Panel discussion at the 3rd annual Platypus Affiliated Society international convention, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, April 30, 2011.
Panelists:
Chris Cutrone (Platypus)
Mike Ely (Kasama Project)
Joseph Ramsey (Kasama Project)
John Steele (Kasama Project)
How does the prominence of Alain Badiou's approach to communism today speak to the present historical moment and its emancipatory possibilities? Badiou has prioritized May 1968 in France and the contemporaneous Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China for his conception of communism and its potential future. As a former student of Louis Althusser and follower of Jacques Lacan, as well as a philosopher of mathematics, Badiou's work has emphasized a radical ontology of the "event" to describe revolutionary transformation. In describing the politics of communism, Badiou has traced its modern history to the Jacobin phase of the French Revolution, periodizing modern communism's two great "sequences" from 1792-1871 and 1917-76. How does Badiou's conception of communism relate to the history of Marxism in the 20th century, with its roots in the 19th century? How does Badiou's work address the problem of capital, in Marx's terms, or not, and what are the implications of Badiou's communism for anticapitalist politics, moving forward? What does Badiou's work say about the relation of Marxism and communism today?
Please note: The recording for this panel was started mid-way through Chris Cutrone's talk. The full text of Cutrone's is available online here.
A panel discussion organized by the Platypus Affiliated Society, held on March 19, 2011, at Left Forum, Pace University.
Alain Badiou's writings promoting what he calls the "communist hypothesis" have sparked growing interest and debate. In 2009, the journal Demarcations published a polemic against Badiou's political philosophy, arguing that this was a politics locked within the confines of the existing social order. In 2010, Chris Cutrone of Platypus authored a critique of the Demarcations polemic and of Badiou, raising the issue of the relationship between Marxism and communism. Bruno Bosteels, author of the forthcoming Badiou and Politics, brings yet another critical perspective to bear on key elements of Badiouâs âcommunist hypothesis. This panel will carry forward the debate: *Are communism's horizons defined by the struggle for equality? *Does Badiou's reading of the Cultural Revolution square with its actual aims and legacy? *Does Badiou's "politics at a distance from the state" provide compass points for the challenges of making revolution in a highly globalized capitalist world?
Panelists
Bruno Bosteels - Cornell University
Chris Cutrone - School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Nayi Duniya - Demarcations Journal
Saul Thomas - University of Chicago, student
Platypus presents: Lessons from the history of Marxism
@ Left Forum
March 18-20, 2011
Pace University
next to City Hall, New York City
online registration page: http://www.leftforum.org/node/23
directions: http://www.leftforum.org/directions
Please join us for the following panel discussions:
The Bourgeois Revolution: from Marx’s point of view
//Saturday, March 19 | 10:00 a.m. – 11:50 a.m. | room W603A
Sponsored by the Platypus Review
James Vaughn - University of Texas at Austin, The Platypus Affiliated Society
Richard Rubin - The Platypus Affiliated Society
Spencer Leonard - University of Chicago, The Platypus Affiliated Society
Jeremy Cohan (chair) - New York University, The Platypus Affiliated Society
____________________________________________________________
Lenin’s Marxism
//Saturday, March 19 | 12:00 p.m. – 1:50 p.m. | room W607
Chris Cutrone - School of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Platypus Affiliated Society
Paul Le Blanc - LaRoche College
Lars T. Lih - Independent researcher
Ian Morrison (chair) - University of Chicago, The Platypus Affiliated Society
____________________________________________________________
The Marxism of Rosa Luxemburg
//Saturday, March 19 | 12:00 p.m. – 1:50 p.m. | room W606
Greg Gabrellas - University of Chicago, The Platypus Affiliated Society
Stephen Eric Bronner - Rutgers University
Ben Shepard (chair) - The Platypus Affiliated Society
____________________________________________________________
Lukács’s Marxism
//Saturday, March 19 | 3:00 p.m. – 4:50 p.m. | room W607
Jeremy Cohan - New York University, The Platypus Affiliated Society
Marco Torres - University of Chicago, The Platypus Affiliated Society
Timothy Bewes - Brown University
Timothy Hall - University of East London, U.K.
Chris Cutrone (chair) - School of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Platypus Affiliated Society
____________________________________________________________
Aesthetics in Protests
//Saturday, March 19 | 3:00 p.m. – 4:50 p.m. | room E330
Chris Mansour - Parsons School of Design, The Platypus Affiliated Society
Laurel Whitney - Yes Men
Marc Herbst - Journal of Aesthetics and Protest, Reclaim the Streets
Stephen Duncombe - New York University
Jamie Keesling (chair) - 491, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Platypus Affiliated Society
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Debating Alain Badiou’s “Politics of Emancipationâ€
//Saturday, March 19 | 5:00 p.m. – 6:50 p.m | room W615
Sponsored by the Demarcations
Bruno Bosteels - Cornell University
Chris Cutrone - The Platypus Affiliated Society, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Nayi Duniya - Demarcations journal
Saul Thomas (chair) - University of Chicago
____________________________________________________________
Trotsky’s Marxism
//Saturday, March 19 | 5:00 p.m. – 6:50 p.m | room W607
Ian Morrison - University of Chicago, The Platypus Affiliated Society
Jason Wright - International Bolshevik Tendency
Susan Williams - Freedom Socialist Party
Spencer Leonard (chair) - University of Chicago, The Platypus Affiliated Society
____________________________________________________________
Marx and Engels’s Marxism
//Sunday, March 20 | 10:00 a.m. – 11:50 a.m. | room W603A
Sponsored by the Platypus Review
Benjamin Blumberg - University of Chicago, The Platypus Affiliated Society
Nathan Smith - University of Chicago, The Platypus Affiliated Society
Pam Nogales - New York University, The Platypus Affiliated Society
Richard Rubin - The Platypus Affiliated Society
Tana Forrester (chair) - University of Chicago, The Platypus Affiliated Society
