What is imperialism? (What now?)

What is imperialism? (What now?)

 September 1, 2013  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

ON APRIL 6, 2013, a panel on “What is Imperialism? (What Now?)” took place during the Platypus International Convention at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The panel was motivated by the ten-year anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and aimed to discuss whether we are any closer to understanding what imperialism is and the relationship between anti-imperialism and anti-capitalism. This panel brought together Larry Everest from the Revolutionary Communist Party (USA), Joseph Green from Communist Voice, and Paul Demarty of the Communist Party of Great Britain, and was moderated by Lucy Parker of Platypus. [Read More]
Convention 2013  Fora  Imperialism  Iraq  CPGB 

Conversations on the Left

What is to be done?

Conversations on the Left

 June 1, 2013  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

ON APRIL 18, 2013, the Platypus Affiliated Society organized a conversation at New York University between Bhaskar Sunkara, the editor of Jacobin, Paul Demarty of the Communist Party of Great Britain, and Benjamin Blumberg of Platypus, to discuss the differences and similarities between their organizations. What follows is an edited transcript of the discussion. Complete audio and video of the event can be found online by clicking the above links. [Read More]
Jacobin  CPGB  Weekly Worker 

What is Imperialism? (What Now?)

 April 6, 2013  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

A panel held on April 6 2013, at the 2013 Platypus International Convention at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Transcribed in Platypus Review #59 Panelists Larry Everest (Revolutionary Communist Party) Joseph Green (Communist Voice) Paul Demarty (Communist Party of Great Britain) Description Ten years on from the US invasion of Iraq, are we any closer to understanding what Imperialism is and why we are against it? [Read More]
Platypus International Convention  Platypus International Convention 2013  Communist Party of Great Britain  Communist Voice  CPGB  Platypus  Platypus Affiliated Society  Revolutionary Communist Party 

2013 Platypus International Convention Opening Plenary: The Left in Power?

 April 5, 2013  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

The opening plenary of 2013 Platypus International Convention, a panel held on April 5, 2013, at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Panelists Eirik Eiglad (New Compass) Andreas Karitzis (SYRIZA) Paul Demarty (Communist Party of Great Britain) Description Recently Leo Panitch, characterized SYRIZA as “the most promising anti-neoliberal party on the European political stage”. This statement reflects the mood of many in the Left, who have seen the huge electoral empowerment of this left Greek party as a spark for a possible global reconstitution of the radical Left. [Read More]
Platypus International Convention  Platypus International Convention 2013  Communist Party of Great Britain  CPGB  New Compass  SYRIZA 

Lenin and the Marxist Left after #Occupy

 June 7, 2012  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

ON MARCH 31ST, 2012, the Platypus Affiliated Society invited Ben Lewis of the Communist Party of Great Britain and Tom Riley of the International Bolshevik Tendency to speak on the theme of “Lenin and the Marxist Left after #Occupy” at the 2012 Platypus International Convention held at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The original description of the event reads as follows: “The occasion for this panel is, in part, Pham Binh’s recent critique of Tony Cliff’s biography of Lenin, which was circulated on the web and published in the Communist Party of Great Britain’s Weekly Worker, and the responses in on-going debate by Paul LeBlanc and Paul D’Amato. [Read More]
/20th Century  CPGB  Vladimir Lenin  Marxism  Politics  Leon Trotsky  PR Occupy  PR Lenin 

Splits, regroupments, war, and revolution in Germany, 1914--1920

A conversation with Ben Lewis

Splits, regroupments, war, and revolution in Germany, 1914--1920

 May 1, 2012  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

_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._ Spencer A. Leonard: Please give a brief overview of Zinoviev and Martov: Head to Head in Halle. [Read More]
Ben Lewis  CPGB  Eduard Bernstein  Lars T. Lih  Rosa Luxemburg  SPD  German Revolution 

Communist Party of Great Britain

Differing Perspectives on the Left

 March 30, 2012  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

A workshop on the Communist Party of Great Britain with Ben Lewis, held on March 30, 2012. Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element At the fourth annual international convention of the Platypus Affiliated Society, speakers from various perspectives were 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]
Communist Party of Great Britain  CPGB  Platypus International Convention 2012 

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 

The Legacy of Trotskyism

 April 30, 2011  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

One of the plenary sessions held at the third annual Platypus Affiliated Society international convention, hosted by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from April 29–May 1st, 2011, set about exploring the legacy of Trotsky’s Marxism. Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Transcript in Platypus Review #38 Panelists Mike Macnair, Communist Party of Great Britain (Oxford Univ. St. Hugh College) Bryan Palmer, Trent University [Read More]
Platypus International Convention 2011  Anti-Stalinism  Communism  Communist Party of Great Britain  CPGB  IBT  International Bolshevik Tendency  Leon Trotsky  Karl Marx  Marxism  Socialism  Stalinism  Trotskyism