Jacobin

No coarser insult, no baser defamation, can be thrown against the workers than the remark, ‘Theoretical controversies are for the intellectuals’ —Rosa Luxemburg, Reform or Revolution (1900) Since there can be no talk of an independent ideology formulated by the working masses themselves in the process of their movement the only choice is – either bourgeois or socialist ideology… This does not mean, of course, that the workers have no part in creating such an ideology. [Read More]

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]

A panel event held at New York University on April 18, 2013. Video Recording Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Transcripted in Platypus Review #57 Panelists Paul Demarty (CPGB) Bhaskar Sunkara (Jacobin) Benjamin Blumberg (Platypus) Description Recently, a series of exchanges between the Communist Party of Great Britain (PCC), the International Bolshevik Tendency, and the Platypus Affiliated Society has unfolded, mapping a field of positions and historical perspectives whose contours trace some of the most provocative contemporary perspectives on Marxism, socialism, and democracy. [Read More]

A panel event held on December 6, 2012, at New York University. Video Recording Panelists Ben Campbell (The North Star) Annie Day (Revolution) Chris Maisano (DSA, Jacobin) Bhaskar Sunkara (Jacobin) Moderated by Tana Forrester (Platypus Affiliated Society). Description This past US election season saw an array of positions on the Left concerning the outcome that might follow from either major party’s victory. Among them, there were some who openly supported the incumbent Barack Obama as the lesser of two evils, others who opposed him by casting a vote for another candidate, and still others who followed the abstentionist line by not voting at all. [Read More]