The Platypus Affiliated Society

Splits, regroupments, war, and revolution in Germany, 1914–1920: A conversation with Ben Lewis

Ben Lewis, Spencer A. Leonard, Watson Ladd

Last winter, on their radio show Radical Minds on WHPK-FM Chicago, Spencer A. Leonard and Watson Ladd interviewed Ben Lewis, a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and co-author and translator, together with Lars T. Lih, of Zinoviev and Martov: Head to Head in Halle (2011). The interview originally was broadcast on December 6, 2011. What follows is an edited transcript of their conversation.

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October 1921: Lenin looks back

Lars T. Lih

At the 2011 Left Forum, held at Pace University in NYC between March 18–21, Platypus hosted a conversation on “Lenin’s Marxism.” The panelists were Chris Cutrone of Platypus, Paul Le Blanc of the International Socialist Organization, and Lars T. Lih, the author of Lenin Reconsidered: “What is to be Done?” in Context.

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Lenin's Marxism [Media Recording]

A panel discussion organized by the Platypus Affiliated Society, held on March 19, 2011 at Left Forum, Pace University.

Panel Abstract: What was distinctive about Vladimir Lenin's Marxism? What was its relationship to the other forms of Marxism and Marxists of his era? Was Lenin orthodox or heterodox? Was there a "unity" to Lenin's political thought, as Georg Lukacs argued, or do his major works -- What is to Be Done? (1902), Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1916), The State and Revolution (1917), "Left-Wing Communism": An Infantile Disorder? (1920) -- express distinctive and even contradictory phases in Lenin's political development? How did Lenin's Marxism overcome -- or not -- other competing forms of Marxism? How should we understand Lenin's historical contribution to Marxism, today?

Panelists
Chris Cutrone - The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Ian Morrison - Platypus Affiliated Society
Lars T Lih - Independent Researcher
Paul Le Blanc - LaRoche College

Transcript of Paul Le Blanc's remarks in Platypus Review #35 (Click below):

Transcript of Chris Cutrone's remarks in Platypus Review #36 (Click below):

Transcript of Lars Lih's remarks in Platypus Review #37 (Click below):

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