At the fourth annual international convention of the Platypus Affiliated Society, speakers from various perspectives were asked to bring their experience of the Leftâs recent history to bear on todayâs political possibilities and challenges as part of the "Differing Perspectives on the Left" workshop series.
A workshop on Occupy Chicago with representatives and participants in the movement held on March 31st, 2012.
Platypus International Convention 2012
The 1990s-2000s: combined legacies of the recent history of the Left for today.Â
The two decades of the 1990s 2000s form a cycle containing certain common as well as differing concerns. The second decade of the 21st century has begun under the mixed legacy of recent history, presenting important problems needing to be worked through, moving forward.
For Platypusâ 2012 international convention, two plenary panels will ask speakers from various perspectives to bring their experience of the Leftâs recent history to bear on todayâs political possibilities and challenges.
Registration $20
To register visit:
http://
_________________
PUBLIC PROGRAMÂ
Friday, March 30Â
Workshops: Differing Perspectives on the Left (2:30-5:30pm)
Opening Plenary: The â90s Left Today (7:00-9:00pm)
Saturday, March 31
Workshops: Differing Perspectives on the Left (10:00am-12:00pm)
Panel discussions: Lessons from the recent history of the Left (1:00pm-4:30pm)
- Panel 1: Defining Democracy: the Labor Movement and #Occupy
- Panel 2: Changes in Art and Society: A view from the present
- Panel 3: Politicizing G8 and NATO: Rulers, Domination, and Emancipation
- Panel 4: Whence Anarchism? The historical conjuncture of #Occupy
Closing Plenary: The â00s Left Today (7:30-9:30pm)
Sunday, April 1Â
Platypus Plenary: Why I joined Platypus (11:00am-12:30pm)
Platypus President's Report: 1873-1973: The century of Marxism (1-1:30pm)
Live broadcast: www.livestream.com/platypus1917
Saturday, December 17, 2011
9AM U.S./Canada PST / 10AM MST / 11AM CST / 12PM EST;
and 17:00 London / 18:00 Frankfurt and Berlin /
19:00 Thessaloniki / 22:30 Delhi / 02:00 Seoul
If you are in Chicago:
Saturday, 11am | 17 December 2011 |School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 112 S. Michigan Ave. room 919
Please join Platypus for a brief introduction to and discussion about the relevance of Lenin today, in anticipation of our Winter-Spring 2012 primary Marxist reading group, on the history of revolutionary Marxism, centered on the writings of Lenin, Luxemburg, Trotsky, and Adorno.
The Encyclopedia Britannica's entry on Lenin states that,
"If the Bolshevik Revolution is -- as some people have called it -- the most significant political event of the 20th century, then Lenin must for good or ill be considered the century's most significant political leader. Not only in the scholarly circles of the former Soviet Union, but even among many non-Communist scholars, he has been regarded as both the greatest revolutionary leader and revolutionary statesman in history, as well as the greatest revolutionary thinker since Marx."
Lenin is the most controversial figure in the history of Marxism, and perhaps one of the most controversial figures in all of history. As such, he is an impossible figure for sober consideration, without polemic. Nevertheless, it has become impossible, also, after Lenin, to consider Marxism without reference to him. Broadly, Marxism is divided into avowedly "Leninist" and "anti-Leninist" tendencies. In what ways was Lenin either an advance or a calamity for Marxism? But there is another way of approaching Lenin, which is as an expression of the historical crisis of Marxism. In other words, Lenin as a historical figure is unavoidably significant as manifesting a crisis of Marxism. The question is how Lenin provided the basis for advancing that crisis, how the polarization around Lenin could provide the basis for advancing the potential transformation of Marxism, in terms of resolving certain problems.
The Frankfurt School Critical Theorist Theodor Adorno, in his 1966 book Negative Dialectics, wrote of the degeneration of Marxism due to "dogmatization and thought-taboos." There is no other figure in the history of Marxism who has been subject to such "dogmatization and thought-taboos" as much as Lenin.
It is important to note as well that Adorno himself sought to remain, as he put it, "faithful to Marx, Engels and Lenin, while keeping up with culture at its most advanced," to which his colleague Max Horkheimer replied, simply, "Who would not subscribe to that?"
Today, such a proposition seems especially implausible, in many ways. Yet perhaps the memory of Lenin haunts us still, however obscurely.
The discussion will be broadcast live on the web. Additionally, a recording will be made available after the event.
Recommended background readings:
"1917"
http://platypus1917.org/2009/11/18/the-decline-of-the-left-in-the-20th-century-1917/
"Lenin's liberalism"
http://platypus1917.org/2011/06/01/lenin%E2%80%99s-liberalism/
"Lenin's politics"
http://platypus1917.org/2011/09/25/lenins-politics/
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)
"Want to know what the mother of all bubbles was? Came out of nowhere, by chance. They called it the Cambrian Explosion. It happened around 530 million years ago. And, over the next 70-80 million years, the rate of evolution accelerated so fast that we came along, the human race. They still can't explain how that happened, except that it happened. Some people say it was by chance. Others, design. But who really knows?"
School of the Art Institute of Chicago:Â TH 10.13.2011 | 4PM
112 S. Michigan 14th floor lounge
University of Chicago:Â TH 10.20.2011 | 6PM
Harper Memorial Library | Room 102 | 1116 E. 59th St., Chicago, IL
"I don't blame you. I mean, I do, but -- sh**, you're not the problem. You're just doing your job, I guess. The people I'm really trying to fight are the ones who destroy so much, and they hurt so many lives. Not just one. Literally, millions. And no one ever points a gun at them. You know, they just seem so -- unaccountable. Untouchable. Just seems kind of f***ed that you're -- you and me are the ones that have to fight each other."
University of Chicago:Â TH 10.13.2011 | 6PM
Harper Memorial Library | Room 151 | 1116 E. 59th St., Chicago, IL
School of the Art Institute of Chicago:Â TH 10.20.2011 | 4PM
112 S. Michigan 14th floor lounge
The recent #occupy protests protests depart significantly from the anti-war politics that has defined activism on the Left for the past decade. Slogans decrying corporate greed now dominate the picket signs that until recently were used to condemn U.S. imperialism. However, does this spreading protest movement signal a new era of activism in the U.S.? Or, are these recent demonstrations expressing old and familiar discontents? Perhaps, as the role of Adbusters suggests, something of the 1990s has come back into vogue, bringing back to the fore the age-old hatred of the bankers and impersonal financial institutions, and opposition to neoliberal globalization, now in crisis. The spirit of the 1999 Seattle protest against the World Trade Organization seems to have returned, with a vengeance.
Please join Platypus in considering the historical sources of the ongoing anti-Wall Street protests through the lens of two recent films that highlight the popular imagination of contemporary Capitalism and its discontents.
Contact: saic@platypus1917.org and uofc@platypus1917.org
Please read the article "Finance capital: Why financial capitalism is no more 'fictitious' than any other kind" by the Platypus Historians Group (Platypus Review issue #7, October 2008): http://platypus1917.org/2008/10/01/finance-capital-why-financial-capitalism-is-no-more-fictitious-than-any-other-kind/
Platypus in Chicago will be giving a series of talks on The Relevance of Marxism Today at Occupy Chicago, look out for the banner, âThe Left is Dead! Long Live the Left!â, and come join us for discussion.
Teach-in: Does Marxism Matter?Â
In the mid-19th century, Marx and Engels famously observed in the Communist Manifesto that a âspecterâ was haunting Europeâthe specter of Communism. 160 years later, it is âMarxismâ itself that haunts us.
In the 21st century, it seems that the Left abandoned Marxism as a path to freedom. But Marx critically intervened in his own moment and emboldened leftists to challenge society; is the Left not tasked with this today? Has the Left resolved the problems posed by Marx, and thus moved on?
Does Marxism even matter?
Pamphlet: "Finance capital: Why financial capitalism is no more 'fictitious' than any other kind"
