II. Introduction to revolutionary Marxism
Platypus primary Marxist reading group WinterâSpring 2021
Saturdays 2pm:Â https://zoom.us/j/97959931102
⢠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)
+ 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
Film screenings: Winter 2021
⢠Fall of Eagles (1974) episodes: ("The Last Tsar,") "Absolute Beginners," ("Dearest Nicky," "The Appointment,") "The Secret War," and "End Game"
⢠37 Days (2014) ([Episode 1] [Episode 2]) [Episode 3]
( ⢠37 Days (2014) [Episode 3] and Fall of Eagles (1974) episode "The Secret War" )
⢠Rosa Luxemburg (1986)
⢠Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States (2012) Prequel Episodes A (1900-20) and B (1920-40)
⢠Reds (1981)
4 screenings, each ~2 hours of film:
1.) Fall of Eagles episodes: #5 "The Last Tsar" and #6 "Absolute Beginners" on the origins of the Bolsheviks
2.) 37 Days Episode #3 "One Long Weekend" (uncut BBC version including the Socialists) on the start of WWI; and Fall of Eagles episode #12 "The Secret War" on WWI and the Russian Revolution
3.) Fall of Eagles episode #13 "End Game" on the German Revolution 1918-19; and Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States Prequel Episode A. 1900-20, on imperialism, WWI and the Russian Revolution
4.) Rosa Luxemburg film
additional recommended screenings:
+ Fall of Eagles episodes #s 7-8 "Dearest Nicky" and "The Appointment" on the Russo-Japanese War and Russian Revolution of 1905 and modernization, the Narodniks and Socialist Revolutionaries
+ Reds film on American anarchists, Socialists and Communists in WWI and the Russian Revolution
+ Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States Prequel Episode B. 1920-40 on counterrevolution, fascism, the Great Depression, Stalinism and Nazism
Winter 2021
I. What is the Left? â What is Marxism?
Week 8. What is Marxism? V. Reification | Jan. 2, 2021
⢠Georg LukĂĄcs, âThe phenomenon of reificationâ (Part I of âReification and the consciousness of the proletariat,â History and Class Consciousness, 1923)
+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Reification chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Organic composition of capital chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
Week 9. What is Marxism? VI. Class consciousness | Jan. 9, 2021
⢠LukĂĄcs, âClass Consciousnessâ (1920), Original Preface (1922), âWhat is Orthodox Marxism?â (1919), History and Class Consciousness (1923)
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Reification chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Herbert Marcuse, "Note on dialectic" (1960)
+ Marx, Preface to the First German Edition and Afterword to the Second German Edition (1873) of Capital (1867), pp. 294â298, 299â302
Week 10. What is Marxism? VII. Ends of philosophy | Jan. 16, 2021
⢠Korsch, âMarxism and philosophyâ (1923)
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Herbert Marcuse, "Note on dialectic" (1960)
+ 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 2021
II. Introduction to revolutionary Marxism
Week 11. Revolutionary leadership | Jan. 23, 2021
⢠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? | Jan. 30, 2021
⢠Luxemburg, Reform or Revolution? (1900/08)
+ Eugene Debs, "Competition versus Cooperation" (1900)
Week 13. Lenin and the vanguard party | Feb. 6, 2021
⢠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. 13, 2021
⢠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 | Feb. 20, 2021
⢠Luxemburg, The Mass Strike, the Political Party and the Trade Unions (1906)
+ Luxemburg, "Blanquism and Social Democracy" (1906)
Week 16. Permanent revolution | Feb. 27, 2021
⢠Leon Trotsky, Results and Prospects (1906)
+ Tariq Ali and Phil Evans, Introducing Trotsky and Marxism / Trotsky for Beginners (1980)
Week 17. State and revolution | Mar. 6, 2021
⢠Lenin, The State and Revolution (1917)
Week 18. Imperialism | Mar. 13, 2021
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 19. Mar. 20, 2021 (spring break)
Week 20. Failure of the revolution | Mar. 27, 2021
⢠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 21. Apr. 3, 2021 [Platypus international convention]
Week 22. Retreat after revolution | Apr. 10, 2021
⢠Lenin, âLeft-Wingâ Communism: An Infantile Disorder (1920)
+ Lenin, "Notes of a Publicist" (1922)
Week 23. Dialectic of reification | Apr. 17, 2021
⢠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 | Apr. 24, 2021
⢠Trotsky, The Lessons of October (1924) [PDF]
⢠Trotsky, "Stalinism and Bolshevism" (1937)
Week 25. Trotskyism | May 1, 2021
+ 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 8, 2021
⢠Friedrich Pollock, "State Capitalism: Its Possibilities and Limitations" (1941) (note 32 on USSR) [HTML]
⢠Max Horkheimer, "The Authoritarian State" (1942) [PDF]
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
Week 27. On the concept of history | May 15, 2021
⢠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 22, 2021
+ 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 | May 29, 2021
+ 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)
Summer and Fall/Autumn 2020 â Winter 2021
I. What is the Left? â What is Marxism?
All events are Saturdays, 2PM PST @ zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89023184679.
⢠required / + recommended reading
Marx and Engels readings pp. from Robert C. Tucker, ed., Marx-Engels Reader (Norton 2nd ed., 1978)
Week A. Introduction: Capital in history | Aug. 8, 2020
⢠Max Horkheimer, "The little man and the philosophy of freedom" (1926â31)
⢠epigraphs on modern history and freedom by Louis Menand (on Marx and Engels), Karl Marx, on "becoming" (from the Grundrisse, 1857â58), and Peter Preuss (on history)
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) chart of terms
⢠Chris Cutrone, "Capital in history" (2008)
+ Capital in history timeline and chart of terms
+ video of Communist University 2011 London presentation
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
⢠Cutrone, "The Marxist hypothesis" (2010)
⢠Cutrone, âClass consciousness (from a Marxist persective) todayâ (2012)
+ G.M. Tamas, "Telling the truth about class" [HTML] (2007)
+ Robert Pippin, "On Critical Theory" (2004)
+ Rainer Maria Rilke, "Archaic Torso of Apollo" (1908)
Week B. 1960s New Left I. Neo-Marxism | Aug. 15, 2020
⢠Martin Nicolaus, âThe unknown Marxâ (1968)
+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Organic composition of capital chart of terms
+ Marx on surplus-value chart of terms
⢠Theodor W. Adorno, âLate Capitalism or Industrial Society?â (AKA âIs Marx Obsolete?â) (1968)
⢠Moishe Postone, âNecessity, labor, and timeâ (1978)
+ Postone, âInterview: Marx after Marxismâ (2008)
+ Postone, âHistory and helplessness: Mass mobilization and contemporary forms of anticapitalismâ (2006)
+ Postone, âTheorizing the contemporary world: Brenner, Arrighi, Harveyâ (2006)
Week C. 1960s New Left II: Gender and sexuality | Aug. 22, 2020
The situation of women is different from that of any other social group. This is because they are not one of a number of isolable units, but half a totality: the human species. Women are essential and irreplaceable; they cannot therefore be exploited in the same way as other social groups can. They are fundamental to the human condition, yet in their economic, social and political roles, they are marginal. It is precisely this combination â fundamental and marginal at one and the same time â that has been fatal to them.
â Juliet Mitchell, "Women: The longest revolution" (1966)
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
⢠Juliet Mitchell, âWomen: The longest revolutionâ (1966)
⢠Clara Zetkin and Vladimir Lenin, âAn interview on the woman questionâ (1920)
⢠Theodor W. Adorno, âSexual taboos and the law todayâ (1963)
⢠John DâEmilio, âCapitalism and gay identityâ (1983)
Week D. 1960s New Left III. Anti-black racism in the U.S. | Aug. 29, 2020
As a social party we receive the Negro and all other races upon absolutely equal terms. We are the party of the working class, the whole working class, and we will not suffer ourselves to be divided by any specious appeal to race prejudice; and if we should be coaxed or driven from the straight road we will be lost in the wilderness and ought to perish there, for we shall no longer be a Socialist party.
â Eugene Debs, "The Negro in the class struggle" (1903)
+ Eugene Debs, "The Negro in the class struggle" (1903)
+ Debs, "The Negro and his nemesis" (1904)
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
⢠Richard Fraser, âTwo lectures on the black question in America and revolutionary integrationismâ (1953)
+ Fraser, "For the materialist conception of the Negro struggle" (1955)
⢠James Robertson and Shirley Stoute, âFor black Trotskyismâ (1963)
+ Spartacist League, âBlack and red: Class struggle road to Negro freedomâ (1966)
+ Bayard Rustin, âThe failure of black separatismâ (1970)
⢠Adolph Reed, âBlack particularity reconsideredâ (1979)
+ Reed, âPaths to Critical Theoryâ (1984)
Week E. Frankfurt School precursors | Sep. 5, 2020
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
⢠Wilhelm Reich, âIdeology as material powerâ (1933/46)
⢠Siegfried Kracauer, âThe mass ornamentâ (1927)
+ Kracauer, âPhotographyâ (1927)
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
Week F. Radical bourgeois philosophy I. Rousseau: Crossroads of society | Sep. 12, 2020
To be radical is to go to the root of the matter. For man, however, the root is man himself.
â Marx, Critique of Hegelâs Philosophy of Right (1843)Whoever dares undertake to establish a peopleâs 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.
â Jean-Jacques Rousseau, On the Social Contract (1762)
⢠Max Horkheimer, "The little man and the philosophy of freedom" (1926â31)
⢠epigraphs on modern history and freedom by James Miller (on Jean-Jacques Rousseau), Louis Menand (on Marx and Engels), Karl Marx, on "becoming" (from the Grundrisse, 1857â58), and Peter Preuss (on history)
+ Rainer Maria Rilke, "Archaic Torso of Apollo" (1908)
+ Robert Pippin, "On Critical Theory" (2004)
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) chart of terms
⢠Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1754) PDFs of preferred translation (5 parts): [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
+ Capital in history timeline and chart of terms
⢠Rousseau, selection from On the Social Contract (1762)
Week G. Radical bourgeois philosophy II. Adam Smith: On the wealth of nations (part 1) | Sep. 19, 2020
⢠Adam Smith, selections from The Wealth of Nations
Volume I [PDF]
Introduction and Plan of the Work
Book I: Of the Causes of ImprovementâŚ
I.1. Of the Division of Labor
I.2. Of the Principle which gives Occasion to the Division of Labour
I.3. That the Division of Labour is Limited by the Extent of the Market
I.4. Of the Origin and Use of Money
I.5 Of the Real and Nominal Price of Commodities
I.6. Of the Component Parts of the Price of Commodities
I.7. Of the Natural and Market Price of Commodities
I.8. Of the Wages of Labour
I.9. Of the Profits of Stock
Book III: Of the different Progress of Opulence in different Nations
III.1. Of the Natural Progress of Opulence
III.2. Of the Discouragement of Agriculture in the Ancient State of Europe after the Fall of the Roman Empire
III.3. Of the Rise and Progress of Cities and Towns, after the Fall of the Roman Empire
III.4. How the Commerce of the Towns Contributed to the Improvement of the Country
Week H. Radical bourgeois philosophy III. Adam Smith: On the wealth of nations (part 2) | Sep. 26, 2020
⢠Smith, selections from The Wealth of Nations
Volume II [PDF]
IV.7, Of Colonies
V.1. Of the Expences of the Sovereign or Commonwealth
Week I. Radical bourgeois philosophy IV. What is the Third Estate? | Oct. 3, 2020
⢠AbbÊ Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, What is the Third Estate? (1789)
+ Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees (1732)
Week J. Radical bourgeois philosophy V. Kant and Constant: Bourgeois society | Oct. 10, 2020
⢠Immanuel Kant, "Idea for a universal history from a cosmopolitan point of view" and "What is Enlightenment?" (1784)
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) chart of terms
+ Kant's 3 Critiques [PNG] and philosophy [PNG] charts of terms
⢠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 K. Radical bourgeois philosophy VI. Hegel: Freedom in history | Oct. 17, 2020
⢠G.W.F. Hegel, Introduction to the Philosophy of History (1831) [HTML] [PDF pp. 14-128] [Audiobook]
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) chart of terms
Week 1. What is the Left? I. Capital in history | Oct. 24, 2020
⢠Max Horkheimer, "The little man and the philosophy of freedom" (1926â31)
⢠epigraphs on modern history and freedom by Louis Menand (on Marx and Engels), Karl Marx, on "becoming" (from the Grundrisse, 1857â58), and Peter Preuss (on history)
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) chart of terms
⢠Chris Cutrone, "Capital in history" (2008)
+ Capital in history timeline and chart of terms
+ video of Communist University 2011 London presentation
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
⢠Cutrone, "The Marxist hypothesis" (2010)
⢠Cutrone, âClass consciousness (from a Marxist persective) todayâ (2012)
+ G.M. Tamas, "Telling the truth about class" [HTML] (2007)
+ Robert Pippin, "On Critical Theory" (2004)
+ Rainer Maria Rilke, "Archaic Torso of Apollo" (1908)
Week 2. What is the Left? II. Utopia and critique | Oct. 31, 2020
⢠Max Horkheimer, selections from Dämmerung (1926â31)
⢠Adorno, âImaginative Excessesâ (1944â47)
⢠Leszek Kolakowski, âThe concept of the Leftâ (1968)
⢠Herbert Marcuse, "Note on dialectic" (1960)
⢠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
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
Week 3. What is Marxism? I. Socialism | Nov. 7, 2020
⢠Marx, selections from Economic and philosophic manuscripts (1844), pp. 70â101
+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
⢠Marx and Friedrich Engels, selections from the Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848), pp. 469-500
⢠Marx, The coming upheaval (from The Poverty of Philosophy, 1847)
Week 4. What is Marxism? II. Revolution in 1848 | Nov. 14, 2020
⢠Marx, Address to the Central Committee of the Communist League (1850), pp. 501â511 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. 556â573
⢠Marx, selections from The Class Struggles in France 1848â50 (1850), pp. 586â593
⢠Marx, selections from The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (1852), pp. 594â617
Week 5. What is Marxism? III. Bonapartism | Nov. 21, 2020
+ Karl Korsch, "The Marxism of the First International" (1924)
⢠Marx, Inaugural address to the First International (1864), pp. 512â519
⢠Marx, selections from The Civil War in France (1871, including Engels's 1891 Introduction), pp. 618â652
+ Korsch, Introduction to Marx, Critique of the Gotha Programme (1922)
⢠Marx, Critique of the Gotha Programme, pp. 525â541
⢠Marx, Programme of the Parti Ouvrier (1880)
Week 6. What is Marxism? IV. Critique of political economy | Nov. 28, 2020
The fetish character of the commodity is not a fact of consciousness; rather it is dialectical, in the eminent sense that it produces consciousness. . . . [P]erfection of the commodity character in a Hegelian self-consciousness inaugurates the explosion of its phantasmagoria.
â Theodor W. Adorno, letter to Walter Benjamin, August 2, 1935
+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Organic composition of capital chart of terms
+ Marx on surplus-value chart of terms
⢠Marx, selections from the Grundrisse (1857â61), pp. 222â226, 236â244, 247â250, 276â293 ME Reader pp. 276-281
⢠Marx, Capital Vol. I, Ch. 1 Sec. 4 "The fetishism of commodities" (1867), pp. 319â329
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique 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 1918â19 (1968)
+ Tariq Ali and Phil Evans, Introducing Trotsky and Marxism / Trotsky for Beginners (1980)
+ James Joll, The Second International 1889â1914 (1966)
+ 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
Week 8. Nov. 28, 2020 U.S. Thanksgiving break
Week 7. What is Marxism? V. Reification | Dec. 5, 2020 / Jan. 2, 2021
⢠Georg LukĂĄcs, âThe phenomenon of reificationâ (Part I of âReification and the consciousness of the proletariat,â History and Class Consciousness, 1923)
+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Reification chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Organic composition of capital chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
Week 9. What is Marxism? VI. Class consciousness | Dec. 12, 2020 / Jan. 9, 2021
⢠LukĂĄcs, âClass Consciousnessâ (1920), Original Preface (1922), âWhat is Orthodox Marxism?â (1919), History and Class Consciousness (1923)
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Reification chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Herbert Marcuse, "Note on dialectic" (1960)
+ Marx, Preface to the First German Edition and Afterword to the Second German Edition (1873) of Capital (1867), pp. 294â298, 299â302
Week 10. What is Marxism? VII. Ends of philosophy | Dec. 19, 2020 / Jan. 16, 2021
⢠Korsch, âMarxism and philosophyâ (1923)
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Herbert Marcuse, "Note on dialectic" (1960)
+ 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 2021
II. Introduction to revolutionary Marxism
Panel discussion on the topic of "Sex and the Left" at the Howard Zinn Book Fair in San Francisco on 8 Dec 2019, hosted by the Platypus Affiliated Society.
Moderator: William Lushbough
Featuring:
- Norma Gallegos (Freedom Socialist Party [FSP] and Bay Area Radical Women in SF)
- Lew Finzel (affiliated with News and Letters in Oakland with an interest in Charles Fourier and sexual utopias)
- Audrey Crescenti (Platypus Affiliated Society)
What do we mean by a liberated sexuality? What are the bounds of sexual freedom available to us in capitalism? How do we imagine sexual liberation in socialism? Leftists have variously articulated phenomena such as same-sex marriage, sex work, abortion, gender fluidity and homosexuality as symptoms of economic austerity and/or of class privilege. How does economic life shape our imaginations of sexual freedom?
Why has the state historically intervened in private sexual life under capitalism, and under what circumstances, if any, should the Left support calls for state intervention in sexual life? Both historically and in the present, the Left has sought to lead the struggle for sexual rights within capitalism-- for same-sex marriage, abortion rights, the decriminalization of homosexuality and of sex work, etc.-- in society and/or by legislating via state power. How has the Left failed or succeeded to relate its civil-social and political efforts in the struggle for sexual liberation?
On October 24, 2018, the Platypus Affiliated Society hosted a discussion on 50 years of 1968 at Berkeley City Community College. The discussion was moderated by Audrey Crescenti.
Description:
For half a century, 1968 has represented a high-water mark of social and political transformation, a year of social upheaval that spanned the entire globe. Ushered in by a New Left that sought to distinguish itself from the Old Left that emerged in the 1920s and â30s, the monumental events of 1968 set the tone for everything from protest politics to academic leftism.
Today, with the U.S. entangled in a seemingly endless war in Asia and people calling for the impeachment of an unpopular president, with activists fighting in the streets and calling for liberation along the lines of race, gender, and sexuality, the Leftâs every attempt to discover new methods and new ideas seems to invoke a memory of the political horizons of 1968. We can perhaps more than ever feel the urgency of the question, What lessons are to be drawn from the New Left, as another generation undertakes the project of building a left for the 21st century?
Panelists:
- Bobby Seale (Black Panther Party)
- Max Elbaum (Students for a Democratic Society)
- Watson Ladd (Platypus Affiliated Society)