1873--1973: The century of Marxism

 April 1, 2012  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

A presentation by Chris Cutrone, President of the Platypus Affiliated Society, delivered on April 1, 2012 as part of the 2012 Platypus Affiliated International Convention held at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, upon the subject of the death of Marxism and the emergence of neo-liberalism and neo-anarchism.

Audio Recording

Transcript in Platypus Review #47

Platypus International Convention 2012  Marxism  Neo-liberalism  Neoanarchism  Neoliberalism 

Lenin and the Marxist Left after #Occupy

 March 31, 2012  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

A panel discussion held at the 2012 Platypus International Convention on March 31st, 2012.

Audio Recording

Transcript in Platypus Review #47

Panelists

Ben Lewis—Communist Party of Great Britain

Tom Riley—International Bolshevik Tendency

Chris Cutrone (Moderator)—Platypus Affiliated Society

Platypus International Convention 2012  Communist Party of Great Britain  GPGB  IBT  International Bolshevik Tendency  Vladimir Lenin  Occupy  Occupy wall street  OWS 

The Relevance of Lenin Today

 December 17, 2011  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Video Recording Transcript in Platypus Review #48 Description The Encyclopedia Britannica’s entry on Lenin states that, If the Bolshevik Revolution is – as some people have called it – the most significant political event of the 20th century, then Lenin must for good or ill be considered the century’s most significant political leader. Not only in the scholarly circles of the former Soviet Union, but even among many non-Communist scholars, he has been regarded as both the greatest revolutionary leader and revolutionary statesman in history, as well as the greatest revolutionary thinker since Marx. [Read More]
Bolshevik Revolution  Vladimir Lenin  Leninism  Karl Marx  Marxism  Russian revolution 

Capital in History

Marxism and the Modern Philosophy of Freedom

 August 16, 2011  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

A presentation by Platypus member Chris Cutrone on August 16, 2011, at Communist University, which took place from August 17th to August 20, 2011, at Goldsmiths, University of London. Video Credit: Communist Party of Great Britain. Video Recording Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element What is progress if not the absolute elaboration of humanity’s creative dispositions… unmeasured by any previously established yardstick[,] an end in itself… the absolute movement of becoming? [Read More]
Becoming  Bourgeois  Capital  Capitalism  Freedom  Grundrisse  History  Karl Marx  Marxism  Proletarian 

Platypus at Communist Party of Great Britain (PCC) Communist University 2011, London

 August 13, 2011  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

Communist University took place August 13–20, 2011, at Goldsmiths, University of London, including two talks by Platypus members. Chris Cutrone presented on “Capital in history: Marxism and the modern philosophy of freedom” on August 16, and Spencer A. Leonard presented “Marx’s critique of political economy: proletarian socialism continuing the bourgeois revolution?” on August 19. Audio Recordings Capital in history: Marxism and the modern philosophy of freedom Your browser does not support the audio element Marx’s critique of political economy: proletarian socialism continuing the bourgeois revolution? [Read More]

The Marxism of Second International Radicalism

Lenin, Luxemburg, and Trotsky

 June 22, 2011  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

Panel held at the Marxist Literary Group Summer 2011 Institute on Culture and Society at the Institute for the Humanities, University of Illinois at Chicago on June 22, 2011 Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Panelists Chris Cutrone, Lenin Greg Gabrellas, Luxemburg Ian Morrison, Trotsky Moderated by Spencer A. Leonard. Description The legacy of revolution 1917-19 in Russia, Germany, Hungary and Italy is concentrated above all in the historical figures Vladimir Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg and Leon Trotsky, leaders of the Left in the Second International (1889-1914)—what they called “revolutionary social democracy” – in the period preceding the crisis of war, revolution, counterrevolution and civil war in World War I and its aftermath. [Read More]
Vladimir Lenin  Leninism  Leon Trotsky  Karl Marx  Marxism  Rosa Luxemburg 

Platypus Discussion of Mike Macnair's Critique

 June 4, 2011  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

June 4, 2011 discussion of Mike Macnair’s critique of Platypus for the Communist Party of Great Britain in The Weekly Worker (see links below to articles under discussion, especially the May 19 article by Macnair, “Theoretical dead end”). Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Description “Platypus: Is it a sect? Is it an academic grouping? Is it a theoretical dead end?” The Communist Party of Great Britain’s Mike Macnair’s critique of Platypus in their paper The Weekly Worker is based on a conception of Marxism as practical politics that we don’t share. [Read More]
About Platypus  Communist Party of Great Britain  CPGB  Platypus  Platypus Affiliated Society  Weekly Worker 

Platypus 2011 President's report

The "Anti-Fascist" vs. "Anti-Imperialist" Left: Some Genealogies and Prospects

 May 1, 2011  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

Platypus President’s report by Chris Cutrone at the third annual Platypus Affiliated Society international convention, Chicago, May 1st, 2011. Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Description The usual ways of categorizing various trends on the “Left” today have become less useful for distinguishing politically and indicating potential future developments. Trends have defied historical or expected trajectories – if these in fact ever applied properly – and so call for a new and different approach to sort out what we’re dealing with today and are likely to encounter going forward. [Read More]
Platypus International Convention 2011  Anti-fascism  Anti-imperialism  Anti-Stalinism  Authoritarian  Leftism  Liberal  Libertarian  Socialism  Stalinism 

Badiou and Post-Maoism

Marxism and Communism Today

 April 30, 2011  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

Panel discussion at the 3 annual Platypus Affiliated Society international convention, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, April 30, 2011. Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element 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? [Read More]
Platypus International Convention 2011  Alain Badiou  Jacques Lacan  Kasama Project  Louis Althusser  Platypus  Platypus Affiliated Society 

The Politics of Critical Theory

 April 29, 2011  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

The opening plenary of the 3 annual Platypus Affiliated Society international convention, held at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, on April 29, 2011. Co-sponsored by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago Departments of Art Education, Art History, Liberal Arts, and Visual and Critical Studies, and the SAIC Student Association. Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Transcript in Platypus Review #37 [Read More]
Platypus International Convention 2011  Critical theory  Max Horkheimer  Theodor W. Adorno