A panel discussion organized by the Platypus Affiliated Society, held on March 19, 2011 at Left Forum, Pace University.
Audio Recording
A transcript of Paul Le Blanc’s remarks appears in Platypus Review #35
A transcript of Chris Cutrone’s remarks appears in Platypus Review #36
A transcript of Lars Lih’s remarks appears in Platypus Review #37
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
Description
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 György Lukács 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?