Summer and Fall/Autumn 2021 â Winter 2022
I. What is the Left? â What is Marxism?
⢠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 | Jul. 31, 2021
⢠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 perspective) 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. 7, 2021
⢠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. 14, 2021
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)
+ Freud categories chart of terms [PNG]
⢠John DâEmilio, âCapitalism and gay identityâ (1983)
Week D. 1960s New Left III. Anti-black racism in the U.S. | Aug. 21, 2021
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 | Aug. 28, 2021
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
⢠Wilhelm Reich, âIdeology as material powerâ (1933/46)
+ Freud categories chart of terms [PNG]
⢠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. 4, 2021
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) [on freedom and alienation]
Week G. Radical bourgeois philosophy II. Adam Smith: On the wealth of nations (part 1) | Sep. 11, 2021
⢠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. 18, 2021
⢠Smith, selections from The Wealth of Nations
Volume II [PDF]
IV.7, Of Colonies
V.1. Of the Expences of the Sovereign or Commonwealth Article 2d and 3d and Part IV
Week I. Radical bourgeois philosophy IV. What is the Third Estate? | Sep. 25, 2021
⢠AbbÊ Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, What is the Third Estate? (1789) [full text]
+ Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees (1732)
Week J. Radical bourgeois philosophy V. Kant and Constant: Bourgeois society | Oct. 2, 2021
⢠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. 9, 2021
"When we look at this drama of human passions, and observe the consequences of their violence and of the unreason that is linked not only to them but also (and especially) to good intentions and rightful aims; when we see arising from them all the evil, the wickedness, the decline of the most flourishing nations mankind has produced, we can only be filled with grief for all that has come to nothing. And since this decline and fall is not merely the work of nature but of the will of men, we might well end with moral outrage over such a drama, and with a revolt of our good spirit (if there is a spirit of goodness in us). Without rhetorical exaggeration, we could paint the most fearful picture of the misfortunes suffered by the noblest of nations and states as well as by private virtues â and with that picture we could arouse feelings of the deepest and most helpless sadness, not to be outweighed by any consoling outcome. We can strengthen ourselves against this, or escape it, only by thinking that, well, so it was at one time; it is fate; there is nothing to be done about it now. And finally â in order to cast off the tediousness that this reflection of sadness could produce in us and to return to involvement in our own life, to the present of our own aims and interests â we return to the selfishness of standing on a quiet shore where we can be secure in enjoying the distant sight of confusion and wreckage⌠But as we contemplate history as this slaughter-bench, upon which the happiness of nations, the wisdom of states, and the virtues of individuals were sacrificed, the question necessarily comes to mind: What was the ultimate goal for which these monstrous sacrifices were made?⌠World history is the progress in the consciousness of freedom â a progress that we must come to know in its necessity⌠The Orientals knew only that one person is free; the Greeks and Romans that some are free; while we [moderns] know that all humans are implicitly free, qua human⌠The final goal of the world, we said, is Spiritâs consciousness of its freedom, and hence also the actualization of that very freedom⌠It is this final goal â freedom â toward which all the worldâs history has been working. It is this goal to which all the sacrifices have been brought upon the broad altar of the earth in the long flow of time."
â Hegel, Introduction to the Philosophy of History
⢠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. 16, 2021
⢠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 perspective) 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. 23, 2021
⢠Max Horkheimer, selections from Dämmerung (1926â31)
⢠Adorno, âImaginative Excessesâ (1944â47)
⢠Leszek Kolakowski, âThe concept of the Leftâ (1958)
⢠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 | Oct. 30, 2021
⢠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. 469â500
⢠Marx, The coming upheaval (from The Poverty of Philosophy, 1847), pp. 218â19
Week 4. What is Marxism? II. Revolution in 1848 | Nov. 6, 2021
⢠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. 218â220
⢠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. 13, 2021
+ 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. 20, 2021
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. 276â281
⢠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)
+ 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
Week 8. Nov. 27, 2021 U.S. Thanksgiving break
Week 7. What is Marxism? V. Reification | Dec. 4, 2021 / Jan. 1, 2022
⢠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. 11, 2021 / Jan. 8, 2022
⢠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. 18, 2021 / Jan. 15, 2022
⢠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 2022
II. Introduction to revolutionary Marxism
Mondays at 6:30pm BST via Zoom (recurring link here:Â
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86210746511). Everyone welcome.
( ⢠required / + recommended readings)
Required background reading:
⢠Six readings by Chris Cutrone, "Revolution without Marx? Rousseau, Kant and Hegel" (2013); Review of Andrew Feenberg, The Philosophy of Praxis (2015); "Why still read Lukacs? The place of 'philosophical' questions in Marxism" (2014); "Ends of philosophy" (2018); "On philosophy and Marxism" (2020); and âThe negative dialectic of Marxismâ (2021)
Recommended supplemental reading:
+ Adorno, Lectures on Negative Dialectics
+ Adorno, History and Freedom
+ Adorno, Introduction to Dialectics
+ Adorno, Ontology and Dialectics
+ Adorno, Metaphysics: Concepts and Problems
Primary sources:
⢠Theodor Adorno, Negative Dialectics (1966, trans. E.B. Ashton, 1973)
+ Alternate translation by Dennis Redmond (2001/2021) [2021 updated PDF]
Charts of terms:
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Kant's 3 Critiques [PNG] and philosophy [PNG] chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Reification chart of terms
+ Adorno's critique of actionism chart of terms
Week 1: June 7, 2021
⢠Gillian Rose, Review of Adorno's Negative Dialectics (1976)
⢠Theodor W. Adorno, "Why still philosophy?"
⢠Chris Cutrone, "Ends of philosophy" (2018); "On philosophy and Marxism" (2020); and âThe negative dialectic of Marxismâ (2021)
Week 2: June 14, 2021
⢠Adorno, Negative Dialectics, Prologue (Preface and Introduction)
Week 3: June 21, 2021
⢠Adorno, Negative Dialectics, Part One: Relation to Ontology: I. The Ontological Need
Week 4: June 28, 2021
⢠Adorno, Negative Dialectics, Part One: Relation to Ontology: II. Being and Existence
Week 5: July 5, 2021
⢠Adorno, Negative Dialectics, Part Two: Negative Dialectics: Concepts and Categories
Week 6: July 12, 2021
⢠Adorno, Negative Dialectics, Part Three: Models: I. Freedom
Week 7: July 19, 2021
⢠Adorno, Negative Dialectics, Part Three: Models: II. World Spirit and Natural History
Week 8: July 26, 2021
⢠Adorno, Negative Dialectics, Part Three: Models: III. Meditations on Metaphysics
+ Cutrone, "Ends of philosophy" (2018); "On philosophy and Marxism" (2020); and âThe negative dialectic of Marxismâ (2021)
Tuesdays, June 15 â August 3, 2021
8:00PM CEST / 7:00PM BST / 2:00PM EST / 1:00PM CST / 11:00AM PDT
Facebook event: https://fb.me/e/TvSfPAgl
Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/96837479077?pwd=clJWREt5UkdxNTJWRkZzUXNDSXdwQT09
All readings are either available via links on this syllabus or in the Black Question google folder
⢠required readings / + supplemental readings
Week 1 | June 15, 2021: From the Colonial Era to the Age of Revolutions
⢠New York Times, âIntroduction to the 1619 Projectâ
⢠John Locke, âOf Property,â Ch. 5 of the Second Treatise of Government, pp. 285â302. [Kindle chapter]
⢠Barbara J. Fields, âSlavery, Race and Ideology in the United States of Americaâ New Left Review 181 (May/June 1990), 95â118.
⢠AbbÊ Raynal, Philosophical and Political History of the Settlements and Trade of the Europeans in the East and West Indies (1770) (extract 3pp.)
⢠Thomas Jefferson's "original Rough draught" of the Declaration of Independence
⢠âNatural and Inalienable Right to Freedomâ: Slavesâ Petition for Freedom to the Massachusetts Legislature, 17 January 1777 (2 pp.)
⢠Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia (1782) (extract 3pp. pdf)
⢠Decree of the French National Convention of 4 February 1794, Abolishing Slavery in all the Colonies (1p.)
⢠Thomas Jefferson to Henri Gregoire, February 25, 1809 (1p.)
⢠Thomas Jefferson to John Lynch, January 21, 1811 (2pp.)
⢠Thomas Jefferson to John Holmes, April 22, 1820 (1pp.)
⢠Thomas Jefferson to Frances Wright, August 7, 1825 (1p.)
+ J. Vaughn, âThe Legacy of the American Revolution 1: (English) Colonial Americaâ (06/12/20) and âThe Legacy of the American Revolution 2: The American Revolutionâ (06/19/20) in the Legacy of the American Revolution, Platypus lecture series.
+ C. Cutrone, âThe Jeffersonian Revolutionâ (06/26/2020) for the Platypus Legacy of the American Revolution lecture series.
+ D.L. Jacobs and L. Bronder-Giroux, âAn interview with Gerald Horneâ in The Platypus Review 129, September 2020
+ K. Brooks, âWould slavery have ended sooner if the British had defeated the Colonistsâ bid for independence?â The Platypus Review 109, September 2018.
Films:
⢠Jefferson in Paris (1995)
⢠Sally Hemings: An American Scandal (2000)
Week 2 | June 22, 2021: The Slaveholdersâ Rebellion: The American Civil War
Frederick Douglasâs What is the Fourth of July for the Negro? Speech Text 1852
[Video] Frederick Douglasâs What is the Fourth of July for the Negro? 1852Lincolnâs Cooper Union Address Text 1860
Video: Lincolnâs Cooper Union Address Video 1860
Wendell Phillipsâs Criticism of Lincoln and the Union War Effort Summer 1862
Lincolnâs Address to Congress text 1862
Lincolnâs Gettysburg Address Text 1863
[Audio] Lincolnâs Gettysburg Address Video 1863Karl Marx, First International Address on Reelection of Abraham Lincoln (Written by Karl Marx) 1864
+ Lincolnâs Letter on Thomas Jefferson 1859
+ Pamela Nogales, âJacksonian Democracyâ (7/3/20) in the Platypus Legacy of the American Revolution lecture series, video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZz0th8Pgzw&t=2724s
+ Spencer Leonard, âThe Civil War and Failed Reconstructionâ (7/10/20) in the Platypus Legacy of the American Revolution lecture series
+ Spencer Leonard, âFor liberty and union: An interview with James McPhersonâ in The Platypus Review 53, February 2013.
Films:
⢠Glory (1989)
⢠Lincoln (2012)
Week 3 | June 29, 2021: Early Twentieth Century Debates: Separatists, Communists, and Socialists
⢠W.E.B. Dubois, âOf Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others,â in The Soul of Black Folk (pp. 33â44)
⢠Eugene V. Debs, The Negro in the Class Struggle (1903) (4pp)
⢠Eugene V. Debs, The Negro and His Nemesis (1904) (8 pp.)
⢠Hubert Harrison, âSocialism and the Negroâ (1912) (5pp. pdf)
⢠Claude McKay, âSocialism and the Negroâ (1920) (4pp. pdf)
⢠John Reed, âThe Negro Question in Americaâ Speech at the 2nd World Congress of the Communist International, Moscow, July 26, 1920 (6pp. pdf)
⢠Cyril Briggs, âThe African Blood Brotherhoodâ (June 1920) (3 pp.)
⢠Cyril Briggs, âThe Negro Conventionâ (Oct. 1, 1921) (2 pp.)
+ Tim Barker, âBook Review: Jeffrey B. Perry, Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism, 1882â1918 (2008)â in The Platypus Review 19 January 2010.
+ Benjamin Blumberg, âAn Unmet Challenge: Race and the Left in Americaâ in The Platypus Review 19, January 2010.
+ Greg Gabrellas, âBook Review: Michael Rudolph West: The Education of Booker T. Washington: American Democracy and the Idea of Race Relations (2006)â in The Platypus Review 15, September 2009.
+ Sunit Singh, "Imperialism and the Left" in Platypus Review 128 (July 2020)
+ âReport on the Black Questionâ (1922) in J. Riddell (ed.), Toward the United Front (2012), pp. 800-811.
+ âTheses on the Black Questionâ (1922) [Final Text] in J. Riddell (ed.), ibid, pp. 947â951.
+ Trotsky, âA Letter to Comrade McKay,â (13 March 1923) in Trotsky, First Five Years of the Communist International, (1977) v. 2, pp. 476-479.
Film:
⢠Rosewood (1997)
Week 4 | July 6, 2021: The Old Left and the Black Question
⢠Harry Haywood, âThe Negro Problem and the Tasks of the Communist Party of the United Statesâ (1928) (7 pp. pdf)
⢠Max Shachtman, Communism and the Negro (Race and Revolution) (1933) (100 pp.)
+ Harvey Klehr & William Tompson (1989) âSelf-determination in the Black Belt: Origins of a Communist Policy,â Labor History, 30:3, 354-366.
Week 5 | July 13, 2021: Frantz Fanon
⢠Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks (1952) (Introduction & Chs. 5â8 in pdf)
⢠Frantz Fanon, Wretched of the Earth (1961) Ch 6: Conclusion
⢠Sunit Singh, âBook Review: Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masksâ The Platypus Review 21, March 2010.
+ [Audio] Spencer Leonard, Platypus Teach-in: "A Black Man Speaks of Marx": The Sartre-Fanon Dialogues of the 1940s and 1950s (November 2010)
Film:
⢠Isaac Julien, Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask (1995)
Note: Free on Kanopy (sign in with Uni ID), also available on Amazon streaming (U.S.)
Week 6 | July 20, 2021: The New Left and the Black Question, pt. 1
⢠Richard Fraser, âFor the Materialist Conception of the Negro Struggleâ (1955) (28 pp.)
⢠James Robertson and Shirley Stoute, âFor black Trotskyismâ (1963) (9 pp.)
⢠Bayard Rustin, "From protest to politics" (1965) (7pp.)
⢠Spartacist League, âBlack and red: Class struggle road to Negro freedomâ (1966) (15 pp.)
⢠Harold Cruse, The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual (1967), (selections part 1, 3â10 and 11â63)
+ Richard Fraser, âTwo lectures on the black question in America and revolutionary integrationismâ (1953)
+ [Video] Martin Luther King, "The Other America" (1967) (48 mins)
+ Coleman Hughes and Jim Creegan, âBayard Rustin: Black Liberation and Socialismâ The Platypus Review 131, November 2020
Films:
⢠Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin (2003)
⢠All the Way (2016)
Week 7 | July 27, 2021: The New Left and the Black Question, pt. 2: The Black Power Turn
⢠Stokley Carmichael, Black Power Speech (1966) [Audio]
Edited transcription of speech
Note: Audio silence from 29:02â30:05, but picks up where it left off.
⢠Harold Cruse, The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual (1967) (part 2, 451â475 and 544â565)
⢠Bayard Rustin, âThe failure of black separatismâ (1970) (9 pp.)
⢠Bayard Rustin, "The blacks and the unions" (1971) (6 pp.)
⢠Spartacist League, "Soul power or workers' power: The rise and fall of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers" (1974) (18 pp.)
⢠Adolph Reed, âBlack particularity reconsideredâ (1979) (23 pp.)
+ Malcolm X., âAnd I Donât Mean Bananasâ (1964) (16 pp.)
+ Black Panther Party, âTen-Point Programâ (1966)
+ Chris Cutrone, "When was the crisis of capitalism? Moishe Postone and the legacy of the 1960s New Left" in the Platypus Review 70 (October 2014)
+ Audrey Crescenti, âThe Black Panther Party and community organizing: An interview with Bobby Sealeâ in The Platypus Review 113, February 2019
+ Sophia Freeman, âThe Black Panther Party, Malcolm X, and the question of revolutionary politics today: An interview with Kathleen Cleaverâ in The Platypus Review 113, February 2019
Films:
⢠Finally Got the News (1970)
⢠Newsreel films on the Black Panthers, âOff the Pigâ (Newsreel #19) (1967) Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U2ApK2nAO8
Note: âOff the Pigâ contains interviews with Party leaders Eldridge Cleaver and Huey Newton describing why the Party was formed and its goals. The film is not available streaming online but many university libraries have a copy. Info: http://www.newsreel.us/DVD/information.htm
Week 8 | August 3, 2021: Platypus Hosts the Conversation: From Obama to #BLM
⢠âProgress or regress? The future of the Left under Obamaâ (2009)
Panelists: Chris Cutrone, Platypus; Stephen Duncombe, NYU, author of Dream: Re-imagining Progressive Politics in an Age of Fantasy (2007); Pat Korte, new Students for a Democratic Society (SDS); Charles Post, Solidarity; and Paul Street, author of Barack Obama and the Future of American Politics (2008).
⢠Platypus Public Panel Series: âBlack Politics and State Violenceâ (2015)
⢠School of Visual Arts (03/11/15) [Audio]
Panelists: Ben Blumberg (Platypus), Dread Scott (Artist), Eljeer Hawkins (Socialist Alternative/CWI)
⢠UC Santa Cruz (03/27/2015) [Video]
Panelists: Boots Riley of the hip-hop group âThe Coup,â Clarence Thomas former Secretary-Treasurer of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, and Nancy Kato from the People of Color caucus of the Freedom Socialist Party.
⢠Police Brutality and the Left (July 11, 2020)
Panelists: Gerald Smith (Oscar Grant Committee), Larry Holmes (Workers World Party), Andrea Pritchett (Berkeley Copwatch), and Conrad Cartmell (DSA, Class Unity Caucus).
⢠"The Fate of the American Revolution," in the Platypus Review 130, October 2020
+ Platypus at Left Forum NYC 2010: The American Left and the "black question:" from politics to protest to the post-political (2010) [Audio] Panelists: Tim Barker, Columbia U.; Benjamin Blumberg, Platypus; Pamela Nogales, Platypus; Chris Cutrone, Platypus
+ âBlack Politics in the Age of Obamaâ (Chicago, 2013)
Panelists: Cedric Johnson, author of Revolutionaries to Race Leaders: Black Power and the Making of African American Politics (2007) and The Neoliberal Deluge (2011); and Mel Rothenberg, veteran of the Sojourner Truth Organization and coauthor of The Myth of Capitalism Reborn (1980).
+ Platypus Public Panel Series: âBlack Politics and State Violenceâ (2015) University of Chicago (03/20/15) [Audio] Panelists: Michael Dawson and Mel Rothenberg
+ Platypus Public Panel: âThe American left and the âBlack Questionâ: From politics to protest to the post-politicalâ (Chicago, 2015) Panelists: Toby Chow, Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation (SOUL) and The Peopleâs Lobby; Brandon Johnson, Chicago Teachers Union (CTU); August Nimtz, author of Lenin's Electoral Strategy from 1907 to the October Revolution of 1917 (2014); and Adolph Reed, Jr., author of Stirrings in the Jug: Black Politics in the Post-Segregation Era (1999).
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/2270631923069652
Primary sources:
⢠G.W.F. Hegel, Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences in Basic Outline. Part I: Science of Logic, trans. Klaus Brinkmann and Daniel O. Dahlstrom
⢠Hegel, Elements of the Philosophy of Right, trans. H.B. Nisbett
⢠Theodor W. Adorno, Hegel: Three Studies, trans. Shierry Weber Nicholsen
⢠Robert C. Tucker, ed., Marx-Engels Reader (2nd Edition, 1978)
Week 1 | June 6, 2021
⢠G.W.F. Hegel, Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences: The Science of Logic (Encyclopedia Logic) (1830), Preface to first, second, and third editions; Introduction; and Preliminary Conception
Week 2 | June 13, 2021
⢠Hegel, Encyclopedia Logic, The Doctrine of Being
Week 3 | June 20, 2021
⢠Hegel, Encyclopedia Logic, The Doctrine of Essence
Week 4 | June 27, 2021
⢠Hegel, Encyclopedia Logic, The Doctrine of the Concept
Week 5 | July 11, 2021
⢠Hegel, Elements of the Philosophy of Right (1820), Preface; Introduction; Part Three: Ethical Life §142-157, §257-259
Week 6 | July 18, 2021
⢠Karl Marx, Selections from "Critique of Hegelâs Philosophy of Right" including Introduction (1843-44) [Marx-Engels Reader selections pp. 16-25 and 53-65]; "Critique of the Hegelian Dialectic and Philosophy as a Whole" (from 1844 Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts + selections); âIdeology in General, German Ideology in Particularâ from The German Ideology (1845-46); Grundrisse (1858), Introduction (3) The Method of Political Economy and Chapter on Capital; Preface to the First German Edition (1867) and Afterword to the Second German Edition (1873) of Das Kapital
Week 7 | July 25, 2021
⢠Friedrich Engels, Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy (1886)
⢠Georg Lukacs, Original Preface (1922); "Reification and the Consciousness of the Proletariat II, The Antinomies of Bourgeois Thought" (including 2nd part); and "What is Orthodox Marxism?" (1919), History and Class Consciousness (1923)
Week 8 | August 1, 2021
⢠Theodor W. Adorno, Hegel: Three Studies (1963)
"Adorno seems to mean that critical consciousness, including his own, is almost impossible. History, in some sense, has come to a halt. Negative Dialectics is an attempt to break out of this unbreakable paradox and to invite others to do the same. . . . Anyone who is involved in the possibility of Marxism as a mode of cognition sui generis, at a time when critical consciousness can no longer be even 'imputed' to an ideal-typical class . . . must read Adorno's book."
-- Gillian Rose, Review of Adorno's Negative Dialectics (1976)
( ⢠required / + recommended readings)
Required background reading:
⢠Chris Cutrone, "Revolution without Marx? Rousseau, Kant and Hegel" (2013); Review of Andrew Feenberg, The Philosophy of Praxis (2015); "Why still read Lukacs? The place of 'philosophical' questions in Marxism" (2014); "Ends of philosophy" (2018); "On philosophy and Marxism" (2020); and âThe negative dialectic of Marxismâ (2021)
Recommended supplemental reading:
+ Adorno, Lectures on Negative Dialectics; History and Freedom; Introduction to Dialectics; Ontology and Dialectics; Metaphysics: Concepts and Problems
Primary sources:
⢠Theodor Adorno, Negative Dialectics (1966, trans. E.B. Ashton, 1973)
+ Alternate translation by Dennis Redmond (2001/2021) [2021 updated PDF]
Charts of terms:
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Kant's 3 Critiques [PNG] and philosophy [PNG] chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Reification chart of terms
+ Adorno's critique of actionism chart of terms
Week 1: June 5, 2021
⢠Gillian Rose, Review of Adorno's Negative Dialectics (1976)
⢠Theodor W. Adorno, "Why still philosophy?", Critical Models pp. 5-17 (322-325nn.)
+ Adorno, "The actuality of philosophy" (1931)
⢠Chris Cutrone, "Ends of philosophy" (2018); "On philosophy and Marxism" (2020); and âThe negative dialectic of Marxismâ (2021)
Week 2: June 12, 2021
⢠Adorno, Negative Dialectics, Prologue (Preface and Introduction)
(The Possibility of Philosophy 3 Dialectics Not a Standpoint 4 Reality and Dialectics 6 The Concern of Philosophy 8 The Antagonistic Entirety 10 Disenchantment of the Concept 11 âInfinityâ 13 The Speculative Moment 15 Presentation 18 Attitude Toward Systems 20 Idealism as Rage 22 The Twofold Character of the System 24 The Antinomical Character of Systems 26 Argument and Experience 28 Vertiginousness 31 Fragility of Truth 33 Against Relativism 35 Dialectics and Solidity 37 The Privilege of Experience 40 Qualitative Moment of Rationality 43 Quality and Individual 44 Substantiality and Method 47 Existentialism 49 Thing, Language, History 52 Tradition and Knowledge 53 Rhetoric 55)
Week 3: June 19, 2021
⢠Adorno, Negative Dialectics, Part One: Relation to Ontology: I. The Ontological Need
(Question and Answer 61 Affirmative Character 65 Incapacitation of the Subject 66 Being, Subject, Object 69 Ontological Objectivism 70 The Disappointed Need 72 âDeficiency=Profitâ 76 No Manâs Land 77 Unsuccessful Realism 78 On Categorical Vision 80 Being 83 âSense of Beingâ 85 Ontology Prescribed 87 Protest Against Reification 89 The Wrong Need 92 Weakness and Support 94)
Week 4: June 26, 2021
⢠Adorno, Negative Dialectics, Part One: Relation to Ontology: II. Being and Existence
(Immanent Critique of Ontology 97 Copula 100 No Transcendence of Being 105 Expressing the Inexpressible 108The Childâs Question 110 The Question of Being 112 Looping the Loop 115 Mythology of Being 117 Ontologization of the Ontical 119 Function of the Concept of Existence 122 âDasein in Itself Ontologicalâ 124 The Nominalistic Aspect 126 Existence Authoritarian 127 âHistoricalityâ 128)
Week 5: July 3, 2021
⢠Adorno, Negative Dialectics, Part Two: Negative Dialectics: Concepts and Categories
(The Indissoluble âSomethingâ 134 Compulsory Sustantiveness 136 âPeephole Metaphysicsâ 137 Noncontradictoriness Not to be Hypostatized 139 Relation to Left-wing Hegelianism 143 âLogic of Disintegrationâ 144 On the Dialectics of Identity 146 Cogitative Self-reflection 148 Objectivity of Contradiction 151 Starting Out from the Concept 153 Synthesis 156 Critique of Positive Negation 158 Individuality Not the Ultimate Either 161 Constellation 162 Constellation in Science 164 Essence and Appearance 166 Indirectness by Objectivity 170 Particularity and the Particular 173 Subject-Object Dialectics 174 Reversal of the Subjective Reduction 176 Interpreting the Transcendental 178 âTranscendental Delusionâ 180 The Objectâs Preponderance 183 The Object Not a Datum 186 Objectivity and Reification 189 Passage to Materialism 192 Materialism and Immediacy 194 Dialectics Not a Sociology of Knowledge 197 The Concept of Mind 198 Pure Activity and Genesis 200 Suffering Physical 202 Materialism Imageless 204)
Week 6: July 10, 2021
⢠Adorno, Negative Dialectics, Part Three: Models: I. Freedom
(On The Metacritique of Practical Reason 211 âPseudoproblemsâ 211 A Split in the Concern with Freedom 214 Freedom, Determinism, Identity 216 Freedom and Organized Society 217 The Impulse Before the Ego 221 Experimenta crucis 223 The Addendum 226 The Fiction of Positive Freedom 231 Unfreedom of Thought 233 âFormalismâ 235 The Will as a Thing 237 Objectivity in the Antinomy 239 Dialectical Definition of the Will 241 Contemplation 244 Structure of the Third Antinomy 246 Kantâs Concept of Causality 247 The Plea for Order 249 The Antithetical Argument 252 Ontical and Ideal Moments 255 Repressive Character of the Doctrine of Freedom 260 Self-experience of Freedom and Unfreedom 261 The Crisis of Causality 265 Causality as a Spell 269 Reason, Ego, Super-ego 270 Potential of Freedom 274 Against Personalism 276 Depersonalization and Existential Ontology 279 Universal and Individual in the Philosophy of Morals 281 On the State of Freedom 285 Kantâs âIntelligible Characterâ 287 Intelligibility and the Unity of Consciousness 292 Truth Content of the Doctrine of Intelligibility 297)
Week 7: July 17, 2021
⢠Adorno, Negative Dialectics, Part Three: Models: II. World Spirit and Natural History
(An Excursion to Hegel 300 Trend and Facts 300 Construction of the World Spirit 303 âHarmonizing with the World Spiritâ 305 The Unleashing of Productive Forces 306 Group Spirit and Dominion 307 The Legal Sphere 309 Law and Equity 310 Individualistic Veil 312 Dynamics of Universal and Particular 313 Spirit as a Social Totality 314 Historical Reason Antagonistic 317 Universal History 319 Antagonism Contingent? 321 The Supramundance Character of the Hegelian World Spirit 323 Hegel Siding with the Universal 326 Relapse into Platonism 329 Detemporalization of Time 331 Dialectics Cut Short by Hegel 334 The Role of the Popular Spirit 338 Popular Spirit Obsolete 340 Individuality and History 342 The Spell 344 Regression Under the Spell 347 Subject and Individual 349 Dialectics and Psychology 351 âNatural Historyâ 354 History and Metaphysics 358)
Week 8: July 24, 2021
⢠Adorno, Negative Dialectics, Part Three: Models: III. Meditations on Metaphysics
(After Auschwitz 361 Metaphysics and Culture 365 Dying Today 368 Happiness and Idle Waiting 373 âNihilismâ 376 Kantâs Resignation 381 Rescuing Urge and Block 384 Mundus intelligibilis 390 Neutralization 393 âOnly a Parableâ 399 The Semblance of Otherness 402 Self-Reflection of Dialectics 405)
+ Cutrone, "Ends of philosophy" (2018); "On philosophy and Marxism" (2020); and âThe negative dialectic of Marxismâ (2021)
