Current International Reading Groups

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How do I join a reading group?

Platypus reading groups are held in universities around the world. Though these are frequently connected to chapters on college campuses, association with a university or membership in the organization is not required for participation.

Additional information about reading groups in a particular city can be found on its respective chapter page. See our Chapters list to find a chapter near to you!

Many chapters also run regular activities such as Coffee Breaks; please see the respective chapter page.

If you are interested in attending a group but do not see one listed in your area, please contact us at coordinator@platypus1917.org and we will respond as soon as possible.

Primary Marxist Reading GroupIntroduction to the history of the Left and Marxism

Platypus primary Marxist reading group Winter – Spring 2023

November 28, 2022

Through reading key texts from the high period of the history of Marxism in the 2nd International and its crisis in the early 20th century, the problem of consciousness of this history and its potential political implications in the present are addressed. Readings include Luxemburg, Lenin, Trotsky, the philosophical reflections on Marxism by Lukacs and Korsch, and their ramifications in the Frankfurt School Critical Theory of Walter Benjamin, Horkheimer, and Adorno.

Platypus primary Marxist reading group Summer and Fall/Autumn 2022 – Winter 2023

July 6, 2022

The historical roots of the Left and Marxism in the bourgeois revolution of the 17th-18th centuries and its 19th century crisis in capitalism are addressed through readings from Karl Marx and the background in radical bourgeois philosophy of Rousseau, Kant, and Hegel. 20th century attempts to recover Marx and Marxism's political consciousness by the Frankfurt School and in the 1960s-70s "New Left" frame the problem of consciousness of the Left in the mid-late 20th century leading to the present, through writings by Juliet Mitchell, Adolph Reed, Moishe Postone, and the Spartacist League/U.S., among others, and Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Georg Lukacs, Karl Korsch, and Leszek Kolakowski.

Short course in Platypus, History of the Left and Marxism A short series of readings introducing the key points of departure for the Platypus project. (4 weeks)

- Platypus introduction to the history of Marxism readings
A series of 10 sessions introducing Platypus’s approach to the history of Marxism, including readings on Luxemburg, Lenin and Trotsky.

- Introduction to Platypus readings
10 sessions of readings introducing the raison d’être of the Platypus project, including published transcripts of our public forum activities.

Short course in Platypus

January 24, 2012

Introduction to Platypus readings

January 16, 2011

Platypus Introduction to the History of Marxism Readings

January 16, 2011

Summer Reading Group

Every summer, Platypus holds a special summer session of our reading group internationally. Information will be posted here when the syllabus for our upcoming Summer Reading Group is available!

U-of-Melbourne Winter 2023: The Black Question and the Left from 1776 to BLM

May 26, 2023

Summer 2023: Marxism and Politics

May 22, 2023

Summer 2022: The Black Question and the Left

June 1, 2022