The Platypus Review

[ Die deutschsprachige Platypus Review ]

Latest Issue: 188

The crisis of the American Revolution

Chris Cutrone, Edith Fischer, Ingar Solty

On April 10, 2026, as the opening plenary of its 18th annual Convention, the Platypus Affiliated Society hosted a panel at Northwestern University on the crisis of the American Revolution and its legacy. The speakers were Chris Cutrone (original lead organizer of Platypus and the Campaign for a Socialist Party), Edith Fischer (founding member of Communist Unity in Australia), and Ingar Solty (Senior Research Fellow at the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung in Berlin and author of Trumps Triumph?, Der postliberale Kapitalismus, and Edition Marxismen). Platypus member Erin Hagood moderated the panel. An edited transcript follows.

[. . .]

Marx and Engels and Adorno and Horkheimer were (not) alone: Rejoinder on Marxism and individuals

Chris Cutrone

While there should not be a reinforcement let alone ratification of the casting aside of Marxist critical theory by politics, it is also important to recognize that the actual problem is rather the opposite: turning Marxist critics into mere comrades. "Comrade Marx" won't do. Neither will Comrade Adorno — nor Comrade Cutrone.

[. . .]

No freedoms in the critical sense: An interview with Volkmar Sigusch on the dawn of critical sexology

Stefan Hain

In 2018, Platypus Affiliated Society member Stefan Hain interviewed Volkmar Sigusch (1940–2023), who was considered one of the most important sex researchers in the world. From 1973 to 2006, he was Director of the Institute for Sexual Science at the clinic of the J. W. Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, as well as Professor of Special Sociology (Sociology of Sexuality) at the Department of Social Sciences in Frankfurt am Main. Sigusch co-founded the International Academy of Sex Research in 1973 and the Zeitschrift für Sexualforschung in 1988. His book Results in Sexual Medicine (1972) was the first in the world to include “Sexual Medicine” in its title.

[. . .]

What is a political party for the Left?

Sacha Ismail

A meaningfully Left-wing politics, committed to majorly expanding democracy, has to center questions of class power and socio-economic inequality, which in today’s world even social democracy largely does not do.

[. . .]

The Stoic has no party: A reply to Chris Cutrone

Anthony Teso

Cutrone's critique of Rockhill is sharp, but he ends up doing the same thing he criticizes. He uses the lessons of Marx and the Frankfurt School to defend a position of standing alone, without a party. My main point is that when critique is separated from the group context that Marx stressed, it turns a specific defeat into a permanent way of thinking. This misses the point of Marxist practice and what it leads to.

[. . .]

Staff

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Louis Sterrett

COPY EDITORS

Mike Bartlett
Charles Crum
Rory Hannigan
Octavio Hernandez
Thom Hutchinson
Liam Kenny
Michael McClelland
Divya Menon
Olivia Mistretta
Matthew Ramirez
Evan Rodgers
Patrick Unwin
Allen You

DESIGNERS

Mike Atkinson
Chris Mansour

WEB EDITOR

Nick Cochran

SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR

Gabe Gottfried

DISTRIBUTION

Erica Gamble
Diaz Mathis
Allen You

CHAPTER COORDINATOR

Ceci Chang

Editorial Statement

Taking stock of the universe of positions and goals that constitutes leftist politics today, we are left with the disquieting suspicion that a deep commonality underlies the apparent variety: What exists today is built upon the desiccated remains of what was once possible.
[ . . . ]

Submission Guidelines

Articles will typically range in length from 750–4,500 words, but longer pieces will be considered. Please send article submissions and inquiries about this project to editor.platypusreview@gmail.com. All submissions should conform to the Chicago Manual of Style.

The Platypus Review is funded by:

Phedias Christodoulides
Dalhousie Student Union
Loyola University of Chicago
The New School
New York University
Northwestern University
The Platypus Affiliated Society
School of the Art Institute of Chicago Student Government
The University of Chicago Student Government
The University of Illinois at Chicago