Revolution without Marx?

Rousseau, Kant and Hegel

Revolution without Marx?

 November 1, 2013  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

Introduction BOURGEOIS SOCIETY CAME INTO FULL RECOGNITION WITH ROUSSEAU, who in the *Discourse on the Origin of Inequality* and On the Social Contract, opened its radical critique. Hegel wrote: “The principle of freedom dawned on the world in Rousseau.” Marx quoted Rousseau favorably that “Whoever dares undertake to establish a people’s institutions must feel himself capable of changing, as it were, human nature… to take from man his own powers, and give him in exchange alien powers which he cannot employ without the help of other men. [Read More]
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel  Immanuel Kant  Jean-Jacques Rousseau  Karl Marx 

The Politics of Work, UMass Amherst

 September 20, 2013  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

The second of a panel series with thinkers, activists and political figures focused on contemporary problems faced by the Left in its struggles to construct a politics adequate to the self-emancipation of the working class. Subsequent panels will be held internationally in Halifax, Chicago, London, and Toronto in Fall 2013. Held at UMass Amherst on 13 September 2013. Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Transcribed in Platypus Review #62 [Read More]
The Politics of Work  Capitalist production  Employment  Full employment  Karl Marx  Marxism  Mikhail Bjorge  Work  Working class 

Does Marxism Even Matter!?

A teach-in on Capital in History

 September 5, 2013  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

A teach-in held on September 5, 2013 at Dalhousie University, led by Quentin Cyr. Audio Recording Part One Your browser does not support the audio element Part Two Your browser does not support the audio element Description In the mid-19th century, Marx and Engels observed, in the Communist Manifesto, that a “specter” was haunting Europe “ the specter of Communism. A century and a half later, it is Marxism itself that continues to haunt the Left, while capitalism remains. [Read More]
Bourgeois society  Dalhousie University  Karl Marx  Marxism 

Marx and "Wertkritik"

 May 1, 2013  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

ON SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 2013, the Platypus Affiliated Society hosted a panel, “Marx and Wertkritik,” at its Fifth Annual International Convention, held at the School of the Art Institute Chicago. The panel featured Elmar Flatschart of the German theoretical journal EXIT!, Alan Milchman of Internationalist Perspective, and Jamie Merchant of Permanent Crisis. It was moderated by Gregor Baszak, of Platypus. What follows is an edited transcript of their discussion. A full recording of the event can be found by clicking the above link. [Read More]
Alan Milchman  Convention  Elmar Flatschart  Jamie Merchant  Karl Marx  Wertkritik  EXIT! 

Religion and the Left, Halifax

 March 13, 2013  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

A panel event held on March 12, 2013 at King’s College in Hailfax, Canada. Video Recording Panelists Gary Burrill (Member of the Legislative Assembly for Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley, Nova Scotia New Democratic Party) Arthur McCalla (Religious Studies, Mount Saint Vincent University) Katie Toth (Layperson, United Church of Canada) Antoni Wysocki (STAND) Description Religion necessarily appears to the left today as a question of for or against. But “religion” and “the left” are by no means transhistorical categories. [Read More]
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel  Legislative Assembly for Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley  Karl Marx  Nova Scotia New Democratic Party  Religion  STAND  United Church of Canada 

Traversing the heresies

Traversing the heresies

 March 1, 2013  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

ON OCTOBER 14, 2012, Alec Niedenthal and Ross Wolfe interviewed Bruno Bosteels, Professor of Romance Studies at Cornell University and author of such books as Badiou and Politics (2011), Marx and Freud in Latin America (2012), and The Actuality of Communism (2011). What follows is an edited transcript of their conversation. Alec Niedenthal: It is well known that 1968 was a critical moment for the Left in France, but the simultaneous events in Mexico are not so well-known. [Read More]
Bruno Bosteels  Latin America  Karl Marx  Sigmund Freud 

Platypus at Free Cooper Union

 December 3, 2012  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

Video Recording

Sammy Medina, Pam C. Nogales C., and Ross Wolfe gave teach-ins as part of the Free University during the Day of Action against Cooper Union’s unprecedented tuition requirements. Pam did a teach-in on 19-century American history and struggles for emancipation, while Sammy and Ross talked about the sociohistoric project of early modernist architecture.

Architecture  Civil War  Cooper Union  Free cooper union  Karl Marx  Modernist architecture  Students 

Radical Interpretations of the Present Crisis, NYC

 November 14, 2012  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

A panel event held at the New School in New York City on November 14, 2012. Video Recoding Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Transcribed in Platypus Review #56 Panelists Loren Goldner Co-Editor at Insurgent Notes; authors: Ubu Saved From Drowning: Class Struggle and Statist Containment in Portugal and Spain, 1974-1977 (2000), “The Sky Is Always Darkest Just Before the Dawn: Class Struggle in the U. [Read More]
Radical Interpretations of the Present Crisis  Capital  Capitalism  Economic crisis  Karl Marx  Marxism