Politics of Work, Left Forum 2014

One of four panels held by the Platypus Affiliated Society at Left Forum 2014, from May 30 to June 1st, 2014. Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Panelists Jon Bekken Alan Milchman James Livingston Chaired by Justin Elm Description Capital is not a book about politics, and not even a book about labour: it is a book about unemployment. —Fredric Jameson, Representing Capital: A Reading of Volume One [Read More]

Anarcho-Syndicalist Review

Differing Perspectives on the Left

A workshop with the Anarcho-Syndicalist Review (Jon Bekken) held on April 5, 2014, at the Sixth Platypus International Convention. Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Every year at the Platypus International Convention, speakers from various perspectives are asked to bring their experience of the Left’s recent history to bear on today’s political possibilities and challenges as part of the “Differing Perspectives on the Left” workshop series. [Read More]

150 Years after the First International

A Critical History

A panel held at the Sixth Annual Platypus International Convention on Saturday, April 5, 2014 at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Panelists Jon Bekken (Anarcho-Syndicalist Review) James Heartfield (audacity.org) William Pelz (Elgin Community College) Description The First International (1864 - 1876), or International Workingmen’s Association, was founded in the long shadow of 1848, amidst Polish and Italian national liberation movements and the upheaval of the American Civil War. [Read More]