
Der Lesekreis soll einen Ăberblick Ăźber das vielbesprochene, aber selten wirklich gelesene Opus magnum von Marx, âdas Kapital - Kritik der politischen Ăkonomieâ, bieten. Um ein Verständnis des Gesamtwerks zu gewinnen, werden Ausschnitte sowohl aus den Grundrissen, dem ersten, dem dritten und dem inoffiziellen vierten Band (âDie Theorien Ăźber den Mehrwertâ) diskutiert. Entgegen der Herangehensweise der sogenannten âNeuen Marx-LektĂźreâ soll dabei das âPolitischeâ nicht vom âĂkonomischenâ, das âFrĂźheâ nicht vom Spätenâ und das âLogischeâ nicht vom âHistorischenâ getrennt werden. Ebenso wenig wollen wir Marx gegen seinen engsten Mitstreiter Friedrich Engels ausspielen. Welche Rolle also nimmt die Kritik der politischen Ăkonomie in der Politik von Marx und dem Marxismus ein?
Die Texte werden im Voraus gelesen und dann zusammen diskutiert. Neueinsteiger sind herzlich willkommen und es werden keine Vorkenntnisse benĂśtigt!
Zeit: Mittwochs, 19:00 - 22:00, 9. August - 27. September 2023
Ort: Hedwig Dohm Haus, Ziegelstr. 4, HU Berlin
Weitere Infos ßber Telegram und andere Kanäle
⢠vorausgesetzte Texte
+ zusätzlich, empfohlene Texte
HintergrundlektĂźre:
+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Organic composition of capital chart of terms
+ Marx on surplus-value chart of terms
+ Karl Kautsky (1903): Karl Marxâ Ăkonomische Lehren gemeinverständlich dargestellt und erläutert
+ Franz Mehring (1918): Karl Marx - Geschichte seines Lebens
+ David Riazanov (1927): Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: An Introduction to Their Lives and Work
Woche 1.: EinfĂźhrung | 9. August
⢠Karl Marx (1849): Lohnarbeit und Kapital
⢠Karl Marx, Die kommende Schlacht (aus Das Elend der Philosophie, 1847)
⢠Karl Marx, Klassenkampf und Produktionsweise (aus dem Brief an Weydemeyer, 1852)
⢠Wladimir Lenin (1914): Karl Marx. In: Lenin Werke Band 21, S.30-80 (FĂźr die Diskussion vorausgesetzt wird nur das Kapitel âDie Ăkonomische Lehre von Marxâ)
Woche 2.: Die Grundrisse | 16. August
⢠Karl Marx (1857): Einleitung zur Kritik der Politischen Ăkonomie
⢠Karl Marx, AuszĂźge aus den Grundrisse (1857â61)
Woche 3: Das Kapital (Band 1) Teil 1 | 23. August
⢠Marx: Das Kapital Band 1. Zur Kritik der politischen Ăkonomie: Vorwort zur ersten und Nachwort zur zweiten Auflage (1867/1873) von Das Kapital Bd. I (1867), Vor- und Nachwort zur franzĂśsischen Ausgabe (1872), Erster Abschnitt Ware und Geld. Erstes Kapitel: Die Ware., Zweiter Abschnitt. Viertes Kapitel. Die Verwandlung von Geld in Kapital. Nur: Die allgemeine Formel des Kapitals
Woche 4: Das Kapital (Band 1) Teil 2 | 30. August
⢠Marx: Das Kapital Band 1. Zur Kritik der politischen Ăkonomie: Viertes Kapitel: Der Kauf und Verkauf der Arbeitskraft, Sechstes Kapitel: Konstantes Kapital und variables Kapital, Siebtes Kapitel: Die Rate des Mehrwerts, Achtes Kapitel: Der Arbeitstag
Woche 5: Das Kapital (Band 1) Teil 3 | 6. September
⢠Marx: Das Kapital Band 1. Zur Kritik der politischen Ăkonomie: Teil 4. Die Produktion des relativen Mehrwerts, Zehntes Kapitel: Begriff des relativen Mehrwerts, Elftes Kapitel: Kooperation, ZwĂślftes Kapitel: Teilung der Arbeit und Manufaktur (1-5), Dreizehntes Kapitel: Maschinerie und groĂe Industrie (nur Teil 1 und Teil 3)
Woche 6: Das Kapital (Band 1) Teil 4 | 13. September
⢠Marx: Das Kapital Band 1. Zur Kritik der politischen Ăkonomie: Dreizehntes Kapitel, Teil 4: Die Fabrik, Teil 5: Der Kampf zwischen Arbeiter und Maschine, Teil 9: Fabrikgesetzgebung, Teil 10: GroĂe Industrie und Agrikultur, Vierzehntes Kapitel: Die Produktion des absoluten und relativen Mehrwerts, Dreiundzwanzigstes Kapitel. Das allgemeine Gesetz der kapitalistischen Akkumulation Nur Teil 1, 3 und 4, Vierundzwanzigstes Kapitel. Die sogenannte ursprĂźngliche Akkumulation: 1. Das Geheimnis der ursprĂźnglichen Akkumulation, 2. Expropriation des Landvolks von Grund und Boden, 6. Genesis des industriellen Kapitalisten, 7. Geschichtliche Tendenz der kapitalistischen Akkumulation
Woche 7: Das Kapital (Band 3) Teil 1 | 20. September
⢠Marx: Das Kapital Band 1. Zur Kritik der politischen Ăkonomie: Vierundzwanzigstes Kapitel. Die sogenannte ursprĂźngliche Akkumulation: 1. Das Geheimnis der ursprĂźnglichen Akkumulation, 2. Expropriation des Landvolks von Grund und Boden, 6. Genesis des industriellen Kapitalisten, 7. Geschichtliche Tendenz der kapitalistischen Akkumulation
⢠Marx: Das Kapital Band 3. Zur Kritik der politischen Ăkonomie: Dritter Abschnitt. Gesetz des tendenziellen Falls der Profitrate, Dreizehntes Kapitel, Vierzehntes Kapitel, FĂźnfzehntes Kapitel
Woche 8: Das Kapital (Band 3) Teil 2 | 27. September
⢠Marx: Das Kapital Band 3. Zur Kritik der politischen Ăkonomie: Siebenter Abschnitt. Die Revenuen und ihre Quellen. Die trinitarische Formel, 48., 49., 50. und 51. Kapitel
⢠Marx: Die Theorien ßber den Mehrwert: Kapitel 17.: Abschnitt 8., 9., 10., 11. und 14
( ⢠required / + recommended readings)
Recommended background preliminary readings:
+ Benjamin Constant, "The liberty of the ancients compared with that of the moderns" (1819)
+ J. P. Nettl, âThe German Social Democratic Party 1890â1914 as a Political Modelâ (1965)
Recommended supplemental parallel readings:
+ Chris Cutrone, "The end of the Gilded Age" (2017) and "Gilded Age socialism -- historically past?" (2023)
+ Cutrone, "Lenin's liberalism" and "Lenin's politics" (2011)
+ Cutrone, "What is political party for Marxism?" (2014)
+ Cutrone, âProletarian dictatorship and state capitalismâ (2015)
+ Cutrone, âWhat was social democracyâ (2016)
+ Cutrone, "Back to Herbert Spencer! Industrial vs. militant society" (2016) [audio]
+ Cutrone, "Horkheimer in 1943 on party and class" (2016)
+ Max Horkheimer, "On the sociology of class relations" (1943)
+ Cutrone, "Lenin today" (2020)
+ Cutrone, "The dictatorship of the proletariat and the death of the Left" (2021)
+ August Nimtz, Andrew Arato and Chris Cutrone, "Socialism, liberalism and Marxism" (January 6, 2021)
Week 1 | June 10, 2023
⢠August Nimtz, Marxism versus Liberalism (2019) 1. Introduction; and Chapters 2â3 on Marx and Engels versus Tocqueville and John Stuart Mill
Week 2 | June 17, 2023
⢠Nimtz, Marxism versus Liberalism (2019) Chapters 4â5 on Lenin versus Weber and Woodrow Wilson; and 6. Conclusion
Week 3 | June 24, 2023
⢠Robert Michels, Political Parties (1915) (especially Preface, Ch. 1-2, Part 1 and Parts 3 and 4)
Week 4 | July 1, 2023
⢠Max Weber, "Socialism" (1918); and "Politics as a vocation" and "Science as a vocation" (1919)
+ Weber, "Structures of power; Class, status, party; Bureaucracy"
Week 5 | July 8, 2023
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
⢠Otto Kircheimer, "Changes in the structure of political compromise" (1941)
⢠Herbert Marcuse, "The struggle against liberalism in the totalitarian view of the state" (1934) in Negations
+ Franz Neumann, "The change in the function of law in modern society" (1937)
⢠Sigmund Neumann, âThe party of democratic integrationâ (1956); and Kirchheimer, "The catch-all party" (1966)
Week 6 | July 15, 2023
⢠Nicos Poulantzas and Ralph Miliband, debate on capitalism and the state (1972)
+ Michael Harrington, "Marxism and Democracy" (1981)
⢠Mike Macnair, Revolutionary Strategy (2009)
+ Cutrone, "Lenin today" (2020)
Week 7 | July 22, 2023
⢠Benjamin Studebaker, The Chronic Crisis of American Democracy: The Way is Shut (2023)
+ Studebaker, âThe Heart of Isonomia: Equality of Political Participation versus Equality of Political Capabilities: A Fundamental Dilemma at the Heart of Democratic Theoryâ (2023)

âSociety is a reality sui generis; it has its own characteristics that are either not found in the rest of the universe or are not found there in the same form."
"Society is a sui generis being with its own special nature, distinct from that of its members, and a personality of its own different from individual personalities."
-- Emile Durkheim
"Society is a concept of the Third Estate."
-- Adorno
( ⢠required / + recommended readings)
Required background reading:
⢠Chris Cutrone, "Back to Herbert Spencer! Industrial vs. militant society" (2016) [audio]
Recommended supplemental parallel reading:
+ Adorno, "Static and Dynamic as Sociological Categories" (1961)
+ Adorno, Introduction to Sociology 1962 lectures
+ Adorno, Philosophical Elements of a Theory of Society 1964 lectures
+ Adorno, Philosophy and Sociology 1960 lectures
Preliminary readings:
⢠Adorno, âSocietyâ (1965)
⢠Benjamin Constant, "The liberty of the ancients compared with that of the moderns" (1819)
Charts of terms:
+ Capital in history timeline and chart of terms
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
+ Capitalist contradiction chart of terms
+ Commodity form chart of terms
+ Reification chart of terms
Week 1: June 4, 2022
⢠Adorno, âSocietyâ (1965)
+ Chris Cutrone, "Gillian Rose's 'Hegelian' critique of Marxism" (2010)
⢠Gillian Rose, Hegel Contra Sociology (1981/95) selections: Preface for 1995 reprint, 1. The Antinomies of Sociological Reason, 7. With What Must the Science End?
Week 2: June 11, 2022
⢠epigraphs on modern history and freedom by Louis Menand (on Marx and Engels), Karl Marx, on "becoming" (from the Grundrisse, 1857â58)
⢠Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905) selections: Author's Introduction, Part I Chapters 1-3, Part II (+ Chapter 4,) Chapter 5
Week 3: June 18, 2022
⢠Auguste Comte, Introduction to Positive Philosophy (1830-42) I. The nature and importance of the positive philosophy; The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte vol. III Bk. VI. Social Physics pp. 1-11, 199-216, 277-344 [PDF Positive Philosophy of Comte selections]; A General View of Positivism Ch. II. The Social Aspect of Positivism pp. 63-78, Ch. VI. The Religion of Humanity pp. 340-426 [PDF General View of Positivism selections]
+ Chris Cutrone, "Ends of philosophy" (2018)
Week 4: June 25, 2022
+ Chris Cutrone, "Back to Herbert Spencer! Industrial vs. militant society" (2016) [audio]
⢠Herbert Spencer, Principles of Sociology Vol. I Part I The Data of Sociology Ch. I-IV pp. 3-40 [PDF] and Part II The Inductions of Sociology Ch. I-II pp. 447-462 [PDF]; On Social Evolution (Univ. Chicago selections): IV 15â16 Societal Typologies, Militancy and Industrialism and V 18â19 Ceremonial and Political Institutions; The Man Versus the State VI The Great Political Superstition [PDF selection]
Week 5: July 2, 2022
⢠Emile Durkheim, Chapter 3. "The principles of 1789 and sociology" (1890); Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912) Introduction, selections V Social Creativity Ch. 11-12, in On Morality and Society
Week 6: July 9, 2022
⢠Durkheim, Chapter 10. "The dualism of human nature and its social conditions" (1914), Ch. 4. "Individualism and the intellectuals" (1898); The Division of Labor in Society (1893) Author's Preface to the 1st Edition and Introduction (pp. xxv-xxx and 1-10), selection IV The Evolution of Morality Ch. 6, in On Morality and Society
Week 7: July 16, 2022
⢠Durkheim, The Division of Labor in Society (1893) selections IV. The Evolution of Morality Chapters 7-9, in On Morality and Society; Author's Preface to the 2nd Edition (pp. xxxi-lix)
Week 8: July 23, 2022
⢠Frankfurt School, Aspects of Sociology (1956) selections: Preface by Horkheimer and Adorno, Chapters I-VI, XII
⢠Adorno, âSocietyâ (1965)
+ Adorno, "Static and Dynamic as Sociological Categories" (1961)

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)