Chicago, New York
Saturdays 1â4PM CST
School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)
112 S. Michigan Ave. room 920
Sundays 2â5PM EST
New School University
Eugene Lang College
65 W. 11th St. room 258
Summer 2013
Late capitalism
⢠required / + recommended reading
Week 1. | Jun. 22â23, 2013
⢠Moishe Postone, "Contemporary historical transformations: Mandel and Bell" (1999)
⢠Daniel Bell, "Modernism and capitalism" (Foreword to The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, 1978)
+ Postone, "Theorizing the contemporary world: Brenner, Arrighi, Harvey" (2006)
Week 2. | Jun. 29â30, 2013
⢠Ernest Mandel, Late Capitalism (1972) pp. 8-183
Week 3. | Jul. 6â7, 2013
⢠Mandel, Late Capitalism pp. 184-342
Week 4. | Jul. 13â14, 2013
⢠Mandel, Late Capitalism pp. 343-473
Week 5. | Jul. 20â21, 2013
⢠Mandel, Late Capitalism pp. 474-590
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Fall 2012 â Winter 2013 [revised schedule!]
I. What is the Left? â What is Marxism?
Sundays, 2â5PM EST
Eugene Lang College Building
The New School for Social Research
65 West 11th Street, Room 258
New York, NY 10011
⢠required / + recommended reading
Marx and Engels readings pp. from Robert C. Tucker, ed., Marx-Engels Reader (Norton 2nd ed., 1978)
Week A. Aug. 4â5, 2012
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)
⢠epigraphs on modern history and freedom by James Miller (on Jean-Jacques Rousseau), Louis Menand (on Edmund Wilson), Karl Marx, on âbecomingâ (from the Grundrisse, 1857â58), and Peter Preuss (on Nietzsche)
+ Rainer Maria Rilke, âArchaic Torso of Apolloâ (1908)
+ Robert Pippin, âOn Critical Theoryâ (2004)
⢠Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1754) PDFs of preferred translation (5 parts):[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
⢠Rousseau, selection from On the Social Contract (1762)
Week B. Aug. 11â12, 2012
⢠G.W.F. Hegel, Introduction to the Philosophy of History (1831) [HTML] [PDF pp. 14-128]
Week C. Aug. 18â19, 2012
⢠Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Use and Abuse of History for Life (1874) [translator's introduction by Peter Preuss]
Week D. Aug. 25â26, 2012
+ Human, All Too Human: Nietzsche: Beyond Good and Evil (1999)
⢠Nietzsche, selection from On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense (1873)
⢠Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals: A Polemic (1887)
Week E. Sep. 1â2, 2012 Labor Day weekend
⢠Martin Nicolaus, âThe unknown Marxâ (1968)
⢠Moishe Postone, âNecessity, labor, and timeâ (1978)
⢠Postone, âHistory and helplessness: Mass mobilization and contemporary forms of anticapitalismâ (2006)
+ Postone, âTheorizing the contemporary world: Brenner, Arrighi, Harveyâ (2006)
Week F. Sep. 8â9, 2012
⢠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 G. Sep. 15â16, 2012
⢠Richard Fraser, âTwo lectures on the black question in America and revolutionary integrationismâ (1953)
⢠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 H. Sep. 22â23, 2012
⢠Wilhelm Reich, âIdeology as material powerâ (1933/46)
⢠Siegfried Kracauer, âThe mass ornamentâ (1927)
+ Kracauer, âPhotographyâ (1927)
Week 1. Sep. 29â30, 2012
⢠epigraphs on modern history and freedom by Louis Menand (on Marx and Engels) and Karl Marx, on âbecomingâ (from the Grundrisse, 1857â58)
⢠Chris Cutrone, âCapital in historyâ (2008)
⢠Cutrone, âThe Marxist hypothesisâ (2010)
Week 2. Oct. 6â7, 2012
⢠Immanuel Kant, âIdea for a universal history from a cosmopolitan point of viewâ and âWhat is Enlightenment?â(1784)
⢠Benjamin Constant, âThe liberty of the ancients compared with that of the modernsâ (1819)
+ Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the origin of inequality (1754)
+ Rousseau, selection from On the social contract (1762)
Week 3. Oct. 13â14, 2012
⢠Max Horkheimer, selections from Dämmerung (1926â31)
⢠Adorno, âImaginative Excessesâ (1944â47)
Week 4. Oct. 20â21, 2012
⢠Leszek Kolakowski, âThe concept of the Leftâ (1968)
⢠Marx, To make the world philosophical (from Marxâs dissertation, 1839â41), pp. 9â11
⢠Marx, For the ruthless criticism of everything existing (letter to Arnold Ruge, September 1843), pp. 12â15
Week 5. What is Marxism? I. Socialism | Nov. 11, 2012
⢠Marx, selections from Economic and philosophic manuscripts (1844), pp. 70â101
⢠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. 501â511
Week 6. What is Marxism? II. Revolution in 1848 | Nov. 18, 2012
⢠Engels, The tactics of social democracy (Engelsâs 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 7. What is Marxism? III. Bonapartism | Nov. 25, 2012 (Thanksgiving weekend)
+ Karl Korsch, âThe Marxism of the First Internationalâ (1924)
⢠Marx, Inaugural address to the First International (1864), pp. 512â519
⢠Marx, selections from The Civil War in France (1871, including Engelsâs 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 8. What is Marxism? IV. Critique of political economy | Dec. 2, 2012
⢠Marx, selections from the Grundrisse (1857â61), pp. 222â226, 236â244, 247â250, 282â294
⢠Marx, Capital Vol. I, Ch. 1 Sec. 4 âThe fetishism of commoditiesâ (1867), pp. 319â329
Weeks 10-11. What is Marxism? V. and VI. Reification and Class Consciousness | Dec. 9, 2012
⢠Georg LukĂĄcs, âThe phenomenon of reificationâ (Part I of âReification and the consciousness of the proletariat,â History and Class Consciousness, 1923)
⢠LukĂĄcs, Original Preface (1922), âWhat is Orthodox Marxism?â (1919), âClass Consciousnessâ (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. 294â298, 299â302
Week 12. What is Marxism? VII. Ends of philosophy | Dec. 16, 2012
⢠Korsch, âMarxism and philosophyâ (1923)
+ Marx, To make the world philosophical (from Marxâs dissertation, 1839â41), pp. 9â11
+ Marx, For the ruthless criticism of everything existing (letter to Arnold Ruge, September 1843), pp. 12â15
+ Marx, âTheses on Feuerbachâ (1845), pp. 143â145
The Russian Revolution, which Lenin held up as the torch-light of emancipation for the world proletariat, is being run into national socialist channels. . . . âThe Russian proletariat,â said Lenin, âcannot single-handed bring the socialist revolution to a victorious conclusion. But it can give the Russian revolution a mighty impetus such as would create most favorable conditions for a socialist revolution, and would, in a sense, start it. It can help to create more favorable circumstances for its most important, most trustworthy and most reliable collaborator, the European and American proletariat, to join the decisive battlesâ (âFarewell letter to the Swiss workers,â 1917).
Boston, Chicago, London, New York, Philadelphia
Video will be broadcast live and available as recordings at: http://www.livestream.com/platypusaffiliatedsociety
Saturdays 1â4PM CST
School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)
112 S. Michigan Ave. room 920
Chicago Platypus Facebook invitation: http://www.facebook.com/events/140497572752262/
Saturdays 2â5PM EST
The New School
6 E. 16th St. (between Union Square West and 5th Ave.) room 1001
⢠recommended / + supplemental reading
Recommended preliminary readings:
+ Tariq Ali and Phil Evans, Introducing Trotsky and Marxism / Trotsky for Beginners (1980)
+ Nicolas KrassĂł, âTrotskyâs Marxismâ (1967)
⢠Platypus Historians Group, âThe dead Left: Trotskyismâ (2008)
⢠Richard Rubin, âThe decline of the Left in the 20th century: 1933âł (2009)
⢠Ian Morrison, âTrotskyâs Marxismâ (2011)
⢠Mike Macnair, Bryan Palmer, Richard Rubin, and Jason Wright, âThe legacy of Trotskyismâ (2011)
⢠Grover Furr, âLearning from the Communist Movement of the 20th century: A response to Richard Rubinâ(2012)
+ Spartacist League, Lenin and the Vanguard Party (1978)
+ Richard Appignanesi and Oscar Zarate / A&Z, Introducing Lenin and the Russian Revolution / Lenin for Beginners (1978)
+ Isaac Deutscher, The Prophet: Trotsky biography (three volumes: 1954, 1959, 1963)
Week 1. Jun. 16, 2012
1879â1905
lecture: video recording | audio recording
⢠Tariq Ali and Phil Evans, Introducing Trotsky and Marxism / Trotsky for Beginners (1980)
⢠Leon Trotsky, Results and Prospects (1906)
Week 2. Jun. 23, 2012
1905â17
lecture: video recording [glitches after ~32:00] | audio recording [without glitches]
+ Trotsky, 1905 (1907)
Week 3. Jun. 30, 2012
1917â23
lecture: video recording | audio recording
⢠Trotsky, Terrorism and Communism (1920)
⢠Trotsky, The Lessons of October (1924) [PDF]
+ Trotsky, Literature and Revolution (1924)
+ Bret Schneider, âTrotskyâs theory of artâ (2011)
Week 4. Jul. 7, 2012
1923â33
lecture: video recording | audio recording
+ Trotsky, Where is Britain Going? (1925)
+ Trotsky, Problems of the Chinese Revolution 1927â31 (1932)
+ Trotsky, writings on the rise of Hitler and the destruction of the German Left (1930â40), especially âTo build communist parties and an international anewâ (1933)
Week 5. Jul. 14, 2012
1933â40
lecture: video recording | audio recording
⢠Trotsky, âStalinism and Bolshevismâ (1937)
⢠Trotsky, The Death Agony of Capitalism and the Tasks of the Fourth International (1938)
+ Trotsky, âTrade unions in the epoch of imperialist decayâ (1940)
+ Trotsky, The Revolution Betrayed (1936)
+ Trotsky, In Defense of Marxism (1939/40), especially âLetter to James Cannonâ (September 12, 1939)
+ Trotsky, âArt and politics on our epochâ (1938)
+ Mary McCarthy, âMy Confessionâ (1954)
Week 6. Jul. 21, 2012
1940â53
lecture: video recording | audio recording
+ James Cannon, âThe coming American revolutionâ (1946)
+ C.L.R. James, Raya Dunayevskaya, et al., âProgram of the minority tendency of the Workers Party/U.S.â (1946)
+ C.L.R. James, âDialectical materialism and the fate of humanityâ (1947)
+ Herbert Marcuse, â33 Thesesâ (1947)
+ Earl Browder and Max Shachtman with C. Wright Mills, âIs Russia a socialist community?â (1950)
+ Ernest Mandel, âThe theory of âstate capitalismââ (1951)
+ Michel Pablo, âOn the duration and the nature of the period of transition from capitalism to socialismâ (1951)
+ Pablo, âWhere are we going?â (1953)
Week 7. Jul. 28, 2012
1953â63
lecture: video recording [ends ~4:00 prematurely] | audio recording [complete]
+ Cornelius Castoriadis, âThe workers and organizationâ (1959)
⢠Cliff Slaughter, âWhat is revolutionary leadership?â (1960)
⢠Revolutionary Tendency of the Socialist Workers Party/U.S., âIn defense of a revolutionary perspectiveâ(1962)
+ Tony Cliff, âThe coming Russian revolutionâ (final chapter of Russia: A Marxist Analysis, 1964)
+ Hal Draper, âThe two souls of socialismâ (1966)
+ Isaac Deutscher, âMarxism in our timeâ (1965)
+ Murray Bookchin, âListen, Marxist!â (1969)
⢠Spartacist League, âGenesis of Pabloismâ (1972)
2012â13
Primary Marxist reading group
I. What is the Left? â What is Marxism?
⢠required / + recommended reading
Week A. Aug. 4, 2012
⢠epigraphs on modern history and freedom by James Miller (on Jean-Jacques Rousseau), Louis Menand (on Edmund Wilson), Karl Marx, on âbecomingâ (from the Grundrisse, 1857â58), and Peter Preuss (on Nietzsche)
+ Rainer Maria Rilke, âArchaic Torso of Apolloâ (1908)
+ Robert Pippin, âOn Critical Theoryâ (2004)
⢠Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1754) PDFs of preferred translation (5 parts):[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
⢠Rousseau, selection from On the Social Contract (1762)
Week B. Aug. 11, 2012
⢠G.W.F. Hegel, Introduction to the Philosophy of History (1831) [HTML] [PDF pp. 14-128]
Week C. Aug. 18, 2012
⢠Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Use and Abuse of History for Life (1874) [translator's introduction by Peter Preuss]
Week D. Aug. 25, 2012
⢠Nietzsche, selection from On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense (1873)
⢠Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals (1887)
Week E. Sep. 1, 2012 Labor Day weekend
⢠Martin Nicolaus, âThe unknown Marxâ (1968)
⢠Moishe Postone, âNecessity, labor, and timeâ (1978)
⢠Postone, âHistory and helplessness: Mass mobilization and contemporary forms of anticapitalismâ (2006)
+ Postone, âTheorizing the contemporary world: Brenner, Arrighi, Harveyâ (2006)
Week F. Sep. 8, 2012
⢠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 G. Sep. 15, 2012
⢠Richard Fraser, âTwo lectures on the black question in America and revolutionary integrationismâ (1953)
⢠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 H. Sep. 22, 2012
⢠Wilhelm Reich, âIdeology as material powerâ (1933/46)
⢠Siegfried Kracauer, âThe mass ornamentâ (1927)
+ Kracauer, âPhotographyâ (1927)
Week 1. Sep. 29, 2012
⢠Chris Cutrone, âCapital in historyâ (2008)
⢠Cutrone, âThe Marxist hypothesisâ (2010)
The Platypus New York Chapter presents:
The Cradle Will Rock (1999), a film screening and discussion
Friday, December 11th, 6:00 pm-9:00 pm
The New School, 66 W. 12th St., rm. 404.
There will be a short discussion following the film. If you wish to attend and are not a student at the New School, please contact Chris Mansour @ chris.d.mansour@gmail.com to get your name on the security list.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0150216/