Meets Wednesdays, 3:00 p.m
HSS Building Room 103A
1115 Volunteer Blvd.
Open to the public / new attendants welcome
• required / + recommended reading
Week 1. June 12, 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. June 19, 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. June 26, 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. July 3, 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. July 10, 2019
• Deutscher, "Three currents in Communism" (1964)
• Deutscher, "Maoism — its origin and outlook" (1964)
• Deutscher, "Vietnam in perspective" (1965)
• Deutscher, "The meaning of the 'Cultural Revolution'" and interview on the Cultural Revolution (1966)
Week 6. July 19, 2019
• Deutscher, The Unfinished Revolution: Russia 1917-67 (1967)
Week 7. July 24, 2019
• Deutscher, "Marxism in our time" (1965)
• Deutscher, "Marxism and the New Left" (1967)
Panel discussion on the life and legacy of Karl Marx as a revolutionary intellectual, hosted by the Platypus Affiliated Society on March 27, 2019 at the University of Tennessee (Knoxville).
Speakers:
Dr. Harry Dahms, University of Tennessee (Sociology)
Dr. Arnold Farr, University of Kentucky (Philosophy)
Dr. Spencer Leonard, Platypus Affiliated Society
Moderated by AJ Knowles.
Description:
This past year marked the 200th birthday of Karl Marx, than whom, as even his ideological opponent Isaiah Berlin had to admit, “no thinker in the nineteenth century has had so direct, deliberate and powerful an influence upon mankind.” This panel seeks to bring together intellectuals committed to exploring Marx’s legacy in this post-Marxist age, those who, once more, seek somehow to bring that legacy to bear upon the world. Accordingly, we want to raise the question: What is the legacy of Marx’s life as a revolutionary intellectual -- that is, the legacy of the political writings and activities he contributed to the socialist workers’ movement?
• 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 8, 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 15, 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 | June 22, 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? | June 29, 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 6, 2019
• Deutscher, "Three currents in Communism" (1964)
• Deutscher, "Maoism — its origin and outlook" (1964) *
• Deutscher, "Vietnam in perspective" (1965)
• Deutscher, "The meaning of the 'Cultural Revolution'" * and interview on the Cultural Revolution (1966)
Week 6. 50 years of the USSR | July 13, 2019
• Deutscher, The Unfinished Revolution: Russia 1917-67 (1967)
Week 7. Stalinism and the New Left | July 20, 2019
• Deutscher, "Marxism in our time" (1965) *
• Deutscher, "Marxism and the New Left" (1967)
