Chicago
Saturdays 1â4PM CST
School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)
112 S. Michigan Ave. room 920
⢠required / + recommended readings
Recommended background readings:
+ Chris Cutrone, "On anarchism and Marxism" (2008)
+ Trevor Bark, "Half-time team talk" (response to Cutrone) (2008)
+ Cutrone, "Against dogmatic abstraction" (2010)
Week 1 | Jun. 21, 2014
⢠Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, What is Property? (1840)
+ Max Stirner, The Ego and Its Own (1845)
Week 2 | Jun. 28, 2014
⢠Mikhail Bakunin, God and the State (1871)
+ Bakunin, A Critique of the German Social-Democratic Program (1870)
+ Bakunin, Marxism, Freedom and the State (1872)
+ Ferdinand Lassalle, Open letter to the German workersâ movement (1863)
Week 3 | Jul. 12, 2014
⢠Peter Kropotkin, Anarchist Communism (1909)
+ Kropotkin, âThe Russian Revolution and the Soviet Governmentâ (1919)
+ Kropotkin, The Conquest of Bread, especially Chapters 3, 11 and 12 (1906)
Week 4 | Jul. 19, 2014
⢠Errico Malatesta, Syndicalism and Anarchism (1926)
⢠Malatesta and Nestor Makhno, About the Platform (1927-29)
Week 5 | Jul. 26, 2014
⢠Murray Bookchin, Listen, Marxist! (1969)
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
Art and politics
⢠required / + recommended reading
Required preliminary reading
⢠Chris Cutrone, "The relevance of Critical Theory to art today" (2011)
⢠Cutrone, "An incomplete project? Art and politics after postmodernism" (2010)
Week 1. The meaning of art | Jun. 22â23, 2013
[Artists'] work is to sustain the critical moment of aesthetic experience. [Critics' work] is to recognize it.
-- Susan Buck-Morss, response to Visual culture questionnaire (1996)
⢠Susan Buck-Morss, response to Visual culture questionnaire (1996)
+ Robert Pippin, "On Critical Theory" (2004)
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms [PNG]
+ Kant's 3 Critiques [PNG] and philosophy [PNG] charts of terms
⢠Immanuel Kant, Preface and Introduction, Critique of Judgment (1790) [full book PDF]
Week 2. Modern aesthetics of art | Jun. 29â30, 2013
⢠G.W.F. Hegel, Introductory Lectures on Aesthetics first section:
1 Prefatory Remarks
2 Limitation and Defence of Aesthetics
3 Refutation of Objections
4 Scientific Ways of Treating Beauty and Art
5 Concept of the Beauty of Art
6 Common Ideas of Art
(i) The Work of Art as a Product of Human Activity
(ii) The Work of Art, as being for Apprehension by Manâs Senses, is drawn from the Sensuous Sphere
(iii) The Aim of Art
Week 3. Art and politics in our epoch | Jul. 6â7, 2013
⢠Leon Trotsky, "Art and politics in our epoch" (1938)
⢠Clement Greenberg, "Avant-garde and kitsch" (1939)
Week 4. Revolutionary art? | Jul. 13â14, 2013
⢠Walter Benjamin, "Experience and poverty" (1934)
⢠Benjamin, "The author as producer" (1934)
⢠Jßrgen Habermas, "Modernity: an incomplete project" (1981)
Week 5. Art and the commodity form | Jul. 27â28, 2013
⢠Stewart Martin, âCritique of relational aestheticsâ (2007)
⢠Stewart Martin, âThe absolute artwork meets the absolute commodityâ (2007)
⢠Theodor Adorno, "Art's self-evidence lost" and "Society", Aesthetic Theory (1970)
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
Chicago
Saturdays 1â4PM
School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)
112 S. Michigan Ave. room 920
Facebook invitation: http://www.facebook.com/events/339098822822962/
⢠required / + recommended reading
Film screening: May 2012
⢠Last Party 2000 (2001)
Week 1. May 26, 2012
Marx and democracy
⢠Dick Howard, selections from The Specter of Democracy (2002)
+ Howard, âPhilosophy by other means?â (2001) (original version of Chapter 13 of The Specter of Democracy)
+ Benjamin Constant, âThe liberty of the ancients compared with that of the modernsâ (1819)
+ Karl Marx, On Bruno Bauerâs The Jewish Question (1844)
+ Marx, Critique of the Gotha Programme (1875)
+ Chris Cutrone, âLeninâs liberalismâ and âLeninâs politicsâ (2011)
Week 2. Jun. 2, 2012
Communist Party of Great Britain debates Platypus
⢠Selected articles from Weekly Worker, May 12 â August 11, 2011
+ Original pages of Weekly Worker
⢠Ben Lewis, âChicago schoolâ (letter in Weekly Worker 914, May 17, 2012)
⢠Chris Cutrone, letter in response to Ben Lewis (May 17, 2012)
+ Danny Hammill, âDebate, controversy and comradeshipâ (on the 2011 CPGB Communist University summer school, Weekly Worker 879, September 1, 2011, p. 11)
+ Spencer Leonard, âAdam Smithâs profoundest reader: Marxâ (Weekly Worker 895, December 22, 2011, pp. 12â14)
June 16 â July 28
Trotsky and Trotskyism
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)
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)