflexion, in seiner Relevanz lebendig zu erhalten. Durch Texte von Autoren wie Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Georg Lukács, Karl Korsch und Leszek Kołakowski, soll versucht werden, das Problem des politischen Bewusstseins der Linken im 20. Jahrhundert, das bis heute prägend bleibt, in seinem historischen Kontext zu beleuchten.

Erste Sitzung: 21. Oktober

Alle Sitzungen finden freitags von 16-19 Uhr auf dem Campus Westend im IG Farbengebäude im Raum IG 0.251 statt.

• vorausgesetzte Texte
+ zusätzliche Texte

Woche 1: Vorgänger der Frankfurter Schule | 21.10.2016

• Wilhelm Reich, “Ideologie als materielle Gewalt” in „Massenpsychologie und Faschismus“ (1933/46)
• Siegfried 
Kracauer, “Das Ornament der Masse” (1927)

Woche 2: Was ist die Linke? I. Kapital in der Geschichte | 28.10.2016

• Inschriften von James Miller (über Jean-Jacques Rousseau) und Louis Menand (über Edmund Wilson) über moderne Geschichte und Freiheit
• Chris 
Cutrone, “Capital in history” (2008) [voläufige Übersetzung auf deutsch] • Cutrone, “The Marxist hypothesis” (2010)

+ Capital in history timeline and chart of terms
+ video of Communist University 2011 London presentation

Woche 3: Was ist die Linke? II. BĂźrgerliche Gesellschaft | 04.11.2016

• Immanuel Kant, “Idee zu einer allgemeinen Geschichte in weltbürgerlicher Absicht” (1784)
• Immanuel 
Kant, “Was ist Aufklärung?” (1784)
• Benjamin 
Constant, “Über die Freiheit der Alten im Vergleich zu der Heutigen” (1819)

+ Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Abhandlung Ăźber den Ursprung der Ungleichheit unter den Menschen (1754)
+
Rousseau, AuszĂźge [1. Buch, Kapitel 5-9 und 2. Buch, Kapitel 1-4] aus dem Contrat Social (1762)

Woche 4: Was ist die Linke? III. Das Scheitern des Marxismus | 11.11.2016

• Max Horkheimer, Auszüge aus Dämmerung (1926–31)
• 
Adorno, “Ausschweifung” (1944–47) (GS4:297-300, Anhang in Minima Moralia, letzter Abschnitt)

Woche 5: Was ist die Linke? IV. Utopie und Kritik | 18.11.2016

• Leszek Kolakowski, “Der Sinn des Begriffes ‘Linke’” (1968)
• Karl 
Marx, Auszug aus den Anmerkungen zur Doktordissertation (1839–41) [MEW 40, S. 325 - 331] • Marx, Brief von Marx an Arnold Ruge (September 1843)

Woche 6: Was ist Marxismus? I. Sozialismus | 25.11.2016

• Marx, Auszüge aus Ökonomisch-philosophische Manuskripte (1844): Die entfremdete Arbeit; Privateigentum und Kommunismus; Bedürfnis, Produktion und Arbeitsteilung (bis |XXI||, MEW 40:556 [exklusiv ||XXXIV|| Die Grundrente])
• 
Marx und Friedrich Engels, Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei (1848)
• 
Marx, Ansprache der ZentralbehÜrde an den Bund vom März (1850)

+ Commodity form chart of terms

Woche 7: Was ist Marxismus? II. Die Revolution von 1848 | 02.12.2016

• Engels, Einleitung zu Karl Marx’ “Klassenkämpfe in Frankreich 1848 bis 1850″ (1895))
• 
Marx, Auszüge aus Die Klassenkämpfe in Frankreich 1848 bis 1850 (1850) [Teil I] • Marx, Auszüge aus Der achtzehnte Brumaire des Louis Napoleon (1852) [Teil I und VII] • Marx, Brief an Joseph Weydemeyer (Brief vom 5. März 1852, MEW 28, S.503-509)
•
Marx, Strikes und Arbeiterkoalitionen aus “das Elend der Philosophie“ (1847, §5 im zweiten Kapitel)

Woche 8: Was ist Marxismus? III. Bonapartismus | 09.12.2016

• Marx, Inauguraladresse der Internationalen Arbeiter-Assoziation (1864)
• 
Marx, Auszßge aus Der Bßrgerkrieg in Frankreich [Teil III und IV] (1871, mit Engels Einleitung von 1891)
• 
Marx, Kritik des Gothaer Programms (1875)
• 
Marx, Einleitung zum Programm der franzĂśsischen Arbeiterpartei (1880) [Auf MEW 19, S.238 findet ihr die Einleitung und in den Anmerkungen (Nr.151) das Programm selbst, MEW 19, 570-71]

+ Karl Korsch, "The Marxism of the First International" (1924)
+
Korsch, Introduction to Marx, Critique of the Gotha Programme (1922)

Woche 9: Was ist Marxismus? IV. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie | 16.12.2016

• Marx, Einleitung zur Kritik der Politischen Ökonomie (1857–61) [MEW Bd. 13, S.615-641] • Marx, Kapital Bd. I, Kap. 1 Teil. 4 “Der Fetischcharakter der Ware und sein Geheimnis” (1867) [MEW Bd. 23, S.85-98]

+ Commodity form chart of terms

++ Winterpause ++

Woche 10: Philosophie der Geschichte | 06.01.2017

• G.W.F. Hegel: Einleitung zu den Vorlesungen zur Philosophie der Geschichte (1830/31)

Woche 11: Was ist Marxismus? V. Verdinglichung | 13.01.2017

• Georg Lukács, “Das Phänomen der Verdinglichung” (Teil I des Kapitels “Die Verdinglichung und das Bewusstsein des Proletariats,” Geschichte und Klassenbewusstsein (1923)

+ Commodity form chart of terms

Woche 12: Was ist Marxismus? VI. Klassenbewusstsein | 20.01.2017

• Lukács, Vorwort von 1922, “Was ist orthodoxer Marxismus?” (1919), “Klassenbewusstsein” (1920) in Geschichte und Klassenbewusstsein (1923)

+ Marx, Vorwort zu ersten Auflage des Kapitals (1867) und Nachwort zur zweiten Auflage (1873) des Kapitals

Woche 13: Was ist Marxismus? VII Das Ende der Philosophie | 27.01.2017

• Korsch, “Marxismus und Philosophie” (1923) [in der verlinkten Ausgabe S.84-160]

+ Marx, Thesen Ăźber Feuerbach (1845)

Woche 14: 1960er Neue Linke I. Neo-Marxismus | 3.2.2017

• Martin Nicolaus, “The unknown Marx” (1968)
• Moishe
Postone, “Necessity, labor, and time” (1978)

+ Postone, “History and helplessness: Mass mobilization and contemporary forms of anticapitalism” (2006)
+ Postone, “Theorizing the contemporary world: Brenner, Arrighi, Harvey” (2006)

Woche 15. 1960er Neue Linke II. Gender und Sexualität | 10.2.2017

• Juliet Mitchell, “Frauen – die längste Revolution“ (1966)
• Clara
Zetkin “Erinnerungen an Lenin” (1920)
• Theodor W.
Adorno, “Sexualtabu und Recht heute” (1963)
• John
D’Emilio, “Capitalism and gay identity” (1983)

Woche 16: 1960er Neue Linke III. Anti-black racism in der USA | 17.2.2017

• Richard Fraser, “Two lectures on the black question in America and revolutionary integrationism” (1953)
• James
Robertson and Shirley Stoute, “For black Trotskyism” (1963)
• Adolph
Reed, “Black particularity reconsidered” (1979)

+ Reed, “Paths to Critical Theory” (1984)
+ Spartacist League, “Black and red: Class struggle road to Negro freedom” (1966)
+ Bayard Rustin, “The failure of black separatism” (1970)

Teach-in by Chris Cutrone on his article "Why Not Trump?" held September 22, 2016 at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

This teach-in will address Trump's insurgent campaign to transform the Republican Party as a phenomenon of potential political change in the crisis of neoliberalism.

Recommended background reading:

Introductory video playlist at:

Les Deplorables Trump rally video clip:

https://www.facebook.com/TheHill/videos/10154093657009087/

One November 7th, 2015, at its Second Annual European Conference in Frankfurt, Germany, the Platypus Affiliated Society hosted a panel addressing the topic “What is the European Union and should we be against it?” The discussion was moderated by Thodoris Velissaris and included the following panelists: Juan Roch, a member of the Spanish political party Podemos; Jens Wissel, a founding member of the Assoziation für Kritische Gesellschaftsforschung and author of Staatsprojekt EUropa: Grundzüge einer materialistischen Theorie der Europäischen Union; Nikos Nikisianis, a member of DIKTYO (Network for Political and Social Rights) in Greece, an affiliate of SYRIZA until July 2015; and Martin Suchanek, a member of Gruppe Arbeitermacht, the German section of the League for the Fifth International, and the editor of its theoretical journal Revolutionärer Marxismus. What follows is an edited transcript of their conversation.
The U.S. Democratic Party Convention in Philadelphia ended with a big schism that divides not only the supporters of Hillary Clinton from her opponents, but also Bernie Sanders from the movement he led until not very long ago. The senator from Vermont who attracted thousands across America to his rallies and ignited them with his speeches looked helpless—even ridiculous—in Philadelphia. In a matter of seconds, his speech endorsing Hillary turned a charismatic leader who embodied the hopes of millions into a pathetic old man who does not understand what is happening around him.