On June 30, 2019 at the Left Forum at Long Island University Brooklyn in New York City, the Platypus Affiliated Society hosted a panel titled "Beyond Sect or Movement: What is a Political Center?"
Description:
In his 1973 essay, "Anatomy of the Micro-Sect," Hal Draper gives a definition of a party as opposed to a âmovementâ or the âsectsâ that seemed to dominate the Left of his time:
A sect presents itself as the embodiment of the socialist movement, though it is a membership organization whose boundary is set more or less rigidly by the points in its political program rather than by its relation to the social struggle. In contrast, a working-class party is not simply an electoral organization but rather, whether electorally engaged or not, an organization which really is the political arm of decisive sectors of the working class, which politically reflects (or refracts) the working class in motion as it is. A âsocialist movementâ sums up the mass manifestations of a socialist working class in various fields, not only the political, usually around a mass socialist party.â
Against both the âsectâ and merely building a âmovement,â Draper argues for the formation of a âpolitical center,â which would be different from a unification of sects, as a first step towards the goal of building a socialist party. How is our present moment similar to or different from that of Draper? What is a socialist party and what are the greatest obstacles today to its realization and how can those obstacles be met? Hal Draper was deeply influenced by his study of Marx and Marxism when he wrote this essay. What can we learn from Hal Draperâs Marxism today?
Panelists:
Spencer A. Leonard - Platypus Affiliated Society
Jim Creegan - ex-SDS, ex-International Bolshevik Tendency, ex-Spartacist League
Michael Hirsch - New Politics Magazine, Portside News Service, DSA
Beyond Sect or Movement: What is a Political Center?
Sunday, June 30th
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Room H316
In his 1973 essay, "Anatomy of the Micro-Sect," Hal Draper gives a definition of a party as opposed to a âmovementâ or the âsectsâ that seemed to dominate the Left of his time:
Come hang out with your friendly neighborhood Marxists. Grab a drink and talk about freedom, emancipation, revolution, socialism, Marxism, politics, and Platypus!
Wednesday, June 26, 2019 at 6 PM
Northside Tavern
4163 Hamilton Ave.
Cincinnati, OH 45223
Look for copies of the Platypus Review on the table to identify us
Note: there is a silent gap in the first 7 minutes of the audio.
Former president of Platypus Chris Cutrone is interviewed on the Symptomatic Redness podcast with host Derick Varn, and guest host Lexi Kay of Swampside Chats. Chris took on a variety of relatively hostile questions for a few hours. This is part three and is available to the public. Derick Varn is a former member of the Platypus Affiliated Society.
Saturdays 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Dome of Visions
Inge Lehmanns Gade
8000 Aarhus C, Denmark (Map)
⢠required / + recommended reading
recommended book: Isaac Deutscher, Marxism, Wars and Revolutions: Essays from Four Decades (Verso, 1984) [ * essays included in book]
recommended background reading:
Spartacist League, Genesis of Pabloism (1972)
Week 1. The revolution betrayed | June 22, 2019
⢠Leon Trotsky, The Revolution Betrayed: What is the Soviet Union and Where is it Going? (1936)
+ Trotsky, "Stalinism and Bolshevism" (1937)
+ Trotsky, letter to James P. Cannon of September 12, 1939
+ Trotsky, The USSR in War (1939)
Week 2. Stalinophilia and Stalinophobia | June 29, 2019
⢠Herbert Marcuse, 33 theses (1947)
⢠Shane Mage, "'Pure democracy' or political revolution in Eastern Europe?" excerpts from The Hungarian Revolution (1957) republished in Spartacist 30 (Autumn 1980) pp. 10-16
⢠Michael Harrington, "Marxism and democracy" (1981)
Week 3. Crisis of Stalinism | July 6, 2019
(Recommended resource: Isaac Deutscher internet archive)
⢠Isaac Deutscher, "Two Revolutions" (1950) *
⢠Deutscher, "Stalin, Mao and Korea" (1950)
⢠Deutscher, "Khrushchev on Stalin" (1956)
Week 4. Whither Communism? | July 13, 2019
⢠Deutscher, "Three trends in Communism" (1959)
⢠Deutscher, "From Stalin to Adam Smith" (1959)
⢠Deutscher, "The tragedy of the Polish Communist Party" (1958) *
⢠Deutscher, 3 articles on Eastern Europe (letter to Gomulka, dialogue with Brandler, conversation with Trygve Lie) *
Week 5. Maoism? | July 20, 2019
⢠Deutscher, "Three currents in Communism" (1964)
⢠Deutscher, "Maoism â its origin and outlook" (1964) *
⢠Deutscher, "Vietnam in perspective" (1965)
⢠Deutscher, "The meaning of the 'Cultural Revolution'" (1966) *
Week 6. 50 years of the USSR | July 27, 2019
⢠Deutscher, The Unfinished Revolution: Russia 1917-67 (1967)
Week 7. Stalinism and the New Left | August 2, 2019
⢠Deutscher, "Marxism in our time" (1965) *
⢠Deutscher, "Marxism and the New Left" (1967)
