School of the Art Institute at Chicago
Wednesdays from 6-9 PM
Lakeview Building
116 S Michigan Ave, Room 202
• required / + recommended reading
Lenin readings available in Robert C. Tucker, ed., The Lenin Anthology (Norton, 1977), except (*) on marxists.org
Recommended background readings
+ Richard Appignanesi and Oscar Zarate / A&Z, Introducing Lenin and the Russian Revolution / Lenin for Beginners (1977)
+ John Reed, Ten Days that Shook the World (1919)
Week 1 | June 14
• Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Two Tactics of Social Democracy in the Democratic Revolution (1905), pp. 120-147
• Lenin, On the Two Lines in the Revolution (1915) *
Week 2 | June 21
• Lenin, Lecture on the 1905 Revolution (1917), pp. 278-292
• Lenin, Letters from Afar (1917) *
• Lenin, April Theses (1917), pp. 295-300
Week 3 | June 28
• Lenin, The Dual Power (1917), pp. 301-304
• Lenin, The Enemies of the People (1917), pp. 305-306
• Lenin, The Beginning of Bonapartism (1917), pp. 307-310
Week 4 | July 5
• Lenin, The State and Revolution (1917), pp. 311-398
Week 5 | July 12
• Lenin, Can the Bolsheviks Retain State Power? (1917), pp. 399-406
• Lenin, Marxism and Insurrection (1917), pp. 407-412
• Lenin, Advice of an Onlooker (1917), pp. 413-414
Week 6 | July 19
• Lenin, To the Citizens of Russia! (1917), p. 417
• Lenin, Theses on the Constituent Assembly (1917), pp. 418-422
• Lenin, The Chief Task of Our Day (1918), pp. 433-437
• Lenin, The Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Government (1918), pp. 438-460
Week 7 | July 26
• Lenin, The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky (1918), pp. 461-476
Chicago
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Wednesdays 6pm
116 S. Michigan Ave., Room 202
Berkeley
Berkeley City College Room 033
Mondays 6:00PM
Last seven weeks beginning June 19th
• required / + recommended reading
Lenin readings available in Robert C. Tucker, ed., The Lenin Anthology (Norton, 1977), except (*) on marxists.org
Recommended background readings
+ Richard Appignanesi and Oscar Zarate / A&Z, Introducing Lenin and the Russian Revolution / Lenin for Beginners (1977)
+ John Reed, Ten Days that Shook the World (1919)
Week 1 | June 14
• Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Two Tactics of Social Democracy in the Democratic Revolution (1905)
• Lenin, On the Two Lines in the Revolution (1915) *
Week 2 | June 21
• Lenin, Lecture on the 1905 Revolution (1917)
• Lenin, Letters from Afar (1917) *
• Lenin, April Theses (1917)
Week 3 | June 28
• Lenin, The Dual Power (1917)
• Lenin, The Enemies of the People (1917)
• Lenin, The Beginning of Bonapartism (1917)
Week 4 | July 5
• Lenin, The State and Revolution (1917)
Week 5 | July 12
• Lenin, Can the Bolsheviks Retain State Power? (1917)
• Lenin, Marxism and Insurrection (1917)
• Lenin, Advice of an Onlooker (1917)
Week 6 | July 19
• Lenin, To the Citizens of Russia! (1917)
• Lenin, Theses on the Constituent Assembly (1917)
• Lenin, The Chief Task of Our Day (1918)
• Lenin, The Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Government (1918)
Week 7 | July 26
• Lenin, The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky (1918)
From the Second International to the Frankfurt School
Loyola University
Tuesdays, 7-9:30 PM
6738 N Sheridan Ave
at Starbucks
School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)
Tuesdays, 6-9 PM
112 S Michigan Ave
MacLean Center, Room TBA
University of Chicago
Tuesdays, 6:30-9 PM
1116 E 59th St
Harper Memorial Library, Room 102
University of Illinois at Chicago
Tuesdays, 6-9 PM
701 S Morgan St
Stevenson Hall, Room 101
- required reading / + recommended reading
Recommended winter break preliminary readings:
+ Leszek Kolakowski, “The concept of the Left” (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 1918–19 (1968)
+ Tariq Ali and Phil Evans, Introducing Trotsky and Marxism / Trotsky for Beginners (1980)
+ James Joll, The Second International 1889–1914 (1966)
+ 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
Film screenings: January 2017
- 37 Days(2014) [Episode 1] [Episode 2] [Episode 3]
• Fall of Eagles (1974) episodes: "Absolute Beginners," "The Secret War," and "End Game"
• Rosa Luxemburg (1986)
• Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States (2012) Episodes A (1900-20) and B (1920-40)
• Reds (1981)
Winter–Spring 2017
- Introduction to revolutionary Marxism
Week 13. Revolutionary leadership | Jan 31, 2017
- Rosa Luxemburg, “The Crisis of German Social Democracy” Part 1 (1915)
- J. P. Nettl, “The German Social Democratic Party 1890–1914 as a Political Model”(1965)
- Cliff Slaughter, “What is Revolutionary Leadership?” (1960)
Week 14. Reform or revolution? | Feb 7, 2017
- Luxemburg, Reform or Revolution?(1900/08)
Week 15. Lenin and the vanguard party | Feb 14, 2017
- Spartacist League, Lenin and the Vanguard Party(1978)
Week 16. What is to be done? | Feb 21, 2017
- 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 17. Mass strike and social democracy | Feb 28, 2017
- Luxemburg, The Mass Strike, the Political Party and the Trade Unions(1906)
+ Luxemburg, "Blanquism and Social Democracy" (1906)
Week 18. Permanent revolution | Mar 7, 2017
- Leon Trotsky, Results and Prospects(1906)
+ Tariq Ali and Phil Evans, Introducing Trotsky and Marxism /Trotsky for Beginners (1980)
Week 19. State and revolution | Mar 14, 2017
- Lenin, The State and Revolution(1917)
Week 20. Imperialism | Mar 21, 2017
- Lenin, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism(1916)
+ Lenin, Socialism and War Ch. 1 The principles of socialism and the War of 1914–15 (1915)
Week 21. Mar 28, 2017 (spring break)
Week 22. Failure of the revolution | Apr 4, 2017
- Luxemburg, “What does the Spartacus League Want?”(1918)
- Luxemburg, “On the Spartacus Programme” (1918)
+ Luxemburg, "German Bolshevism" (AKA "The Socialisation of Society") (1918)
+ Luxemburg, “The Russian Tragedy” (1918)
+ Luxemburg, “Order Reigns in Berlin” (1919)
+ Sebastian Haffner, Failure of a Revolution: Germany 1918–19 (1968)
Week 23. March 31-April 2, 2017 [Platypus International Convention]
Week 24. Retreat after revolution | Apr 18, 2017
- Lenin, “Left-Wing” Communism: An Infantile Disorder(1920)
+ Lenin, "Notes of a Publicist" (1922)
Week 25. Dialectic of reification | Apr 25, 2017
- Lukács, “The Standpoint of the Proletariat”(Part III of “Reification and the Consciousness of the Proletariat,” 1923). Available in three sections from marxists.org: section 1 section 2 section 3
Week 26. Lessons of October | May 2, 2017
- Trotsky, The Lessons of October(1924) [PDF] + Trotsky, "Stalinism and Bolshevism" (1937)
Week 27. Trotskyism | May 9, 2017
- Trotsky, The Death Agony of Capitalism and the Tasks of the Fourth International (1938)
+ Trotsky, "To build communist parties and an international anew" (1933)
+ Trotsky, "Trade unions in the epoch of imperialist decay" (1940)
+ Trotsky, Letter to James Cannon (September 12, 1939)
Week 28. The authoritarian state | May 16, 2017
- Friedrich Pollock, "State Capitalism: Its Possibilities and Limitations"(1941) (note 32 on USSR)
- Max Horkheimer, "The Authoritarian State" (1942)
Week 29. On the concept of history | May 23, 2017
- epigraphs by Louis Menand(on Edmund Wilson) and Peter Preuss(on Nietzsche) on the modern concept of history
+ Charles Baudelaire, from Fusées [Rockets] (1867)
+ Bertolt Brecht, "To posterity" (1939)
+ Walter Benjamin, "To the planetarium" (from One-Way Street, 1928)
+ Benjamin, "Experience and poverty" (1933)
+ Benjamin, Theologico-political fragment (1921/39?) - Benjamin, "On the Concept of History" (AKA "Theses on the Philosophy of History") (1940) [PDF]
- Benjamin, Paralipomena to "On the Concept of History" (1940)
Week 30. Reflections on Marxism | May 30, 2017
- Theodor Adorno, “Reflections on Class Theory”(1942)
- Adorno, “Imaginative Excesses”(1944–47)
+ Adorno, Dedication, "Bequest", "Warning: Not to be Misused" and "Finale", Minima Moralia (1944–47)
+ Horkheimer and Adorno, "Discussion about Theory and Praxis" (AKA "Towards a New Manifesto?") [Deutsch] (1956)
Week 31. Theory and practice | Jun 7, 2017
- Adorno, “Marginalia to Theory and Praxis” (1969)
- Adorno, “Resignation” (1969)
+ Adorno, “On Subject and Object” (1969)
+ Adorno, “Late Capitalism or Industrial Society?” (AKA “Is Marx Obsolete?”) (1968)
+ Esther Leslie, Introduction to the 1969 Adorno-Marcuse correspondence (1999)
+ Adorno and Herbert Marcuse, correspondence on the German New Left (1969)
New York
Wednesdays at 6:30pm beginning June 15
School of Visual Arts
380 2nd Ave, Room 804B
Chicago
School of the Art Institute, Chicago
Mondays 6pm
112 S Michigan Ave, Room 919
Houston
Sundays at 3:00 pm (ongoing)
University of Houston
MD Anderson Library (meet in the lobby)
London
Mondays at 6pm
Goldsmiths College, Richard Hoggart Building, Room 257
• required / + recommended reading
Marx readings pp. from Robert C. Tucker, ed., Marx-Engels Reader (Norton 2nd ed., 1978)
Recommended background readings
+ Edmund Wilson, To the Finland Station: A Study in the Writing and Acting of History (1940), Part II. Ch. 12–16 (from "Marx and Engels go back to writing history" to "Karl Marx dies at his desk")
+ James Joll, The Second International 1889–1914 (1966)
Week 1
+ Karl Korsch, "The Marxism of the First International" (1924)
• Karl Marx, Inaugural address to the First International (1864), pp. 512–519
• Ferdinand Lassalle, Open letter to the German workers’ movement (1863)
• Mikhail Bakunin, A Critique of the German Social-Democratic Program (1870)
• Bakunin, Marxism, Freedom and the State (1872)
Week 2
+ 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)
• Karl Kautsky, The Class Struggle (1892)
Week 3
• Kautsky,The Social Revolution (1902)
Week 4
• Peter Kropotkin, The Conquest of Bread, especially Chapters 3, 11 and 12 (1906)
• Kropotkin, Anarchist Communism (1909)
Week 5
• Kautsky, The Road to Power (1909)
In the Fall of semester of 2015 we are now meeting at three locations, on three different days of the week!
SATURDAYS | 1 PM - 4 PM
[Beginning in October/2nd session]
University of Chicago (UC)
Room TBD
TUESDAYS | 7 PM - 9:30 PM
Loyola University (LU)
Damen Student Center
1032 W Sheridan Rd
Room 122
WEDNESDAYS | 6 PM - 9 PM
School of the Art Institute (SAIC)
MacClean Center
112 S Michigan Ave
Room 818
Week 1. What is the Left? I. Capital in history | Sept 29 (LU), Sept 30 (SAIC) 2015
• 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 3 (UC), Oct 6 (LUC), Oct 7 (SAIC) 2015
• 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 10 (UC), Oct 13 (LU), Oct 14 (SAIC) 2015
• Max Horkheimer, selections from Dämmerung (1926–31)
• Adorno, “Imaginative Excesses” (1944–47)
Week 4. What is the Left? IV. Utopia and critique | Oct 17 (UC), Oct 20 (LU), Oct 21 (SAIC) 2015
• 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 24 (UC), Oct 27 (LU), Oct 28 (SAIC) 2015
• 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 | Oct 31 (UC), Nov 3 (LU), Nov 4 (SAIC) 2015
• 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 7 (UC), Nov 10 (LU), Nov 11 (SAIC) 2015
+ 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 14 (UC), Nov 17 (LU), Nov 20 (SAIC) 2015
+ 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. What is Marxism? V. Reification | Nov 21 (UC), Nov 24 (LU), Nov 25 (SAIC) 2015
• 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
Week 10. Nov 28-Dec 1, 2015 U.S. Thanksgiving break
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 8 (LU), Dec 9 (SAIC) 2015 / Jan 9 (UC) 2016
• 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 15 (LU), Dec 16 (SAIC) 2015 / Jan 16 (UC) 2016
• 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
