The Platypus Review

[ Die deutschsprachige Platypus Review ]

Latest Issue: 190

1917–2017: 100 years of the Russian Revolution

I don’t want to take a third position on the Russian Revolution — like I’m gonna go down the middle — but rather raise the question, what view tasks the present? The negative view presupposes that we know better, Lenin did policy X and that is where everything went wrong. But do we know better?

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The meaning of Popular Front politics today

Alexis Henri, Aymeric Monville, Gilles Candar, Victor

On September 28, 2024, the Platypus Affiliated Society hosted a panel discussion on the reemergence of the Popular Front in French politics under the original title “Le sens d’une politique de Front populaire aujourd’hui.” The panelists were Gilles Candar (historian, president of the Société d'études jaurésiennes), Aymeric Monville (writer, founder of Les éditions Delga), Victor (L’Offensive), and Alexis Henri (Ligue trotskyste de France, section of the International Communist League in France).

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Marxism and the question of “American Characteristics”

Carlos L. Garrido

It was understood by Engels that simply being a “Marxist” was insufficient. Marxism needed to acclimate itself, to be attuned to, the particular circumstances of the countries and civilization in which the struggle for socialism was concretely being carried out. For Marxists in America, it was not enough to simply study Marx. Marx had to always be “translated” into one’s context. I do not simply mean a literal translation of text, but more fundamentally a translation of the insights central to Marxism into the common sense and sensibilities of the people.

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China and the Left

Barry York, Christina Veselovskiy, Lachlan

On September 25, 2025, the Platypus Affiliated Society hosted a panel discussion at Australian National University with panelists Barry York (C21st Left blog), Lachlan (Communist Party of Australia), and Christina Veselovskiy (Revolutionary Communist Organization – Applicant Member).

[. . .]

The 1905 Russian Revolution

D.L. Jacobs

There's a famous line that the Bolsheviks used to say even before October 1917, that 1905 was the dress rehearsal. This is a phrase liable to abuse. A rehearsal is a trial performance for a later performance. One remembers the cues, the rote memorization, etc. They try to perfect the act in order to prevent any contingency. But history is not a laboratory, where if you do something wrong, you just correct for the problem in the future. Insurrection is an art, Marx used to say, and this was one of Lenin’s favorite lines. It is not something that has a formula, but rather, like art, is a judgment of the speculative type, of how the present forms point beyond themselves.

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Staff

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Allen You

MANAGING EDITOR

Matthew Ramirez

COPY EDITORS

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

DESIGNERS

Mike Atkinson
Chris Mansour
Carson Wright

WEB EDITOR

Nick Cochran

SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR

Gabe Gottfried

DISTRIBUTION

Erica Gamble
Diaz Mathis

CHAPTER COORDINATOR

Ceci Chang

EDITORIAL ADVISOR

Louis Sterrett

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.
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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