- * required / • recommended reading
Marx and Engels readings pp. from Robert C. Tucker, ed., Marx-Engels Reader (Norton 2nd ed., 1978)
Recommended winter break preliminary readings
• Leszek Kolakowski, “The concept of the Left” (1968)
• Richard Appignanesi and Oscar Zarate / A&Z, Introducing Lenin and the Russian Revolution / Lenin for Beginners (1977)
• Sebastian Haffner, Failure of a Revolution: Germany 1918–19 (1968)
• Tariq Ali and Phil Evans, Introducing Trotsky and Marxism / Trotsky for Beginners (1980)
• James Joll, _The Second International 1889–1914_ (1966)
• Edmund Wilson, To the Finland Station: A Study in the Writing and Acting of History (1940), Part II. Ch. (1–4,) 5–10, 12–16; Part III. Ch. 1–6
Week 13. Revolutionary leadership
* Rosa Luxemburg, “The Crisis of German Social Democracy” Part 1 (1915)
* J. P. Nettl, “The German Social Democratic Party 1890–1914 as a Political Model” (1965)
* Cliff Slaughter, “What is Revolutionary Leadership?” (1960)
Week 14. Reform or revolution?
- * Luxemburg, _Reform or Revolution?_ (1900/08)
Week 15. Lenin and the vanguard party
- * Spartacist League, Lenin and the Vanguard Party (1978)
Week 16. What is to be done?
- * V. I. Lenin, _What is to be Done?_ (1902)
• Richard Appignanesi and Oscar Zarate / A&Z, _Introducing Lenin and the Russian Revolution / Lenin for Beginners_(1977)
Week 17. Mass strike and social democracy
- * Luxemburg, The Mass Strike, the Political Party and the Trade Unions (1906)
• Luxemburg, “Blanquism and Social Democracy” (1906)
Week 18. Permanent revolution
- * Leon Trotsky, _Results and Prospects_ (1906)
• Tariq Ali and Phil Evans, _Introducing Trotsky and Marxism / Trotsky for Beginners_ (1980)
Week 19. State and revolution
- * Lenin, _The State and Revolution_ (1917)
Week 20. Imperialism
- * Lenin, _Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism_ (1916)
• Lenin, Socialism and War Ch. 1 The principles of socialism and the War of 1914–15 (1915)
Week 21. Failure of the revolution
* Luxemburg, “What does the Spartacus League Want?” (1918)
* Luxemburg, “On the Spartacus Programme” (1918)
• Luxemburg, “German Bolshevism” (AKA “The Socialisation of Society”) (1918)
• Luxemburg, “The Russian Tragedy” (1918)
• Luxemburg, “Order Reigns in Berlin” (1919)
• Sebastian Haffner, Failure of a Revolution: Germany 1918–19(1968)
Week 22. Retreat after revolution
- * Lenin, _“Left-Wing” Communism: An Infantile Disorder_ (1920)
• Lenin, “Notes of a Publicist” (1922)
Week 23. Dialectic of reification
- * Lukács, “The Standpoint of the Proletariat” (Part III of “Reification and the Consciousness of the Proletariat,” 1923). Available in three sections from marxists.org: section 1 section 2 section 3
Week 24. Lessons of October
- * Trotsky, The Lessons of October (1924) [PDF]
• Trotsky, “Stalinism and Bolshevism” (1937)
Week 25. Trotskyism
• Trotsky, “To build communist parties and an international anew” (1933)
- * Trotsky, _The Death Agony of Capitalism and the Tasks of the Fourth International_ (1938)
• Trotsky, “Trade unions in the epoch of imperialist decay” (1940)
• Trotsky, Letter to James Cannon (September 12, 1939)
Week 26. The authoritarian state
* Friedrich Pollock, “State Capitalism: Its Possibilities and Limitations” (1941) (note 32 on USSR)
* Max Horkheimer, “The Authoritarian State” (1942)
Week 27. On the concept of history
- * epigraphs by Louis Menand (on Edmund Wilson) and Peter Preuss (on Nietzsche) on the modern concept of history
• Charles Baudelaire, from Fusées [Rockets] (1867)
• Bertolt Brecht, “To posterity” (1939)
• Walter Benjamin, “To the planetarium” (from One-Way Street, 1928)
• Benjamin, “Experience and poverty” (1933)
• Benjamin, Theologico-political fragment (1921/39?)
* Benjamin, “On the Concept of History” (AKA “Theses on the Philosophy of History”) (1940) [PDF]
* Benjamin, Paralipomena to “On the Concept of History” (1940)
Week 28. Reflections on Marxism
* Theodor Adorno, “Reflections on Class Theory” (1942)
* Adorno, “Imaginative Excesses” (1944–47)
• Adorno, Dedication, “Bequest”, “Warning: Not to be Misused” and “Finale”, Minima Moralia (1944–47)
• Horkheimer and Adorno, “Discussion about Theory and Praxis” (AKA “Towards a New Manifesto?”) Deutsch
Week 29. Theory and practice
• Adorno, “On Subject and Object” (1969)
* Adorno, “Marginalia to Theory and Praxis” (1969)
* Adorno, “Resignation” (1969)
• Adorno, “Late Capitalism or Industrial Society?” (AKA “Is Marx Obsolete?”) (1968)
• Esther Leslie, Introduction to the 1969 Adorno-Marcuse correspondence (1999)
• Adorno and Herbert Marcuse, correspondence on the German New Left (1969)